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Adventures in Learning: Six Degrees of Separation

Avil Beckford — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:13:18 +0000

How does a phenomenon get started? You’ve all heard the phrase six degrees of separation, which is the idea that any two people in the world can be connected through six steps or less, through a chain of intermediaries.

Image via Wikipedia

But where did the idea of six degrees of separation come from?

What you may not know, or have ever heard of is Chain-Links, which is a short story written in 1929 by Frigyes Karinthy. Frigyes Karinthy (June 25, 1887 – August 29, 1938), a Hungarian author, playwright, poet, journalist, and translator, was the first proponent of six degrees of separation. Here is an excerpt from the story:

Image via Wikipedia

“…One of us suggested performing the following experiment to prove that the population of the Earth is closer together than they have ever been before. We should select any person from the 1.5 billion inhabitants of the Earth – anyone, anywhere at all… He bet us that, using no more than five individuals, one of whom is a personal acquaintance, he could contact the select individual using nothing except the network of personal acquaintances…Our friend was absolutely correct: nobody from the group needed more than five links in the chain to reach, just by using the method of your acquaintance, any inhabitant of our planet.”

The idea of six degree of separation was popularized decades later when John Guare wrote a play about it. The play was later released as a film. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a spin off from the concept, where any actor can be linked to Kevin Bacon through no more that six connections. According to Wikipedia, “This idea [six degrees of separation] both directly and indirectly influenced a great deal of early thought on social networks.” Kevin Bacon also started SixDegrees.org.

So the big questions are:

Who is in your network?
Do you take the time to work on building your relationships?
Can you be connected to the people you need to be connected to through six degrees of separation or less?
Where is your Chain-Links? Where will you find that one big idea that will spread like wild fire?
Where do your great ideas come from?

You can find a copy of the short story Chain-Links in The Structure and Dynamics of Networks By Mark E. J. Newman, Albert-László Barabási, Duncan J. Watts. I read the short story at Google Books, but you have to read it online, no printing or downloading unless you purchases a copy.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Inside the Game

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Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Video Credit: Uploaded by DaveOfTheRose on Jan 9, 2010

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Create Your Board of Mentors – January is National Mentoring Month

Avil Beckford — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:34:06 +0000

For National Mentoring Month, consider creating your Personal Board of Mentors. Having one mentor is seldom ever enough these days, because no one person can assist you with all your mentoring needs. It is your responsibility to ensure that all your needs are taken care of. Your Personal Board of Mentors is similar to an organization’s Board of Directors, except in this instance, you are the organization. You don’t have to meet with all the members on your Board of Mentors like an organization’s board would, but you do have to be in contact with them.

Before you choose the members of your personal board, you have to first assess your needs based on where you’d like to end up in life. Whatever you do should be a part of your life plan and subsequently take you closer to achieving your big goals.

Mentoring Needs Assessment

What are your vision, mission and purpose in life?
In the next three years, where would you like to be in your personal and professional life? Are you committed to achieving your personal and professional goals listed above?
Think about your professional goals, what gaps exist between where you are now, to where you would like to be in the next three years?
What actions do you have to take to fill those gaps?
Who are the experts that you can learn from, and what are their areas of expertise?
Of the experts that you identified, which ones do you respect and are respected by others?
Why do you need a mentor? What can a mentor help you with?
If trusted friends could introduce you to five people who would be ideal mentors for you, who would you choose?
Would your ideal mentors be similar to the experts you identified above?
Could your ideal mentors assist you with achieving your identified goals, and close the gap you identified above.

After you have answered the questions above, you are in a better position to find the appropriate persons to assist you in filling those gaps. There are also specific types of people who you should have on your Personal Board of Mentors.

Connector: A well-respected person in the community who has influence, authority and access to an extensive network of people.
Industry Expert: Someone who has already traveled the path that you are now on, and is willing to share her experiences, both good and bad with you.
The Listener: Someone who you can call when you are having a down day, who will allow you to rant for a while, to get things off your “chest,” so that you can focus on your next steps.
Tough Lover: An objective person who is willing to tell you like it is, holding you accountable to keep your promises and remain on track to achieve your goals.
Sponsor: A senior level person in your organization who will open doors for you. But the catch is that you have to make yourself memorable so that he will choose you. Typically you choose your mentors, but sponsors choose you. An example of how to make yourself memorable is to take on difficult projects that others do not want, then do them successfully.
And one other person who will also help you to achieve your goals based on the needs you identified above.

