Michael J. Fox: My Brain Works Differently

Michael J. Fox appears on The Comedy Network’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote his new book Always Looking Up.

Michael’s attitude as he lives with Parkinson’s Disease and works to be a husband, a father and promote stem cell research is worth exploring in this book.

Michael’s explanation of his illness, “My brain works differently than yours”, to his seven year old daughter lays the groundwork for every parent suffering from neurological and psychiatric illnesses.

Links:

• Michael J. Fox Wikipedia
• Michael J. Fox Daily Show with Jon Stewart
• Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
• Michael J. Fox Database
• Michael J. Fox Stem Cell Campaign
• Michael J. Fox Re: Rush Limbaugh

If You Don’t Like the Speed, Get Off the Ride

We have lived in “exponential times” since the big bang (if there was one)

VIDEO

Six Hats, Six Coats

Edward de Bono’s concept of Six Hats on the surface looks creative, but in implementation it falls short. de Bono’s six hats are:

1. Data (white)
2. Emotion (red)
3. Pessimism (black)
4. Optimism (yellow)
5. Creativity (green)
6. Process (blue)

I do not disagree with these six hats. I tip my hat to de Bono. However, I feel that de Bono made a few mistakes. I am going to coin my own Six Hats:

The Conceptual hat is Creativity. The Contextual hat is Compatibility. The Logical hat is Reliability. The Physical hat is Economy. The Mechanical hat is Intuitivity. The Operational hat is Actuality. These are your six Perspectives.

Now, here is where I extend de Bono’s concept. This extension I call the Six Coats:

The Motivational coat is Goals. The Spatial coat is Networks. The Formal coat is Data. The Functional coat is Processes. The Personal coat is People. The Temporal coat is Time. These coats are your six Focuses.

Together, you take your hats and coats and wear them in a set order to get a project done. You start at the top and proceed left to right, row by row, to the bottom. This takes a chaos of perspectives and focuses and turns them into a methodology:

You may notice that the colors of the hats and coats complement each other. This is intentional:

1. Green = Creatable = Goals = “Because we’re capable.”
2. Yellow = Compatible = Network = “Because we’re portable.”
3. White = Reliable = Data = “Because we’re reliable.”
4. Black = Economical = Process = “Because we’re economical.”
5. Red = Intuitable = People = “Because we’re intuitable.”
6. Blue = Actual = Time = “Because we’re available.”

If you follow my blog you will see that my definitions are evolving. This is to be expected as I am learning between and during every post. I hope you enjoy the process with me.

To see a more recent version of the Six Hats, Six Coats model Click Here.