http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog The lastest news from The Lavin Agency en-en http://www.thelavinagency.com/assets/images/lavin/logo.gif http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-elizabeth-dunn-on-taking-time-to-enjoy-your-earnings.html "The logic is so simple: If I work hard now, the money I earn will give me the opportunity to do all the things that make me happy later," Elizabeth Dunn and Happy Money co-author Mike Norton write in a CNN blog post. We assume that if we work hard and earn lots of money, we will eventually become happier people because we can afford all of the things we want. According to Dunn, however, there's a giant flaw in this logic: "We get so caught up earning money that we forget to leave ourselves time... 2013-05-24 9:50:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-jessica-jackley-on-the-power-of-human-connection.html Jessica Jackley, a thought leader for the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, doesn't believe in prescriptives in life. As the social change speaker explains in a new interview, the most meaningful acts aren't driven by guilt or obligation. Rather, it's the sense of fulfillment people get from connecting with others that drives good deeds. "My wish for every human being would be that they, out of a sense of gratitude for what they do have in their own lives, out of a sense of a... 2013-05-24 12:21:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-lewis-mackenzie-on-managing-your-team-under-pressure.html As leadership speaker and retired Major General Lewis MacKenzie says, anyone can lead a team when times are easy. Unfortunately, as he tells the crowd at the Compliance Week 2013 annual conference, the business leaders of today are generally faced with extremely difficult situations every day. The only way for an organization to succeed in volatile economic times is to have a unified and motivated workforce, he explains, and the key to achieving that is to empower leaders to take responsibility for... 2013-05-24 11:20:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-ben-rattray-on-using-technology-to-redesign-health-care.html Health advocates have tried to remove "pink slime" (a controversial beef product) from school lunches for almost a decade. As Ben Rattray told VentureBeat in an interview, Texas mom Bettina Siegel successfully petitioned to have the USDA pull the product from lunches in a single week. With over 250,000 signatures, Siegel proved that the online petition platform Change.org was a powerful tool for solving pressing health concerns. And as Rattray (Change.org's founder and CEO) explains in a keynote... 2013-05-24 14:51:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-charles-wheelan-book-naked-statistics-is-as-valuable-as-bill-of-rights-dictionary.html In a world where stats and big data are becoming a big part of national conversations—even for those who aren't economics majors—Charles Wheelan's new book "deserves to be a candidate for the reference work to go along with your pocket Bill of Rights and online dictionary." That's what the politics blog Roll Call is saying of Wheelan's essential book, Naked Statistics. With new technologies allowing us to gather, store, and exploit data in ways like never before, it is becoming increasingly... 2013-05-24 15:38:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/marina-adshade-on-lou-dobbs-tonight As economics speaker Marina Adshade discusses on Lou Dobbs Tonight, market forces can be a significant factor in determining what happens in our love lives. Drawing from research found in her conversation-generating new book, Dollars and Sex, the professor says that teenage promiscuity is on a sharp decline. In fact, there has been a noted 25 per cent decrease in teenage births as of late. Adshade, who takes an economics-driven approach to sex and dating, says that future financial and job prospects... 2013-05-24 16:47:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-jennifer-gardy-fresh-new-voice.html We're proud to announce the addition of our newest speaker, Dr. Jennifer Gardy. Gardy is a scientist at British Columbia's Centre for Disease Control, and a guest host on CBC's The Nature of Things. In her day job (and in her TEDx talk, embedded above), Gardy hunts for the next pandemic to stop it before it spreads. She describes a new form of public health, which she dubs "the open source outbreak." Using the H1N1 flu strain as the best example, Gardy argues that a combination of communication technology,... 2013-05-23 15:17:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-motivation-speaker-joshua-prager-on-writing-his-new-book-half-life.html After a terrible car accident left Joshua Prager with a broken neck (which initially rendered him a temporary quadriplegic, and, eventually, left him a hemiplegic) he was full of questions. "Was it owing to the crash that I was not married, that I was ever-mindful of time, that people seemed to tell me what they told no one else?" the motivation speaker writes in a new opinion piece for CNN. "I wondered if my crash-mates wondered similar things. I wondered how they had made sense of the crash. And... 2013-05-23 15:57:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-neil-gershenfeld-on-bbc-news-talks-3d-printing.html "3D printing is a strange meme that is being misrepresented in the press by people who don't actually use it," science speaker Neil Gershenfeld tells BBC News. In the article, Gershenfeld (Director of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms) argues that despite being a beneficial technology, 3D printing won't be spurring a manufacturing revolution all by itself. He says the technology is interesting enough, but it is limited in application. There are many other machines that he's been experimenting... 2013-05-22 10:36:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-spaker-ken-stern-on-why-the-rich-dont-donate-to-charity.html Social change speaker Ken Stern says that reading press releases on major donations in American makes it easy to think that "the story of charity in this country is a story of epic generosity on the part of the American rich." Despite the reports publicizing massive donations from wealthy donors, or the numerous university buildings that have been named after affluent benefactors, Stern argues that those with more modest incomes actually donate the most. "In 2011, the wealthiest Americans—those... 2013-05-22 11:54:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-michael-moss-gina-kolata-on-salt-intake.html Weeding out the "healthy choice" from the sea of savory, lip-smacking processed foods on your grocery store shelves can be tricky, health speaker Michael Moss says. Combine confusing nutritional labels with the myriad of conflicting research on what you should—and shouldn't be—eating and the simple question of "what's for dinner?" can turn into a real head-scratcher. As Gina Kolata, another Lavin health speaker, reports in The New York Times, "until about 2006, almost all studies on salt... 2013-05-22 13:11:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-james-owen-weatherall-in-scientific-american-on-physics-and-wall-street.html "The Physics of Wall Street  [by James Owen Weatherall] is a thoroughly researched history of modern physics and finance, with lucid explanations of fractals, derivatives and other esoteric topics," Scientific American writes. "It’s also a great read, filled with compelling characters, high drama and provocative ideas." In the book, Weatherall (a physicist, philosopher, mathematician, and economics speaker) transforms the traditionally held notions about financial and economic markets.... 2013-05-22 15:02:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/art-speaker-molly-crabapple- Molly Crabapple 2013-05-21 11:49:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-roy-baumeister-on-self-control-and-emotion-at-yale.html It's a common belief that our current emotional state dictates our behavior. From a evolutionary standpoint, however, science speaker Roy Baumeister says that doesn't add up. Why would we have developed emotional responses that drive us to do self-destructive things, for example? How does anger benefit us if that emotion often leads to us doing things we wouldn't otherwise—ultimately making us feel regret? Baumeister explains that despite emotion playing some role in our behaviors, research... 2013-05-21 10:05:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ta-nehisi-coates-on-obamas-policy-on-race-in-america.html Last year, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote the highly talked-about National Magazine Award-winning article titled "Fear of a Black President." This week, he followed up that acclaimed Atlantic piece with another poignant exploration of President Obama's victories and failures in his relationship with black America. Coates stresses that the Obama administration should not be expected to right all the wrongs of the past. However, President Obama should be more than "a president who sought to hold black people... 2013-05-21 12:09:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-jer-thorp-on-cascade-and-twitter.html Viral content: It's an internet buzz word that many claim to understand—but few actually do. Big data speaker Jer Thorp may be bringing us one step closer, however, to truly grasping the anatomy of viral content. And, through the use of his data visualization tool Cascades, the data artist is using Twitter to learn how content spreads across the web. Once we can pinpoint how  a piece of content moves throughout cyber space, we can better determine which content will become a sensation.... 