![theatlantic:
Relationships Are More Important Than Ambition
In Canada and the United States, having frequent contact with neighbors was associated with higher levels of well-being, as was the feeling of truly belonging in a group. “If everyone in a community becomes more connected, the average level of subjective well-being would increase,” they wrote.
This may explain why Latin Americans, who live in a part of the world fraught with political and economic problems, but strong on social ties, are the happiest people in the world, according to Gallup. It may also explain why Dreher’s Louisiana came in as the happiest state in the country in a major study of 1.3 million Americans published in Science in 2009. This surprised many at the time, but makes sense given the social bonds in communities like Starhill. Meanwhile, wealthy states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California were among the least happiest, even though their inhabitants have ambition in spades; year after year, they send the most number of students to Ivy League.
Read more. [Image: Flickr]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/e8fb74b2ca4339a045cac92ca2642ec0/tumblr_mld3uqCWxZ1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
Link: Stanford Daily | Why the d.school has its limits
Like any method, design thinking structures how you approach and conceptualize a problem. The way the method is currently taught, however, preordains the result.
The answer to any problem unfailingly is a product or a service. Some problems are indeed best solved with a product or a service. Yet other problems need systemic solutions (e.g. political action).
Take the problem of a low-income single mom for whom dinner with her kids is stressful. How might we improve her dinner experience? We can surely come up with some product or service which decreases the time the mom spends in the kitchen or somehow makes it more fun for her kids to help cook dinner.
But what if raising the minimum wage so she didn’t have to work two jobs was the best way to improve this mom’s dinner experience? Using the design thinking methodology, you would be exceedingly unlikely to reach this conclusion.
You would also be unlikely to reach this conclusion using economics.
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Reblogged from pegobry![theatlantic:
The Best Career Advice You’ll Never Hear in a Graduation Speech
“Follow your passion” is the stupidest career advice I’ve ever heard. Why? Because my passion in life is for singing bad karaoke. My friend Dodgy Dave’s passion is for dealing crack cocaine. Some of my friends have many passions. Most of my friends have none.
“Do what you’re good at” is better, but still stupid. It gets things the wrong way around. For almost all activities, being “good at” something is the result of thousands of hours of practice and learning (pdf). In choosing a career, you’re almost always making the decision about what to become good at, not the other way around.
How, then, should you find a job you’ll love?
Here’s my slogan: ”Do something valuable.”
Read more. [Image: Getty]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/4b1394124b16d91f280f897689ba1319/tumblr_mlgog08r9P1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