All the people on your Board should care about your success, and be willing to accept a quick call from you. Be very honest and clear with the members of your Board, let them know exactly what you require from them, and make it very easy for them to help you. Mentoring is about give and take, so find ways to give back to your mentors, and always let them know how much you appreciate what they are doing for you.

When you have decided who you would like to be on your Board, ask them if they would be willing to mentor you, and explain what’s required. It goes without saying that you should take some time to get to know them first before asking for a favour. And it is even better if there is someone who could provide an introduction. With social media, this is a lot easier to do today than it was five short years ago.

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Adventures in Learning: Learning Tools and Resources to Help You Succeed in Today’s Fast-Paced World

Avil Beckford — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:30:55 +0000

I have pulled together an assortment of blog posts with information to help you in a variety of ways.

M.I.T. Game-Changer: Free Online Education For All: Lifelong learning is a fact of life for any professional who expects to succeed. There are many ways to learn, however, for those who want to take university courses for professional development, the price can be prohibitive. In this article, MIT will be announcing a new initiative, where anyone with an internet connection can take free courses online, and will we awarded a certificate of completion at the end. This certificate will not have the same weight as the paid MIT program, but it’s still a noble gesture.

Learn to Code with Codecademy & Scratch: This is a very short post which introduces us to Codecademy, which I signed up with today, and will be taking the programming course. If you decide to join me, please let me know so that we can support each other.

10 Useful Chrome Web Apps and Extensions for Teachers and Students and more: Though this blog is for teachers, I like it because I learn a lot and am introduced to tips and resources that help me in my work. You will find many of these apps useful. I have downloaded many of them and have started to use them already.

Bookboon – More Than 500 Free eTextbooks: If you have children in university, this is a must-read blog post for you!

Interesting Post

Getting an Education Through Content Creation: I like this post because it is consistent with what I believe. And when you learn something new, teach it to other people so it becomes clearer in your mind.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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12 Blog Posts People are Reading on The Invisible Mentor

Avil Beckford — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:30:29 +0000

Over the past month, I have been paying close attention to the analytics for The Invisible Mentor blog, and I am sometimes amazed by what landed readers on the site. Today, I want to highlight some of the posts that landed people on the site from search engines. Next week we’ll return to the regular schedule: Adventures in Learning, Booked for Mentoring, Wisdom of Life and the Invisible Mentor Interviews.

Cover of The Prophet

In 2012, I will work harder at integrating ancient and modern wisdom to serve you better. The ancient wisdom will be in the people I profile and some of the books I review, and the modern wisdom will be in the people I interview and some of the books I review. If you have other suggestions, please let me know. Please write your thoughts in the comments section below.

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The Prophet, The Prince, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: The Five Authorized Versions (Classics Club).

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Living Fully is my Mantra for 2012

Avil Beckford — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:07:39 +0000

My mantra for 2012 is living fully.

For the past few years, at the start of each new year, a few bloggers name three words that will guide them for the upcoming year. Yesterday, Chris Brogran and Susan Murphy wrote their three words for 2012. I must admit that twice I wrote three words but didn’t do much with them. I suspect that I didn’t spend as much time as I should, choosing my three words.

After I read All Fall Down by Megan Hart, which I will talk about tomorrow on Booked for Mentoring, while I was having a delayed reaction to the book, living fully seeped into my consciousness, and it seemed appropriate that that’s what I should be focusing on for 2012. I knew without a doubt that living fully is my guiding light for 2012. I often hold myself back and play it safe, and now is the time to step out in a very big way.

I don’t know precisely what living fully will look like for me, but I will figure it out as I go along. Though I tremendously respect the bloggers who are using their three words to guide them for 2012, I’m going to be zagging and instead focus on my phrase living fully. That’s what I need in my life right now.

What will be your guiding light for 2012?

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Things You Should Know before Evaluating Finance Candidates

Avil Beckford — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:30:20 +0000

This is a guest post by Genny Silvera, and even though the headline says finance candidates, the advice works well for other job seekers.

Finding a candidate to fill a position in your firm takes more effort than simply posting an advertisement in the classifieds or on an online job website if you want to do it the right way. You want to create a pool of the best candidates. Who you recruit to fill a position hinges on what criteria you use for recruitment.

Whether you find your candidates on your own or employ a recruitment firm, your recruitment efforts should center on these essential elements:

Determine Your Expectations

Knowing what qualities you want to find in a potential employee starts with defining those qualities before you recruit candidates. Defining what set of criteria is important because it helps focus what choices you make in the hiring process.

Keep these three key thoughts in mind when determining what candidate you want for a position:

What skills are required to function in the job?
What educational credentials are needed for the job?
What attributes are essential to performing well in the job?

Once you can answer these questions, you can begin to seek for the right job candidates. Going forward without firm answers can mean wasted time and money down the road.

Study Applications and Resumes

Carefully examine each application and resume you receive for a position. Some of them will not come from viable candidates. There are always a certain percentage of people who apply for any job opening whether or not they even meet the basic qualifications. Working with a finance staffing agency can eliminate some of these superfluous resumes and applications and leave behind a pool of qualified candidates.

Each resume and application should be checked to see if job candidates align with the qualities important to the position through their skill set and professional experience. Take your time to figure out if a candidate meets this key criteria. It can mean all the difference between making a good hire and a bad one.

Make Interviews Count

When a candidate comes in for a job interview, it is a time to really see what makes them tick. An interview is the perfect time to get a good read on everything from their communication skills to their problem-solving abilities. You should walk away from an interview with a good idea if a candidate is a perfect fit for your company.

Use the interview to your advantage. Ask focused questions that probe how the candidate thinks or reacts when placed in situations that mirror what they would face working in your company. Their responses will allow you to see how closely they match with the important criteria you defined before the search began.

About the Author: Genny Silvera loves the interview and hiring process but knows that it can be stressful. Groups like Accounting Principals finance recruiting can cut the work and the stress in half for employers who need to remain focused on their customers.

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Booked on Tuesday: Musings of Book Addict – Lessons I Learned in 2011

Avil Beckford — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:30:32 +0000

By the end of 2011, I would have read 200 books for the year. I have always been a voracious reader, but this year I have outdone myself. Despite this, I still feel like a slacker because quite a few people who I know are averaging between four to five books each week. I didn’t read as many classics as I’d like. I find that I struggle to read some of the classics because the story unfolds so slowly.

I try to read books from many genres, and even if it’s fiction, I find that I always take away a lesson or two. I have also noticed that some of the same themes emerging, and I’d like to share them with you.

Persistence pays.
Where you start out in life does not determine where you’ll end up.
Forgive those who hurt you.
Let go of anger.
You can accomplish a lot more than you think.
Take time to enjoy life, the journey is everything.
Spend time with family and friends.
When others criticize you, instead of immediately being defensive, honestly ask yourself if there is merit to the criticism. If there is, immediately make the changes.
Emulate the good qualities you admire in others and check yourself for their bad ones.
Things always take a longer to accomplish than you first thought.
You accomplish a lot more when you collaborate with people whose skills complement yours.
Fall down seven times get up eight.

I’d like to leave you with a quote by Charles Wesley and John Wesley, and a poem by Portia Nelson to reflect on.

“Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can

To all the people you can

As long as ever you can!”

By Charles and John Wesley

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

Chapter 1

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I am lost … I am helpless.

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don’t see it.

I fall in again.

I can’t believe I am in the same place.

But it isn’t my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I still fall in … it’s a habit.

My eyes are open.

I know where I am.

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

Chapter 4

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

Chapter 5

I walk down another street.

~ Portia Nelson ~

(There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk)

You Tube Video of Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

If you cannot view the video please click here.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

YouTube Video Credit: Uploaded by WildcatTech on May 11, 2009

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Booked for Mentoring: Musings of a Book Addict – and the Most Impactful Book for 2011 Is….

Avil Beckford — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:30:11 +0000

I have read a lot of really good books this year (2011 Books for Mentoring), and because I am at active reader, I always learn at least one thing from the books that I read. This is the time of year when you find the various lists for the best books of the year. I already gave you the list of some of the books that I have thoroughly enjoyed. But, I have also been thinking about which book was most impactful and practical for me.

And the winner is…

Drum roll please!

Cover via Amazon

…How to Read Literature Like Professor by Thomas Foster. When I first started to read How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I thought it was going to be very boring and academic, but I was pleasantly surprised. The book is essentially a guide on how to read to get the most from what you are reading. Foster recommends that while you are reading to constantly ask yourself, “Where have I seen this before?” And you should also question what you are reading in the text. Since reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I now read very differently. And I pay even more attention than I usually do while reading.

Additionally, I ask more questions about the significance of events occurring in the book. If a character has a heart ailment, I ask myself why the author allowed that to happen. If there is water in a scene, I ponder about the significance, whether it’s a cleansing, or a rebirth and so on. Having read How to Read Literature Like a Professor I am a far more discerning reader, which deepens my understanding of the books I read.

Because of this new questioning while reading, I found out that The Hunger Games Trilogy was loosely based on the Greek myth of Theseus. The protagonist, 16-year old Katniss Everdeen is viewed as a modern day Theseus.

And another unexpected benefit occurred during the summer while I was researching and writing many Profiles in Wisdom. Another question I have been asking myself as a result of having read How to Read Literature Like a Professor is where have I heard of this person before?

For instance, Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer and she worked with Charles Babbage the father of computers. Lovelace was the daughter of Lord Byron and Lady Byron. Lady Byron was an abolitionist who became great friends with Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. At one point in her life, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was her neighbour. Beecher Stowe met with Abraham Lincoln who remarked, “So this is the little woman who wrote the book that made this big war,” in reference to the American Civil War. Through Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace met Mary Fairfax Somerville who became one of her mentors. Mary Somerville was also one of the people who American astronomer Maria Mitchell had letters of introduction to when she visited Europe. Lord Byron made several references to Sappho, one of the greatest female poets who ever lived.

It’s uncanny how many connections were among the people who I researched, and it wasn’t planned on my part – it just happened – and it strengthened my knowledge on the people who I profiled. As I upload the many profiles I have already written, you will see the many connections for yourself. That’s what reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor will do for you.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a book that you will constantly refer to because it is packed with so much useful information. This is the book that has had the biggest impact on me in 2011. Of all the books that you’ve read in 2011, which one has had the most impact, and is the most practical? If you haven’t read Thomas Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, pick up a copy today and click here to read my review. How to Read Literature Like a Professor makes a great book for mentoring.

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Adventures in Learning: DIY Mentoring Program

Avil Beckford — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:19:56 +0000

In the recent mentoring survey by the social network LinkedIn, a large percent of women reported that the reason they didn’t have a mentor was because no one had asked them. This is the first in a series that will assist you in taking control of your career by creating your own personal mentoring program. Instead of waiting to be asked if you would like to be mentored, you will learn how to take the initiative in finding appropriate mentors for yourself.

It may seem weird to you that there is such a thing as a do-it-yourself mentoring program. We have been conditioned to think of mentoring in a certain way, in a traditional way, where someone, usually at a senior level, advises and guides another person at a more junior level. Before you create a mentoring program for yourself, first you have to understand what mentoring is, as well as determine what your true needs are, so that you seek appropriate mentors and tap into relevant networks.

The Story behind Mentoring

In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, when Odysseus, the Greek King of Ithaca left to fight in the 10-year Trojan War, he left his old friend Mentor in charge of his household and young son Telemachus. The real Mentor is not mentioned that much in the story; however, the immortal Goddess Athena, disguises herself as Mentor and encourages Telemachus to stand up to the men who were courting his mother Penelope.

Athena also encourages Telemachus to go abroad to seek word about what has happened to his father, who had now been away for almost 20 years. Additionally, Athena acts as a mentor to Odysseus as he goes through the many trials during his return journey to his palace in Ithaca after the war.

In more recent times, Freddie Laker mentored Sir Richard Branson, Roger Corman mentored Martin Scorcese and Ron Howard, Michelle Robinson mentored Barack Obama and former Xerox CEO Anne M. Mulcahy mentored Ursula Burns to take over the reins. (For some interesting mentor-protégé pairings click here for an extensive list on Peer Resources).

Definition of Mentoring

The modern usage of mentor – trusted friend, counsellor or teacher – first appeared in François Fénelon’s Les Aventures de Telemaque in 1699, Wikipedia (2009). Dictionary.com has a similar definition for a mentor, “Wise and trusted counsellor or teacher, an influential senior sponsor or supporter.” And Wikipedia notes that “Mentors provide their expertise to less-experienced individuals to help them advance their careers, enhance their education.”

However, the concept of mentoring has been evolving over the past few years, and it’s no longer a traditional one-to-one or relationship. Mentoring is conversations, interactions, support and other networks and our relationships with others. Mentoring can occur in moments (profound conversation you have with others, or the interviews I conduct with others), over a period of time (mentoring for a specific period of time) or even over a lifetime (parents are often great mentors). Once you embrace the broader meaning of mentoring and mentors, it’s much easier for you to create a mentoring program that’s just right for you.

In addition to the above, there is also a new kind of mentoring – invisible mentoring. An invisible mentor is a “unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from a distance.” You may call these people role models, but they are also your invisible mentors. The invisible mentor concept may be unfamiliar to you, but in Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, which was first published in 1937, the author writes about what he calls “invisible counsellors”. According to Hill, “I followed the habit of reshaping my own character by trying to imitate the nine men whose lives and life works had been most impressive to me… Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Paine, Thomas Edison, Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, Luther Burbank, Napoleon Bonaparte, Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie… I studied the records of their lives with painstaking care.”