2013-05-21 16:23:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-elizabeth-dunn-on-incentives-for-employees.html "Salaries and bonuses are generally effective—if limited—motivators," Elizabeth Dunn and Mike Norton, her Happy Money co-author, write in The Washington Post. "But the nuanced psychology of reward suggests that despite the allure, the power of money can wear off." This may come as a shock because most of us, when asked, would admit to never turning down the prospect of a raise. But, as Dunn writes in the article, "a growing body of research shows that, in some cases, paying people more... 2013-05-21 13:46:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-adam-alter-on-cbs-sunday-morning-on-design-psychology.html What would prompt someone to paint their walls an obnoxious and unpopular bubble-gum pink? As science speaker Adam Alter explains in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, a certain shade of vibrant pink (commonly referred to as Drunk Tank Pink) tends to have a calming effect on the people exposed to it. This was discovered by psychologists back in the 1970s. That's why, despite the fact that no one really liked the color, it was all the rage in jail cells and school hallways for a time. "Even to... 2013-05-21 15:32:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-elizabeth-dunn-on-higher-profits-happier-customers.html Fans of the popular McRib sandwich from McDonald's may wonder why the company constantly puts the item on and off their menu. It may also leave other companies stumped as to why the fast food chain would offer such a profitable item for a "limited time only." Economics speaker Elizabeth Dunn has an explanation as to why some companies limit customer access to their favorite products. As she explains in her new book, Happy Money (co-authored with Mike Norton), the move is actually a stroke... 2013-05-17 11:00:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-marina-adshade-on-money-power-relationships.html "Just because I look at dating and marriage as a market doesn’t mean that there’s no passion and romance," economics speaker Marina Adshade tells Bloomberg Businessweek. "Then again, if that were the most important, we’d see much more randomized matching than we do. We see a lot of couples matching over education and income and other economic factors." Adshade is the author of the much talked about book Dollars and Sex: How Economics Influences Sex and Love. In the book, and her... 2013-05-17 9:58:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-charles-fishman-talks-clothing-and-working-conditions.html Is our quest for bargain clothing prices trumping the ability for factory workers to earn a living wage in a safe workplace? Charles Fishman, retail speaker and author of The Wal-Mart Effect, thinks so. As he explains in a new interview with NPR Baltimore, cheap clothing for us in North America often comes at a high cost for those manufacturing it elsewhere in the world. "The working conditions are in the price," Fishman explained in an interview with Lavin. If something seems unbelievably cheap,... 2013-05-16 11:05:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-liespotting-author-pamela-meyer-on-dishonesty-in-sports.html "Our tolerance for disgrace, and our obliviousness to honor has become appalling," Liespotting author Pamela Meyer writes in The Huffington Post. Recent incidents in professional sports provide perhaps the most telling examples of this statement in action. Take the world of professional golf, for example. Two golfers, several years apart, found themselves in violation of the rules put in place by the Professional Golf Association. On the 15th hole, the first golfer (Tiger Woods—you may have... 2013-05-16 11:40:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-arts-speaker-kal-penn-in-rolling-stone.html If Kal Penn's time in political office has proven anything, it's that cultural diplomacy can go a long way in connecting people with important issues, and that a little humor can inspire people to get involved in a cause they feel passionately about. Known to most as a Hollywood actor, and to others as the former Associate Director at the White House Office of Public Engagement, Penn has fluidly shifted between acting and politics. Not only that, but he just finished up a graduate program at Stanford... 2013-05-16 15:41:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-food-speaker-michael-moss-on-the-war-on-food.html The processed food industry is preparing itself for battle, food speaker Michael Moss says. In their arsenal is a scientifically calculated combination of salt, sugar, and fat. If this doesn't exactly leave you shaking in your boots, consider that the industry has manipulated how much of each ingredient they dump into their products to ensure you are rendered powerless against the taste of "craveable," "snackable" goodies. "I know a war when I see one," Moss tells CUNY TV's City Talk, "and this... 2013-05-16 14:38:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-jer-thorp-is-a-national-geographic-emerging-explorer.html "Often my work stems from a question in my mind or an interesting data set," Jer Thorp, a big data speaker, tells National Geographic. "I look at it from as many conceptual and mathematical angles as I can, searching for a pattern. For me, it’s a visual way of analyzing a problem. I think in code and build open source software that lets anyone get in the driver’s seat and explore." It is his unique approach to mining the mountains of data surrounding us that has put him at the forefront... 2013-05-15 9:54:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-shannon-k-oneil-on-the-way-mexico-impacts-america-policy.html According to economics speaker Shannon K. O'Neil's research, Mexico has changed—a lot—over the past six or seven years. The Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations recently spoke about how economic factors in America and changing demographics in Mexico have impacted migration flow between the two countries. And, how these changes will directly impact discussions on border security and U.S. immigration policy in the future. As the author of the new book, Two Nations Indivisible:... 2013-05-15 10:00:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-work-speaker-elizabeth-dunn-on-smarter-corporate-spending.html The majority of us probably wish we got paid more. We fantasize about what we'd do with a big raise or a bonus—assuming that a higher paycheck leads to a happier working experience. Work speaker and Happy Money co-author Elizabeth Dunn disagrees. In fact, she has new research to suggest that there isn't a direct correlation between higher salaries and happier employees. "Rather than simply paying people as much as a company possibly could," Dunn says in an interview with First Business, "a... 2013-05-15 14:26:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-ben-rattray-on-being-a-for-profit-business.html Change.org, the online petition platform founded by social change speaker Ben Rattray, has all the makings of a non-profit advocacy organization. However, despite it's humanitarian roots, and its commitment to changing the world, the business actually operates on a for-profit model. It may not be easy to generate revenue from petitions, but Rattray is convinced that it's possible to make a difference in the world while turning a profit at the same time. That's why he refers to Change.org as a new... 2013-05-15 15:35:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-speaker-on-bullying-emily-bazelon-on-cyber-bullying.html Emily Bazelon, speaker on bullying and author of Sticks and Stones, says that we're not necessarily experiencing a bullying epidemic or a sharp rise in the number of kids being bullied. What we are seeing, however, is a different kind of bullying. As she told the panel during a recent appearance on Morning Joe, the primary form of bullying in the past would generally be physical violence. Today, however, kids are being bullied not only in person, but online as well. The primary difference between... 2013-05-15 16:23:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-design-speaker-nerio-xman-in-icon-magazine.html "If nature is sustainable and beautiful, how can we make things that are sustainable and beautiful?" That's the question design speaker Neri Oxman asks when she embarks on her breakthrough fabrication projects. Oxman, who was recently profiled on the cover of ICON magazine, is an award-winning designer who runs the Mediated Matter research group at MIT. Oxman and her team work on revolutionary "products and processes [that integrate] environmentally aware, computational, form-generation processes... 2013-05-15 17:15:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-carlin-flora-on-making-friends-in-school.html "Most schools do not teach friendship skills," education speaker Carlin Flora told us in an interview. "We assume these are naturally acquired—and they are for kids who intuitively know how to approach other kids, listen to them, give and take, and propose interesting and fun activities." However, as she addresses in her talks, not all kids are able to develop these vital socializing skills on their own. And, like she points to in her book Friendfluence, close friendships play an important... 2013-05-14 12:03:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-elizabeth-dunn-book-happy-money-released-today.html When it comes to saving and investing money, most people enlist professionals to help them do it effectively. With spending, however, most of us just wing it. According to research found in the new book by economics speaker Elizabeth Dunn, however, there is a science to spending just as there is for saving. And, if you follow the 5 principles she lays out in Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending (just released today) you'll find that you can buy your way to a happier outlook on life. Co-written... 2013-05-14 11:18:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-media-speaker-alexandra-samuel-on-better-leadership-online-in-the-wsj.html "Stop looking at social media as another platform you have to learn—yet another responsibility," social media speaker Alex Samuel writes in The Wall Street Journal. "Start seeing it for what it can be instead: a personal toolbox for improving your practice of leadership." Learning to effectively utilize a new social network or platform seems daunting and time-consuming to many business executives. Samuel argues, however, that the return on investment—to the tune of new insights into work... 2013-05-14 14:53:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-diversity-speaker-kwame-anthony-appiah-on-cosmopolitanism.html In Cosmopolitanism, the award-winning book by Kwame Anthony Appiah, a new set of ethics was laid out that both celebrates our common humanity, and offers a practical way to manage our differences. It was this idea of global connectedness, combined with accepted difference, that Appiah discussed in a recent Huffington Post article. The opinion piece was part of a new series that coincides with the Carnegie Council's Centennial Thought Leaders Forum. As one of the Thought Leaders taking part in the... 2013-05-14 16:06:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-water-speaker-charles-fishman-keynote-on-local-water-problems.html "First, and I think most important, there is no global water crisis," water speaker Charles Fishman told the crowd in a keynote at the Rotman institute, "there are a thousand, or maybe ten thousand, local water crises." In his speech, Fishman explained that there are common misconceptions about the water problems we are facing, and when we focus on the misinformation surrounding the problem, there is little hope for reaching a solution. While there has been a lot of buzz generated around the idea... 2013-05-14 17:04:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speakers-jonathan-haidt-charles-wheelan-on-compromise-in-politics.html To most of us, the political powers that be might seem so fragmented and divided that there is simply no solution to our broken system. Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind, and Charles Wheelan, author of The Centrist Manifesto, have other ideas. Both politics speakers believe that pragmatism and compromise is possible—and it could save our senate. Partisanship and debate is a healthy—and even productive—component of a democratic society. The ability to promote an agenda... 2013-05-14 17:25:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-media-speaker-alex-pang-talks-online-distraction-in-the-guardian.html Whether or not you agree with Nicholas Carr's famous Atlantic article that questions whether Google is making us stupid, digital media speaker Alex Pang admits that the web has indeed had a noticeable effect on his brain. "I would go into a room to get something, and by the time I got there I'd forget what I was looking for," Pang says in a Guardian article. "For someone who had got through life on raw brainpower, this was unsustainable, and a little terrifying." Pang is a senior consultant... 2013-05-13 9:54:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-maria-konnikova-on-taking-mind-breaks.html While memories of being read Sherlock Holmes as a child always seemed to pop up throughout her life, science speaker Maria Konnikova says it wasn't until fairly recently that she re-read the books in their entirety. And when she did, she recalls being "absolutely flabbergasted at how many psychological concepts I recognized in Conan Doyle's writing." In an interview featured on Scientific American and hosted by Blog Talk Radio, Konnikova says she eventually started annotating nearly every paragraph... 2013-05-13 15:14:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-celebrates-on-billion-lessons-taught.html As education speaker Salman Khan has proven, YouTube can be used for much more than watching "cats playing piano." It can, in fact, be a valuable tool for learning mathematics and other complex concepts. His online video-based learning platform, The Khan Academy, has become a popular aid for teaching students of all ages and abilities the skills they may be having a hard time with in school. Or, in some cases, it gives them an opportunity to brush up on knowledge they may not have gotten in school... 2013-05-13 12:12:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-adam-alter-on-environmental-cues-impacting-our-behavior.html In his new book, Drunk Tank Pink, science speaker Adam Alter has uncovered some fascinating findings about how cues in our environment impact our behavior. Since scientists are now able to pinpoint these cues, Malcolm Gladwell asks Alter why we can't identify them as they happen to us. Why aren't we able to tell that the color red, for example, is prone to inciting attraction? Why aren't we aware that a certain stock will do better than another on the market if its name is easily pronounceable? Why,... 2013-05-13 16:22:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-janna-levin-on-constrained-creativity.html Not only is science speaker Janna Levin a well-known theoretical astrophysicist who studies the intricacies of black holes and the big bang, she is also a PEN Award-winning author. Her books—How The Universe Got Its Spots and A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines—bridge fiction and non-fiction, science and literature, and provide a complex but digestible account of some of the most fascinating theories about the universe. Her career path has been somewhat unconventional, to say the least.... 2013-05-13 13:29:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-design-speaker-john-maeda-at-ted-med.html "Becoming a leader isn't about going up the mountain—it's about jumping off the mountain and asking the question, will you survive?" says John Maeda in his keynote at this year's TEDMED conference. Actually, as he later clarifies, leadership is not only asking if you'll survive jumping off the mountain—but whether you'll thrive doing so. This varies from many traditional theories about how to be an innovative leader. It's this kind of out of the box thinking and creativity that will help... 2013-05-13 17:17:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-energy-speaker-michael-levi-on-north-american-energy-strategy.html "It’s peculiar that the American energy debate is being conducted through a focus on Canadian oil development," energy speaker Michael Levi tells the Financial Post. In his newly released book, The Power Surge, Levi touches on the impact that the TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline project and the oil sands have on American energy policy. As he explains in the Financial Post article, energy decisions made in Canada "cast a huge shadow on the United States." In his book, Levi's devoted... 2013-05-10 9:43:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-charles-wheelan-on-a-political-center-party.html "The idea of the [The Centrist Manifesto] is to organize people in a passionate way," politics speaker Charles Wheelan tells MSNBC, "to create your own primaries, to run your own candidates around the best of the Democrats and the Republicans." Wheelan's new book is a blueprint for restructuring the Senate to create a political middle ground. He proposes that a new independent party be formed to combine the best of both major parties, and thus, become the ideological center of the nation. There are... 2013-05-10 14:17:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-elizabeth-dunn-on-being-happy-spending-money.html Rich or poor, economics speaker Elizabeth Dunn has evidence to show that people are happiest when they spend money on others rather than themselves. In fact, in researching for her new book Happy Money (co-written with Mike Norton), Dunn discovered that the effect was true across all cultures and income levels, which means she may have tapped into a new universal characteristic—one that she and Norton believe could even be hardwired into our brains at the societal level. "We think... 2013-05-10 12:00:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-jessica-jackley-on-being-an-entrepreneur.html Every day, social change speaker Jessica Jackley wakes up and asks herself, "now what?" As the co-founder of the nonprofit microloaning site Kiva, Jackley provided a platform for entrepreneurs all over the world to receive the financial assistance they needed to lift themselves out of poverty. It wasn't a seamless journey, however, and there were many bumps in the road. But she says it's important to start each day thinking about what you can do better—instead of dwelling on what might not... 2013-05-10 14:58:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-diversity-speaker-mira-nair-talks-cultural-identity-on-the-bbc.html "Living in America, in the 10 years since 9/11, it has been very disturbing to see how little we know of the other side," says film director Mira Nair in an interview with the BBC News. In her new film, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the diversity speaker shines a light on that "other side", and addresses issues of identity and what it feels like to be "the other." While Nair personally says she did not experience a great degree of hostility after the 9/11 attacks, living in New York City around... 2013-05-10 16:29:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-kal-penn-on-pursuing-careers-in-science.html Kal Penn recently ventured to Benjamin Banneker Middle School in the name of science. Well, in the name of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) to be more exact. The actor and former civil servant gave a keynote to stress the importance of studying STEM-based courses in school. As the host of the new Discovery Channel show The Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius, Penn sees the benefits of STEM learning first hand. The contestants on the show are trying to create the next big invention—and,... 2013-05-10 15:36:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-media-speaker-margaret-atwood-in-new-republic.html Margaret Atwood "recently published the final installment of a serialized novel about zombies co-written with a novelist who moonlights as an iPhone game-developer, for the YouTube-style 'social reading' website Wattpad," New Republic reports. That's a mouthful even for the most tech-savvy among us. But for Atwood—who is, as the publication describes, "somewhat of a poster child for how modern authors are supposed to conduct themselves online"—it's just another attempt to do everyday... 2013-05-09 11:07:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-art-speaker-molly-crabapple-essay-in-vice-magazine.html "We live in the age of the ubiquitous image," art speaker Molly Crabapple proposes in a telling new piece written for Vice magazine. We are living in a time where photos are being taken around the clock by everyone around us. Many of these images are plastered around the internet and end up circulating through cell phones and emails. Drawings, Molly says, are a welcome contrast to all of that. "Drawing is charmingly ineffectual in comparison," she writes. "You take photos. Drawings you make. Cameras... 2013-05-08 9:14:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-adam-alter-interviewed-by-malcolm-gladwell-on-environmental-cues.html "I think the effects of nature on behavior, our cognition, how we feel and think and react to all sorts of stresses, I think those effects are phenomenal, profound, and very powerful," science speaker Adam Alter told Malcolm Gladwell recently. The two authors, gathered to celebrate Alter's New York Times bestseller Drunk Tank Pink, spoke in front of a capacity crowd in New York City. (Check out the video above!) Gladwell , the night’s host, said that one of the “great things” about... 2013-05-08 11:24:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-michael-moss-talks-food-on-msnbc-morning-joe.html If you've ever wondered why those not-so-good-for-you food items are so hard to avoid, health speaker Michael Moss has your answer. Appearing on a recent edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, the Salt Sugar Fat author discusses the scientific makeup of the junk foods we crave. As Moss discovered, top scientists are relentlessly studying the different ratios of salt, sugar, and fat they can inject into our food to "send us over the moon." Or, as it's called in the industry, the "bliss point." It's no coincidence,... 2013-05-08 13:24:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-peter-mansbridge-on-long-term-success.html After 25 years as the anchor for CBC's The National—and 45 years of broadcast experience—Peter Mansbridge says he still gets excited every morning when he wakes up to go to work. His initial reaction to seeing a fire truck or an ambulance whizzing by, he adds, is still to chase it down the street and get the story. Even after being the face of Canadian news for so long, he tells COMPASS media that there are never any "really boring days." He still finds something new to learn, or someone... 2013-05-08 15:53:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-laurie-garrett-gets-rave-reviews-for-new-keynote.html It takes a lot more than a fire alarm ringing out mid-keynote to throw public health speaker Laurie Garrett off her game. In fact, Garrett "kept her cool" and got right back on stage, Twitter user @Lindz_Marie85 tweeted during Garrett's speech at the One Health MLA 2013 Conference. Talk about grace under fire! Her talk, titled "Working Together toward Global Health," was quite a hit—getting the Twittersphere buzzing with positive feedback. @esevetson, another attendee at the conference, said... 2013-05-08 16:13:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ta-nehisi-coates-on-writing-about-complex-issues.html "You simply can't know everything, and you can't always be right," Ta-Nehisi Coates says of being an opinion journalist. "But you can be honest and you can be brave." In his Atlantic columns (one of which, "Fear of a Black President," earned him a National Magazine Award), Coates presents an original and perceptive voice on politics, culture, and society. Jis poignant writing on his blog has also earned him a spot on TIME's list of the 25 Best Blogs in the World. Despite his success as a writer,... 2013-05-07 10:04:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-ben-rattray-keynote-on-being-an-entrepreneur.html When social change speaker Ben Rattray first decided to pursue the path of social entrepreneurship, it was because he'd found an idea he couldn't imagine not doing. As the keynote speaker for this year's Social Enterprise Conference, Rattray chronicled his path from investment banker wannabe, to law school student and consultant, to the founder and CEO of Change.org. As he tells the crowd in his talk, the journey was riddled with as many failures as successes. The logistics of getting a website together... 2013-05-07 11:16:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cities-speaker-candy-chang-confessions-installation.html What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. And, thanks to the work of cities speaker Candy Chang, what happens in Vegas also stays scribbled on the walls for everyone in Sin City to see. Aptly titled "Confessions," Chang's installation turned a Las Vegas art gallery into a space for spilling secrets this past summer. Featured in The Huffington Post this week, the exhibit explores the intersection of public and private space, and how creating more inclusive spaces for people to connect improves the sense... 2013-05-07 12:42:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-ronald-mallett-on-the-physics-of-time-travel.html "I'm going to be talking with you about something that sounds like it's been ripped out of the pages of science fiction," science speaker Ronald Mallett says in a recent keynote address. "Time travel: it's one of mankind's oldest fantasies...[and] I'm here to tell you there's a real scientific basis for the possibility of time travel." In his speech at the Stroud Science Symposium, Mallet shares his groundbreaking research in theoretical physics. Author of the fascinating book, Time Traveler,... 2013-05-06 10:20:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-elizabeth-dunn-on-smarter-spending.html Economics speaker Elizabeth Dunn and her Happy Money co-author Michael Norton think that money can bring you happiness. That is, if you know how to spend it properly. "Anything that fundamentally changes the way you spend your time is a good use of money—it’s happy money," Dunn says in a new interview in The Financial Post. Published in advance of the release of Happy Money (due out May 14), the professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia shares some advice... 2013-05-06 11:25:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-laurence-c-smith-in-smithsonian-magazine.html With the passing of another Earth Day, Smithsonian Magazine took a moment to reflect on the most notable discoveries made by scientists in the last year. Rounding out the list was environment speaker Laurence C Smith and his recent study on the melting ice around the North Pole, and its effect on international shipping. Climate change has signaled warning alerts to many scientists about the future of our planet. While countless problems are predicted to be caused by the warming planet, Smith has... 2013-05-06 12:28:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-jessica-jackley-on-social-entrepreneurship.html What makes a social entrepreneur different than other entrepreneurs? That was the lead-in question asked of social change speaker Jessica Jackely at The Duke Colloquium: Intellectual Curiosity and the Professional Life event. The Co-Founder of Kiva recently visited the school to give a presentation and participate in a workshop. The event was geared toward helping students incorporate human values into the work they plan to do after graduation. For those interested in entering the world of social... 2013-05-06 14:13:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-china-speaker-james-fallows-on-the-future-of-the-nation.html "There's not much debate about the scale or impressiveness of what China has achieved in the past 30+ years," James Fallows, a prominent China speaker, writes in a new post in The Atlantic. "Hundreds of millions of people moved from rural poverty to the middle class and beyond; the country regained its pride; the landscape was covered with factories and skyscrapers and shopping malls and high speed trains; and a thousand other aspects of life were changed." An expert on the Chinese economy, Fallows... 2013-05-06 16:15:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-public-policy-speaker-charles-wheelan-on-new-book-the-centrist-manifesto.html The nation's political system is fragmented and hyper-polarized like never before. Just ask Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind and leading voice on the stalemate between the left and right. Charles Wheelan, a prominent public policy speaker, also says that the two leading parties are drifting further and further apart—to the detriment of the citizens they are meant to serve. Author of the new book The Centrist Manifesto, Wheelan argues that now is the time to give a voice to the nation's... 2013-05-06 16:56:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-college-speaker-charles-wheelan-ten-things-commencement-speakers-dont-say.html How does Charles Wheelan feel about commencement speeches? "I've found that the saccharine and over-optimistic words of the typical commencement address hold few of the lessons young people really need to hear about what lies ahead," he writes in The Wall Street Journal. If anyone can be the judge of what commencement presenters should tell new graduates—it's Wheelan. He's the author of the book 10 1/2 Things No Commencement Speaker Has Ever Said, after all. And, his first job out of school... 2013-05-03 10:23:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-diversity-speaker-lz-granderson-on-jason-collins-and-the-nba.html "At this point, where we are in society in 2013, the news of an openly gay athlete—to me anyway— just isn't that shocking." That was LZ Granderson's initial reaction to NBA free-agent center Jason Collins' announcement that he is gay. And, as ESPN's Tim Keown writes in an article featured alongside Granderson's interview, the fact that it's not shocking is a good thing. It means progress. There is still a hard conversation to come, however, if Collins signs to an NBA team for next season.... 