RWL #161 - How to, Listening, & Coronavirus
Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! We had an ice storm all day yesterday and it took out power briefly on campus. It also coated everything in ice, which is both dangerous and quite lovely.
A sort of random mix of topics this weekend - but I hope you enjoy them!
Have a great week and do amazing things!
Read
What: Nautilus, Why We Love How-to Videos
http://nautil.us/issue/79/catalysts/why-we-love-how_to-videos-rp
Why: I started making YouTube videos to help my students work through their finance homework last year. I now have about 200 videos up on YouTube. I had about 870 views last month - not surprising since I am teaching finance again this semester, and the students just did their first homework assignment. I made the videos for one chapter and the students said it was very helpful to them - more helpful than when I just gave them the book answers. They said they could have the book answer and still not understand why the book was solving it the way it did. The reason the students like the videos better than the written solutions is apparently the fact that our brains are wired for social learning - i.e., learning by watching someone else. I love that in this article it was found that watching a video by an expert and by an average person is actually more effective than just watching an expert.
This is a short read - check it out.
Watch
What: How To Really Listen To People | Jordan Peterson | Best Life Advice
Why: I’ve interviewed more than 70 executives for my podcast. One of the questions I like to ask is, “What’s a leadership lesson you learned the hard way?” One of the most common failings executives admit to failing to be good listeners. Peterson does a nice job talking about the importance of listening, and its humanizing impact, which is one of the points I make in my forthcoming paper based on the podcast data. Listening is humanizing. Toward the end of the video, Peterson recommends making a steel-man argument for your interlocutor, rather than a strawman argument. I’ve heard this proposed by Tyler Cowen amongst other people I really respect.
Listen
What: JAMA Medical News, Coronavirus and Beyond: Responding to Biological Threats
Why: I listened to this interview because I was interested in the immediate issue of the coronavirus outbreak in China, but I was pleased that the interview went well beyond a discussion of this current outbreak and went into a number of other topics, such as bioterrorism and systematic preparedness. Great listen if you are involved in public health as a practitioner or teacher.
Thanks for reading and see you next week! If you come across any interesting stories, won't you send them my way? I'd love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line at mark.bonica@unh.edu , or you can tweet to me at @mbonica .
Also, if you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
See you next Friday!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-0598
mark.bonica@unh.edu
Health Leader Forge Podcast: http://healthleaderforge.org
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau