A Cultural Fix for Risk Management Failure

How to create a culture that combines healthy risk taking with effective risk management. Want to buy a pile of second mortgages with a loan-to-equity value of 99 to 1, and scant documentation on borrower qualifications? (By the way, those borrowers might not live in the homes they’re mortgaging.) And, sure, it’s possible the borrowers are lying about their income and job status. (But who cares?) Today, even considering such a package seems ridiculous. Yet most of these loans, part of

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100 Excellent Online Tools to Feed Your Creativity

Many experts say that creativity is not necessarily something you have or don’t have, but that can be nurtured and developed. If you are searching for ways to feed your creativity, then take a look at these online tools. From tools that help you organize, plan, and brainstorm to tools that inspire through writing prompts and creative photos to tools that work to develop the creative mind, you will find plenty of inspiration in this list.

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Margaret Wertheim leads a project to re-create the creatures of the coral reefs

Margaret Wertheim leads a project to re-create the creatures of the coral reefs using a crochet technique invented by a mathematician -- celebrating the amazements of the reef, and deep-diving into the hyperbolic geometry underlying coral creation.

Ideo Redesigns the Icebreaker

One of my least favorite activities of all time is the icebreaker. You know how it goes: Throw together a bunch of people--six, eight, more than two is too many--and force them to tell each other something silly, secret, anything that will publicly humiliate in front of total strangers. Cue nervous laughter and clammy palms. But barely has the Skoll World Forum for Social Entrepreneurship begun and Ideo is already telling us: We have a better way. We're going to use design.

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Take The Emotional Intelligence Test

Every day, emotions shape the path of our lives and influence our decision-making. Our emotional actions and reactions affect every aspect of who we are and how we live. Having control over our emotions enables us to pursue and achieve our goals. What is 'Emotional Intelligence'? First made popular in Daniel Goleman's book, Emotional Intelligence, this concept has heavily influenced how many psychologists understand emotional development and its effects on personal success. 'Emotional Intelligence' refers to our ability to manage our emotional mind with intelligence in every facet of life. In a very real way, our human intelligence affords us the ability to regulate our emotions. Every decision we make is directly influenced by our emotions—a specific part of the brain, the amygdala, handles all basic emotional reactions, such as fear and anger. The neocortex, or "thinking" part of the brain, allows us to fully comprehend situations—our reactions are the result of our unique and individual combination of "thinking" and "feeling". Our specific manner of comprehending situations dictates our subsequent reactions.

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