2013-05-03 11:04:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-media-speaker-amber-mac-on-social-media-privacy.html 13 million people on Facebook have never once adjusted their privacy settings. That's a startling statistic, says digital and social media speaker Amber Mac. One quarter of the entire social media site's user base are sharing everything with everyone—and some may not even realize it. "Nothing you put on Facebook is truly private," the Power Friending author tells CBS News. Unfortunately, if you don't adjust your settings, all of your information is being shared with the public. Not only can... 2013-05-03 14:20:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-jeff-rubin-new-keynote-on-the-end-of-cheap-energy.html "You are in the midst of nothing short of a revolution," economics speaker Jeff Rubin told a crowd of 2,000 in a new keynote on the energy industry. Not only were oil prices at their highest ever this year, but Rubin suggests the uphill price increase will make the resource too expensive to consume at current break-neck speeds. "Are we going to produce oil that we can afford to burn...and grow at the kinds of growth rates that we’ve become accustomed to?" he asked delegates at the Williston... 2013-05-03 14:59:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-andrew-bacevich-on-the-new-american-militarism.html "My book is not anti-American and it is not an attack on soldiers," politics speaker Andrew Bacevich says in his new Google Talks keynote. Rather, his recently re-released book (titled The New American Militarism, now being published with an updated Afterword) explores the way the nation has moved into an era where American values and worth are inextricably linked to military might. "Somewhere right around the end of the cold War, Americans generally said 'Yes,' to military power," Bacevich,... 2013-05-03 16:03:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-robert-kuttner-on-the-pitfalls-of-austerity.html "The whole view that let's tighten our belts and the economy will recover is just being refuted day after day," economics speaker Robert Kuttner says in a debate hosted by PBS Newshour. With Europe protesting austerity measures in time with May Day, and the American Federal Reserve announcing that government spending is "restraining economic growth," it's clear that Kuttner is not alone in his position on economic recovery. Spending, he says, wasn't the root cause of the deficit. It was a financial... 2013-05-02 9:35:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-justin-fox-on-peer-produced-content.html While there are lots of jobs emerging in the social media space—where people are paid to tweet, blog, etc., on behalf of a company—Justin Fox notes that most of these outlets are still based on "peer production processes" rather than "price-incentivized systems." Meaning, much of the content that the power players in the social media world are profiting from is produced for free by other users. But, as Fox probes in a new article in Harvard Business Review, how long will that last? How... 2013-05-02 16:13:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-peter-mansbridge-most-trusted-canadian-in-readers-digest.html Celebrating his 25th year on the air as the anchor for CBC's The National (and as the chief correspondent for CBC News), celebrity speaker Peter Mansbridge has become one of Canada's greatest public speakers. And, he's also one of the most trusted voices in the nation on current events. Mansbridge was just named to the #1 spot on the Reader's Digest 2013 Trust Poll. Released earlier this month, the poll awarded Mansbridge the designation thanks to his "Mansbridge Touch." Further: "We trust him because... 2013-05-02 13:11:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-author-speaker-salman-rushdie-wins-best-adapted-screenplay-award.html Salman Rushdie admitted he originally didn't want to take on the task of adapting Midnight's Children into a screenplay. However, his eventual decision to go forward with the project has paid off—earning him recognition at the Canadian Screen Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay. Translating his Booker Prize-winning novel into something made for film was certainly no easy feat. Paring down the canonical novel into a different medium required him to show reckless abandon to the original work,... 2013-05-02 13:52:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-stephen-tobolowsky-shares-fascinating-life-stories.html In his podcast, The Tobolowsky Files, Stephen Tobolowsky tells the wildly entertaining stories that have defined his life. As wacky as some of them may seem, they're all true. And true stories, he has argued, trump fictional ones any day of the week. Tobolowsky has been featured in a slew of small, but memorable, character-roles in numerous Hollywood productions. The most notable, perhaps, is Groundhog Day; some of the the most recent are recurring roles on Glee, Californication, and The Mindy Project.... 2013-05-02 15:06:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-doug-stephens-on-putting-consumer-experience-first.html We are in the midst of a massive overhaul in retail—one that's turned almost 200 years of traditional sales practice on its head. In an in-depth podcast at GigaOM, retail speaker Douglas Stephens delves into the retail shift that is changing the way we think about shopping. Retail has traditionally followed a product first, experience second model, Stephens says. For most of history, retail outlets existed to display and sell products to the market. But with the rise of e-commerce giants... 2013-05-01 9:16:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-camille-seaman-named-a-new-knight-fellow.html Thanks to her innovative proposal to "raise the profile of indigenous perspectives on the news," environment speaker Camille Seaman has been chosen out of 100 applicants for a prestigious John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship. Seaman, the photographer behind the breath-taking photo series, "The Last Iceberg", has set out to create a website to promote diverse stories in the news. The project will apply "indigenous perspectives and wisdom to current environmental stories and issues." Her role as a... 2013-05-01 11:44:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-personal-finance-speaker-david-chilton-on-yahoo-talks-smart-spending.html Want to get your spending and savings back on track? Personal finance speaker David Chilton believes that it's easier than you might think—as long as you are willing to be honest about your income. Chilton is the author of the popular personal finance books The Wealthy Barber and The Wealthy Barber Returns, and has made a career on imparting his wisdom about money. Today, he coaches young entrepreneurs on CBC's hit show Dragons' Den and provides entertaining keynotes for people in... 2013-05-01 16:25:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-maria-konnikova-on-overcoming-our-need-for-closure.html "The human mind is incredibly averse to uncertainty and ambiguity," science speaker Maria Konnikova explains in an intriguing new post in The New Yorker. "From an early age, we respond to uncertainty or lack of clarity by spontaneously generating plausible explanations." We have developed a "Need For Closure," says Konnikova. Because of our desire to quickly glean a concrete explanation of the events taking place around us, we can sometimes "produce fewer hypotheses and search less thoroughly for... 2013-05-01 12:49:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-inspires-american-teachers.html In his breakthrough book, The One World School House, education speaker Salman Khan encouraged teachers around the world to "flip the classroom." And recently, several instructors in both Wyoming and Idaho have incorporated his Khan Academy lecture videos into the curriculum. Injecting his accessible online videos into the traditional class material allows students to learn at their own pace. They can watch the videos multiple times, and at home after school. This frees up more time for teachers... 2013-05-01 15:35:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-michael-levi-new-book-in-bloomberg.html "Booming oil production will change the U.S. economy, international security and the global climate," energy and politics speaker Michael Levi writes in Bloomberg Businessweek. "But for many people, a simpler question matters most: What will U.S. oil abundance mean for the price of gasoline at the pump?" In the first of a three-part series (here is part two and part three) featured in Bloomberg, Levi has adapted excerpts from his forthcoming book to address the big changes taking place in the oil... 2013-04-30 10:53:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-matt-taibbi-financial-corruption-on-wall-street.html Matt Taibbi, a prominent politics and economics speaker, was recently a featured guest on the popular BS Report with Bill Simmons podcast. In an in-depth interview, Taibbi touched on the politics associated with the Boston bombings, the financial considerations when drafting players for sports teams, and the issues of corruption on Wall Street. A seasoned reporter on economics and the inner-workings of Wall Street, Taibbi covers complex financial topics in his award-winning Rolling Stone columns.... 2013-04-30 11:55:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-diversity-speaker-reza-aslan-honored-with-media-award.html Reza Aslan, a New York Times bestselling author and diversity speaker, doesn't pull any punches when tackling misconceptions about Muslims and Islam. His well-researched representations of these commonly misunderstood groups are accessible and provide clarity. In short, he builds bridges across gaps in understanding—mainly between the Eastern and Western worlds. That's why the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding is presenting him with the aptly named Media Bridge-Builder Award... 2013-04-30 12:28:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cities-speaker-richard-florida-creative-economy.html How do we really create wealth and prosperity? That's the pressing question that cities speaker Richard Florida presented to his audience in a new keynote at the RSA in London. His answer? The one source of economic wealth that we all inherently share—and that we can put to the most profitable use—is our creativity. "Creativity," he says, "is our new economy." Building prosperity isn't about moving money around, speculating in the stock market, or about housing prices, he argues. Rather,... 