William Kamkwamba, a boy in rural city in Malawi, Africa, is forced to drop out of school after the deadly 2001 drought nearly killed him and his family and destroyed the little value they had created farming corn and tobacco. Without the $80 to pay tuition, William turned to the library, where he became fascinated with windmills.
Determined to prevent his family from experiencing the drought driven hunger again, William decided he would produce the electric power needed to pump water to irrigate their fields.
With no money to buy parts, William used materials from a junkyard and his imagination to build this windmill. Improvising an old bicycle with flattened PVC pipe for blades and a bicycle generator to produce the electricity, William was able to light his room and tell his story to the world.
In areas as diverse as vocabulary and inductive reasoning, our brains function better than they did in our 20s. As we age, we more easily get the “gist” of arguments. Even our judgment of others improves. Often, we simply “know” if someone — or some idea — is to be trusted. We also get better at knowing what to ignore and when to hold our tongues.
It’s important to understand your strengths and the strengths of those around you. I find it encouraging that not only do reasoning and therefore decision making skills getting better, the all important ability to determine the people with the right skills to compliment your own abilities grows as well. But just like the 40 year old quarterback who thinks he’s still in his prime – Oh, that’s right, he had a record breaking year, didn’t he? Well, there are always exceptions, right? -, we have to know when it’s time to pass the torch for some activities to others. Here is how one manager does it:
When gathered to discuss a problem, he keeps his “mouth shut” and listens. Even though — more often than not — he has a good solution, he waits. He does not speak.
“I find it works best if I let the younger workers talk first, wrestle with the problem in their own way,” he told me. “Then after a while, I say what I think might work. I’m not sure why, but this seems to work best and to help us all learn and solve the problem better.”
In fact, though he did not realize it, the executive was using the best parts of his calmer and more experienced middle-aged brain to help him manage his situation — and get better results.
It’s true that by midlife our brains can show some fraying. Brain processing speed slows down. Faced with new information, we often cannot master it as quickly as our younger peers. And there’s little question that our short-term memories suffer.
We’ve all seen it where lots of information compiled to make a decision did little to suggest an obvious course. And that was 20 years ago, when it took leg work to gather that information, not just a few keystrokes in your browser. Getting stuck in analysis was a problem thousands of years ago and Stibel’s article in the Harvard Business Review blog – The Conversation reminds us to avoid it.
I have to admit, when I read the head line I chuckled thinking, “Wow, I’ve worked with some really wise people and I bet when they see this they’ll think the same about me”.
Specifically, the SEC’s interpretative guidance highlights the following areas as examples of where climate change may trigger disclosure requirements:
Impact of Legislation and Regulation: When assessing potential disclosure obligations, a company should consider whether the impact of certain existing laws and regulations regarding climate change is material. In certain circumstances, a company should also evaluate the potential impact of pending legislation and regulation related to this topic.
Impact of International Accords: A company should consider, and disclose when material, the risks or effects on its business of international accords and treaties relating to climate change.
Indirect Consequences of Regulation or Business Trends: Legal, technological, political and scientific developments regarding climate change may create new opportunities or risks for companies. For instance, a company may face decreased demand for goods that produce significant greenhouse gas emissions or increased demand for goods that result in lower emissions than competing products. As such, a company should consider, for disclosure purposes, the actual or potential indirect consequences it may face due to climate change related regulatory or business trends.
Physical Impacts of Climate Change: Companies should also evaluate for disclosure purposes the actual and potential material impacts of environmental matters on their business.
Seth Levine has posted Marion Jenkins’ detailed rebuttal to HB 1192. Mr. Jenkins suggests this tax legislation should be opposed due to a wide range of problems, including it being a new tax which should go before all voters to the complexity in determining when a lump of software code is deemed “standard” and subject to these new taxes versus custom code that is not to be taxed.
The bottom line is really about jobs in Colorado. And with this bill, the jobs which are easily moved to more business friendly states will start that migration. The Sixty-sixth General Assembly can choose to address the issues with the state budget directly and bring the issues to the people, or they can choose to tear down the reasons businesses choose to be in Colorado.
Growing up in the South, you don’t have a lot of opportunities to test out your winter gittin’ around skills. And with a big snowstorm about to him my hometown area, here are a few hard learned lessons about moving around in the white stuff.
Cowboy boots and ice don’t mix.
Always wipe the snow off the top of the car door before you open it. Or just wear your rain pants everywhere.
Drive like you’re in your bass boat. Look way out front and pretend you got little or no brakes.
Them big ‘ol four wheel drives are great at getting ya’ going, but ain’t no help at all when it comes to stopping.
And the number one thing to remember: It’s not all about how well you can drive in the snow, it’s more about how the folks around you drive in the snow.
Now that I really think about it, you may want to stay home if you can.
Wow! What a powerful story!