Step One in Creating your Mentoring Program

Before you get down to the nitty-gritty of creating your mentoring program, you first have to understand yourself and your needs, the why behind wanting a mentor. Here is your first action to take.

Mini Mentoring Needs Analysis

What are your vision, mission and purpose in life?
In the next three years, where would you like to be in your personal and professional life? Please frame your responses in the form of personal and professional goals for each of the five life areas – Economic/Financial, Social, Health/Fitness, Business/Career and Personal. Have no more than 10 goals and assign timelines to them for what you want to accomplish in the first, second and third year.
Think about your professional goals, what gaps exist between where you are now, to where you would like to be in the next three years?
What actions do you have to take to fill those gaps?
What knowledge do you have to acquire to fill those gaps?
Who are the experts that you can learn from, and what are their areas of expertise?
Of the experts that you identified, which ones do you respect and are respected by others?
If trusted friends could introduce you to five people who would be ideal mentors for you, would you choose? Would your ideal mentors be similar to the experts you identified above?
The five ideal mentors that you choose in the above question, what qualities and traits do they possess, which accounted for you choosing them?
Who are some people within your organizations, and other networks who have the same goals as you do? (These people could be potential members for mentoring groups that you create).
At the end of a mentoring relationship, what would success for you look like?

In the next episode of the DIY Mentoring Program, we’ll delve further into the process.

I am thinking of creating a digital product that fleshes out the DIY Mentoring Program. What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Adventures in Learning: DIY Mentoring Program, Episode Three (theinvisiblementor.com)
Adventures in Learning: DIY Mentoring Program, Episode Two (theinvisiblementor.com)

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Make the Most of What You Have

Avil Beckford — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:30:24 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Recently, I attended a book signing event at Indigo Books and Music where Walter Isaacson talked about his biography of Steve Jobs. Indigo’s CEO Heather Reisman did an excellent job interviewing Isaacson, and the audience got some deep insights into why Jobs was the way he was.

Isaacson remarked that kindness was not among Jobs’ top 100 traits – words he used to describe him include: Petulant, artistic, emotional, genius, mean, dual-personality, intuitive, control freak, liked to have his own way, had the ability to engender loyalty. If someone were eulogizing you, what would your top 100 traits be?

I’ve been thinking that I’m not always as grateful as I could be because there are times when I take things for granted. I also asked myself if I make the most of what I already have. Each of us is unique in our own way. We have talents that others don’t have, but are we using them well? Are we using them to serve others? When someone offers us their talents, are we gracious in accepting them, or are we dismissive? I am writing this post for you and for me.

Since attending the Isaacson event, I have been thinking how I can be of better service, and be gracious (gracious is one word that Isaacson used to describe Bill Gates) in the process. On The Invisible Mentor blog, I have added a page called The Mentors. On that page, I have placed all the Interviews and Profiles in Wisdom in one place where they can be easily accessed. The intent of The Invisible Mentor blog is to provide mentoring in a non-traditional way. I feature interviews I personally conducted, and profiles of wise people who have died, and that’s my unique way of connecting modern and ancient wisdom.

If there are blogs and other websites that you frequent and print their content, to strip away all that extraneous stuff so you don’t waste paper, download the Readability tool bar extension and click on it before you print. You’ll also notice that if you go directly to The Invisible Mentor blog, you’ll find a Print Friendly button at the end of each post. After you have used Readability to strip away whatever I have in the two outside columns you can print a clean copy of any post. In the mean time, I’ll research to see if there is a way to do that in one step.

Are you making the most of what you have, and how are you using it to serve the world?

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The Invisible Mentor » Article

Adventures in Learning: Six Degrees of Separation

Create Your Board of Mentors – January is National Mentoring Month

Adventures in Learning: Learning Tools and Resources to Help You Succeed in Today’s Fast-Paced World

12 Blog Posts People are Reading on The Invisible Mentor

Living Fully is my Mantra for 2012

Things You Should Know before Evaluating Finance Candidates

Booked on Tuesday: Musings of Book Addict – Lessons I Learned in 2011

Booked for Mentoring: Musings of a Book Addict – and the Most Impactful Book for 2011 Is….

Adventures in Learning: DIY Mentoring Program

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Make the Most of What You Have