2013-04-30 14:59:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-marekting-speaker-rob-walker-on-etsy-and-meaning-in-retail.html When the big box retailers ran into town, it meant the death of many small businesses. Rob Walker, a prominent marketing speaker and author of a regular Yahoo! column, has often spoken about the way these two different types of sales models affect consumer behavior. When you incorporate a story into your products, and customers feel connected to them on some level, they are more likely to stick with your company for their shopping needs. This "significance premium," can often be seen in smaller operations... 2013-04-30 16:59:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-edward-o-wilson-new-book-gets-glowing-review.html It's not an easy task to condense over six decades of field work into a guide for young scientists. However, noted science speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward O. Wilson has managed to do so. And, according to a new review from The Boston Globe, his new book is one that all intellectually curious readers can enjoy. Titled Letters to a Young Scientist, Wilson's book was published earlier this month. It chronicles over sixty years of scientific experience and the lessons he's learned along the... 2013-04-30 17:46:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-matt-taibbi-on-the-isdafix-scandal.html In a searing new article in Rolling Stone Magazine, economics speaker and Griftopia author Matt Taibbi presents a startling revelation: "The world is a rigged game." He explains that "we found this out in recent months, when a series of related corruption stories spilled out of the financial sector, suggesting the world's largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything." Who's involved in this scandal? How deep does the corruption go? The megabanks, he tells us—including... 2013-04-29 9:12:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-college-speaker-carlin-flora-on-making-friends-in-college.html In her timely new keynote, college speaker Carlin Flora says that the friends you make while "figuring yourself out" and hitting the books are more important than you probably realize. She also says that many people "may not realize that choosing friends wisely and building them up during the young adult years makes it much more likely that those friends will continue to influence them positively for decades to come." In a recent discussion with Lavin, Flora unpacked the key takeaways from her talk... 2013-04-29 13:25:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-janna-levin-on-the-theory-of-everything.html In a talk Janna Levin gave for TVO's Big Ideas Series (embedded above), the science speaker says an idea presented in her book, A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, still haunts her today and influences the work she does as a mathematical physicist. The book is a cross between science and fiction that chronicles the lives of Kurt Godel and Alan Turing. As she discusses in the book, these two mathematicians proved that "there can be no mathematical theory of everything." There are some proofs that... 2013-04-29 11:35:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-kal-penn-on-learning-the-complexity-of-politics-from-obama.html "I actually left the White House feeling more inspired than when I got there," politics speaker Kal Penn says of his time as the Associate Director at the White House Office of Public Engagement. "I appreciated [the] complexity [of the political process] in a way I hadn't had I not had the opportunity to work in government." As he told The Huffington Post Live in this new interview segment (embedded above), the actor-turned-civil-servant-turned-actor-again says it is a much different process behind... 2013-04-29 12:31:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-jared-diamond-on-the-horse-race-for-climate-change.html "The metaphor that I think of for the state of the world at the moment is that we are engaged in a horse race," science speaker Jared Diamond says in an Earth Day keynote, "a race between the horse of destruction and the horse of sustainability." This horse-race-as-climate-change metaphor, he explains, is not a normal race, either. The competing forces are moving at rapidly accelerating paces rather than moving together at a similar speed. While the forces of sustainability are getting stronger (with... 2013-04-29 17:04:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-film-speaker-mira-nair-in-the-economist-on-her-new-film.html Mira Nair's "inquisitive nature and social conscience combined with a healthy appetite for storytelling has proved to be a potent mixture on screen," The Economist writes. Her newest film, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, is "both compelling and unsettling to watch," the article continues. Coinciding with the recent American release of the film, Mair was interviewed by The Economist on the challenges of adapting her new film from the bestselling book of the same name. She also discussed her unique film-making... 2013-04-29 16:19:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-charles-wheelan-talks-stats-and-causation-on-npr.html In our daily lives, we are often quick to confuse correlation with causation. As big data speaker Charles Wheelan discusses on Planet Money (a radio segment hosted on NPR), the distinction between the two is an important one to make. Searching for causal relationships has helped us to evolve as a species, and is a very important part of how we live day-to-day. Everything from the decisions parents make for their children and public policy officials make for the public, to determining what has causes... 2013-04-26 9:47:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-four-exclusive-lavin-speakers-named-as-prospects-world-thinkers-2013.html Prospect Magazine has released its list of World Thinkers 2013—naming four of Lavin's exclusive speakers to the ranks! Rounding out the top 3 was science speaker Steven Pinker for the ideas presented in his latest book, The Better Angels of Our Nature. Also honored on the list was Jared Diamond, James Robinson, and Daron Acemoglu. Prospect says they based their selections on the influence each nominee has had over the past 12 months, and how significant their ideas will be for the coming year.... 2013-04-26 12:23:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-douglas-merrill-on-customer-satisfaction.html Innovation speaker Douglas Merrill wants you to listen to what your customers want. Pretty straight-forward advice, right? Well, not exactly. The Co-Founder and CEO of ZestFinance.com doesn't want you to ask your customers about their wants and needs. Instead, he advises you to study their behavior on the sidelines and draw conclusions on what direction to take with your products from there. "When I say listen to your customers," he says in this keynote, "I mean watch what they do, not ask them what... 2013-04-26 15:44:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-jeffrey-simpson-wins-donner-prize-for-public-policy-writing.html Jeffrey Simpson, a prominent speaker on health care and public policy, was recently awarded the prestigious 2013 Donner Prize for the contributions made in his newest book. "[Chronic Condition] deals with the most pressing public-policy issue facing Canadians," the jury for the Donner Prize panel stated. "Chronic Condition should inspire a national debate on the future of Canadians’ most cherished social program." The book was selected from a list of 60 submissions. The award itself recognizes... 2013-04-26 14:19:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-marketing-speaker-rob-walker-on-the-dove-real-beauty-campaign.html "Not so long ago, lots of Very Serious People were predicting that the magic of technology, among other factors, would empower ad-hating consumers to tune out irritating marketing messages once and for all," Rob Walker writes in his latest article for Yahoo!. That prediction, however, hasn't completely come true. In the article, the marketing speaker discusses the way that Dove's newest Real Beauty campaign ad has actually done the opposite, as consumers are engaging with the campaign and sharing... 2013-04-26 16:24:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cities-speaker-mitchell-joachim-forecasts-the-future-of-urban-planning.html Who will be responsible for constructing the cities of the future? What should these people build in the center of these cities? These are questions that cities speaker Mitchell Joachim posed in his keynote at the DLD Conference 2013. Traditionally, urban centers have been developed around spiritual amenities (churches, religious sites) or industrial infrastructure (where "condos represent commerce-based living"). The cities of the future, he argues, should be ecologically based. They will focus... 2013-04-25 9:37:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-arts-speaker-steven-page-new-keynote-at-reading-conference.html "There's not a sporting bone in my body," arts speaker Steven Page tells the crowd in his latest keynote. "I tended to like to sit in my room and listen to music and read books." At the Reading for the Love of It 2013 conference, Page chronicles the path he took from a kid on the soccer field (with zero interest in the game) to an award-winning musician. From the time he was a child, Page loved reading and writing. Later, he dabbled in other artistic hobbies, such as visual art to live theater. He... 2013-04-25 12:29:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-technology-speaker-neil-gershenfeld-brings-fablab-to-alaska.html Technology speaker Neil Gershenfeld "has pioneered a revolution in Fabrication Labs, or FabLabs, as they are commonly referred to," the Alaska Dispatch writes. Gershenfeld—director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Bits and Atoms—and his team recently constructed a FabLab in an Alaskan town. The lab allows people to rapidly prototype and create 3D objects ranging from furniture to circuit boards. The project was funded with approximately $150,000 in grants, and will... 2013-04-25 16:04:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cities-speaker-candy-chang-makes-the-good-100-list.html "Candy Chang  is coming to a neighborhood near you," a recent profile in Good.is begins. Not only that, but the TED Fellow and "Before I Die" creator also landed on the 2013 Good 100 list.  Her simple, but innovative, installations and projects make cities more comfortable for their inhabitants. Even better, her work has been generating worldwide attention. As Good writes: "Chang uses her creativity to help cities better reflect the individuality, emotions, and beliefs of their inhabitants,... 2013-04-25 14:36:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-people-driven-design-john-maeda-at-the-data-design-conference.html Technology, with all of it's advancements, can only take us so far. Good design—John Maeda notes in a presentation at the Data & Design Conference—puts people at its core. It is important, he says, to incorporate the human experience into the design process. Empathy and personal judgment are essential components to harnessing the potential of new technologies. Maeda adds that the most effective new products have been created through a combination of data, technology, and human intuition.... 2013-04-25 16:38:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-film-speaker-mira-nair-new-film-released-lessons-on-filming.html Timed to coincide with the American release of her newest film, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mira Nair shared the lessons she's learned from 30 years in the film business in a new keynote. As part of the "Tribecca Talks" series, in conjunction with the Tribecca Film Festival in New York, Nair discussed her unique insight on the art of filmmaking. She also touched on some of the powerful themes presented in her film. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is being screened at the festival this week and will... 2013-04-24 13:33:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-adam-alter-interviewed-by-malcolm-gladwell.html In Drunk Tank Pink, science speaker Adam Alter lists example after example of unexpected cues in our environment that shape and influence our behavior. He explains that everything from the color of your shirt to the first initial of your name can profoundly influence how you—and others you come into contact with—behave. If these effects are so profound, however, why is it that they are not obvious to us while they are happening? That's one of the questions bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell... 2013-04-24 10:15:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-carpal-skin-science-speaker-neri-oxman.html Anyone who has suffered from the pain of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome knows how excruciating it can be. Neri Oxman, a popular science speaker and Research Group Director at the MIT Media Lab, has created a solution to ease the suffering of this severe nerve pain. While the usual course of treatment is splinting the affected limb overnight in preparation surgery, Oxman took a more unique approach. Instead of creating a product that works to restrict your body's natural movements, she prototyped a protective... 2013-04-24 14:30:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-laurie-garrett-bird-flu-china.html In a major Foreign Policy article—“The Big One?”—global health speaker and Pulitzer Prize winner Laurie Garrett provides an urgent overview of the Bird Flu in China. In full-on investigative mode, she searches out answers to the big questions: Is the Chinese government, which mishandled SARS ten years ago, getting it right this time? Is there a cover-up going on? How are surrounding countries (and the world) preparing for a possible outbreak? And, what will be the human, economic,... 2013-04-24 13:41:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-jessica-jackley-gives-a-college-keynote.html A lecture given by Doctor Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist, turned social change speaker Jessica Jackley's career path completely on its head. As she told Doane College students in a new keynote speech, she was inspired to start Kiva.org after hearing him speak. "He told people that if they wanted to help, they needed to go and get to know these people," Jackley said. "Just blindly donating money wasn’t what these people needed." That's when Jackley decided that microloans were a beneficial... 2013-04-24 15:06:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-douglas-merrill-on-diversity-in-analysis.html "Data alone isn’t enough. People aren’t rational. Really." That's what Co-Founder and CEO of ZestFinance.com Douglas Merrill argues in a new article in Forbes. With the increased popularity of the big data movement, a common concern emerging in all industries is how to ensure that data is being harnessed and applied appropriately. One of the most important things Merrill says to keep in mind is the fact that simply mining and manipulating the data won't give you the whole picture. Nor,... 2013-04-24 16:34:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-alex-steffen-tells-hbr-about-next-big-economic-opportunity.html There's one element of the discussion on rapid climate change that environment speaker Alex Steffen says is being repeatedly overlooked. And, it may just be the silver lining nestled within the more somber environmental concerns about the future of our planet. "Climate action," he writes in The Harvard Business Review, "is the next great boom opportunity." There's a lot of money to be made, he argues, if we swiftly move our society into a carbon-neutral era. This is what he proposes in his book,... 2013-04-23 9:03:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-drew-dudley-gives-a-must-listen-talk.html "When people feel like they're leaders, they want to want to step up and be good ones," Drew Dudley told listeners on the Advanced Selling podcast this week. A popular leadership speaker himself, Dudley explains that being a leader isn't reserved for a small group of people. We need to stop shying away from the title, he argues, because it not only hurts companies and organizations—it holds back society as a whole.  In his TEDx Talk "Everyday Leadership" (which recently surpassed one million... 2013-04-23 10:12:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-john-maeda-talks-about-the-creative-economy.html "How do creative people lead? How is that possible?" leadership speaker John Maeda asked the audience in his keynote at the Design Indaba Conference 2013. While he says that creative people are sometimes seen as "flaky," their agile and adaptable nature makes them an asset to any organization. In a post-speech interview, Maeda says that many corporate institutions are looking to expand their leadership candidates to include people who are able to help them respond to the "volatile conditions... 2013-04-23 15:35:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-roger-martin-on-business-school-development.html "The business academy has to work really hard to stay ahead when new [developments in the industry] happen because this world just goes charging ahead," says business speaker Roger Martin. In an interview with Matthew Bishop (the NY Bureau Chief and Business Editor at The Economist), Martin discussed the important role that business schools play in preparing students for the challenges of the future. As the current Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, Martin has first-hand... 2013-04-23 11:23:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-diversity-speaker-marcelo-suarez-orozco-on-supporting-new-americans.html How well do Americans assimilate immigrant-born children and teens that arrive in the country at a young age? It's a question that diversity speaker Marcelo Suarez-Orozco doesn't think is asked enough. In an opinion piece he wrote for The New York Times, Suarez-Orozco mentions the case of the alleged crime of two Chechen brothers in the Boston Marathon bombings. Suarez-Orozco makes a staunch point to note that the brothers' motivation "surely is not the fault of the schools and may never be... 2013-04-23 11:26:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-at-the-global-philanthropy-forum.html If education is a crucial factor in ensuring the youth of today are empowered to create meaningful change in the future, how do we make their schooling relevant to them? That's what popular education speaker and Khan Academy founder Salman Khan discussed at the 2013 Global Philanthropy Forum Conference. Referred to as "a game changer in the field of education," by The Huffington Post, Khan told the audience why we need to move away from traditional and out-dated teaching models. New technologies... 2013-04-23 16:59:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-art-speaker-molly-crabapple-new-occupy-movement-project-shell-game.html Molly Crabapple, a reviewer writes in The New Republic, "represents an alternative to the mechanism through which many young artists today find success." And, the article continues, "[Crabapple] is an emblem of the way that art could break out of the gilded gallery." The way the art speaker and activist funded her newest project, Shell Game, perfectly embodies the reviewer's description of her career path. Instead of pursuing more traditional means of funding and distribution, Crabapple turned to... 2013-04-22 9:43:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-elizabeth-dunn-on-easing-your-tax-pain.html Paying taxes doesn't exactly elicit a feeling of exuberance for most people. In fact, as economics speaker and Happy Money author Dr. Elizabeth Dunn notes, many people actually associate the word 'death' with taxes. In her New York Times op-ed (which appeared on the cover of the NYT Sunday Review last weekend), she argues that paying taxes doesn't have to be painful. It's not easy to justify giving your money away when you can't see the benefits, she writes. But, when a few simple shifts were made... 2013-04-22 11:38:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-adam-alter-on-naming-his-book-drunk-tank-pink.html Science speaker Adam Alter says Drunk Tank Pink (the name of his new book) is the same hue as "the worst antibiotic you had to take as a kid." This "bright pinkish, sickening color," seems to have powerfully positive impacts on those exposed to it. In fact, it has been shown that this particular color has a widespread calming effect. In one of his keynotes, Alter discusses the history of this color and why he chose to name his book after it."It's an emblem, I think, for a lot of the effects I talk... 2013-04-22 15:13:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-health-speaker-michael-moss-talks-processed-food-in-the-daily-beast.html "Until you understand the depth of the deception and psychology used in the formulation of processed foods, you will be powerless against it," health speaker Michael Moss says in The Daily Beast. "The goal of my book is to empower people to see through this scheming." His book is aptly titled Salt Sugar Fat—the three ingredients he refers to as the "three pillars, the holy trinity, of processed food." Highly publicized scandals involving unsavory ingredients being unknowingly leaked into our... 2013-04-22 13:11:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-adria-vasil-on-small-changes-for-a-greener-future.html "The truth is everything we do over the course of our day has a hidden environmental impact," Earth Day speaker Adria Vasil tells the Huffington Post, "from the banana we snag at breakfast to the soap we wash our faces with at the end of the day." Although many of us recycle, walk instead of driving when possible, and try to make greener choices, there are numerous other things we do every day that causes harm to the planet. Earth Day is the perfect time to analyze the decisions we make every day,... 2013-04-22 16:09:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-bill-strickland-on-the-power-of-beauty-in-changing-someones-life.html While many people might not see the location surrounding the Manchester Bidwell Foundation as beautiful (it's located in a somewhat rough area in Pittsburgh), leadership speaker Bill Strickland says beauty was a core element in the center's design process. "The building is very hopeful and it's very bright—even on a gray day," Strickland told NPR in a special TED Radio Hour series. "We believe that the philosophy of being positive and being hopeful, and—literally—being in the light,... 2013-04-22 17:04:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-sean-gourley-on-the-future-of-the-data-industry.html "Big data has become, well, big," Sean Gourley told the crowd at the GigaOM 2013 Big Data Conference. As the founder of Quid, Gourley has been using data and algorithms to understand the nature of human conflict. His experience mapping the human condition using a slew of data mined through computers and other technologies has made him a popular big data speaker. However, as he explained in his keynote, data science has become such a regularly called-upon resource that we now need to analyze its shortcomings... 2013-04-19 15:55:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-spaker-naomi-natale-on-one-million-bones.html When social change speaker Naomi Natale asked a refugee from the Congo if her One Million Bones project mattered, the reply she got was one she says she did not expect. In her keynote at Chicago Ideas Week, Natale explained what her social arts practice hopes to accomplish, why she creates installations using handmade bones, and why she wants to one day have one million bones made. In the Sudan, The Congo, and Burma (Myanmar), mass genocides and devastating violence plague those who reside there.... 2013-04-19 16:55:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-motivation-speaker-michael-pinball-clemons-on-building-a-strong-community.html "If what you did yesterday still sounds good to you today—then you haven't done much today," says motivation speaker Michael Pinball Clemons. In a recent interview, the CFL legend and community service leader discussed why it's important not to live in the past. Keep striving for greatness every day, he says, and try to make what you do today even better than what you did yesterday. Known by many for his accomplished football career with the CFL's Toronto Argonauts (as a player, a former head... 2013-04-18 10:41:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-natalie-jeremijenko-on-the-need-for-experimental-design.html This April, innovation speaker Natalie Jeremijenko will join a panel of esteemed international curators at The SYNAPSE 2013 Conference. An artist and engineer who directs the xDesign Environmental Health Clinic at NYU, Jeremijenko will speak about the intersection of art and science and the curator's role in designing for the future. New models must be adapted and embraced, she says, to eliminate troublesome monopolies over who designs our cities and common spaces. At xDesign, she... 2013-04-18 11:41:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-psychology-speaker-carlin-flora-on-why-diverse-friendships-are-positive.html Human beings have an instinctual desire to connect with others. In her widely-discussed book, Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are, psychology speaker Carlin Flora sheds new light into why we need to cultivate our friendships in much the same way we as our familial and romantic relationships. How we form the friendships we do is a somewhat complex issue. In an article Flora published in Psychology Today (where she was a Features Editor), she cites that the size of the... 2013-04-18 14:35:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-edward-o-wilson-tells-npr-about-how-to-be-a-successful-scientist.html "I believe it will help for me to start this letter by telling you who I really am," science speaker Edward O. Wilson opens in his new book, Letters to a Young Scientist. In the book, Wilson shares intimate personal accounts of how his past experiences led him to become a preeminent biologist, a Harvard Professor, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, and a global expert on ant colonies. And, he provides meaningful advice on how the potential scientists of the future can achieve success in the field,... 2013-04-18 12:54:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-tonya-surman-on-the-power-of-collaboration.html "I'm normally the positive, go-getter entrepreneur, [who believes] everyone should the change the world," social change speaker Tonya Surman told the audience at the Changemaker Showcase conference. "But I just want to say, yeah, some days are fantastic—and some days are really difficult." As the Co-Founder of The Centre for Social Innovation, Surman brings vastly different but like-minded social entrepreneurs together under one roof. Driven by the belief that collaboration is imperative to... 2013-04-17 10:36:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-jeff-rubin-on-the-questionable-value-of-energy-independence.html The International Energy Agency's (IEA) is proposing that North America could soon become a net producer of oil. This predicted increase in domestic oil production, as economics speaker Jeff Rubin explains in his new blog post, could put the continent on track toward energy independence. But whether American production eventually reaches 11 million barrels a day, or Canada soon contributes 6 million barrels into the global market, Rubin still questions whether "energy independence actually [has]... 2013-04-17 12:17:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-andrew-bacevich-talks-american-militarism-in-time-magazine.html It's been eight years since politics speaker Andrew Bacevich (who TIME magazine calls "one of the most provocative—as in thought-provoking—national-security writers out there today") released his explosive book The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War. This month, an updated version of the book will hit the shelves. And, as Bacevich tells TIME, not a lot has changed in terms of America's military attitude. Still trigger-happy and eager to resort to war and military... 2013-04-17 11:31:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-arthur-caplan-on-the-myriad-gene-patent-case.html By the end of June, The United States Supreme Court will lay down a landmark ruling on whether genes can be patented by companies. As the media's preeminent go-to expert for all matters involving bioethics, health speaker Arthur Caplan was asked to weigh in on the issues at hand. One of the companies involved in the case is Myriad Genetics. They currently control the patents on variations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes—which have been linked strongly to risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Thus,... 2013-04-17 13:39:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neuroscience-speaker-david-eagleman-talks-about-the-science-of-inception.html Inception, the nearly one billion dollar-grossing blockbuster film from director Christopher Nolan, explores the way our brains perceive time in relation to dreams. While it may not have gotten the facts exactly spot-on, neuroscience speaker David Eagleman still found it to be compelling fodder for further discussion. As the renowned neuroscientist tells Metro, he wanted the film to be featured in BAM Cinematek’s Science on Screen series because its themes directed related to "scientific issues... 2013-04-17 16:55:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-joshua-prager-new-ted-talk-on-finding-the-man-who-broke-his-neck.html The first time Joshua Prager contacted the man responsible for breaking his neck at the age of 19, he says his call was responded to with "nonchalance." Many years later, when the two finally connected in person, the meeting was, once more, far from what Prager had expected. In his unforgettable TED Talk (embedded above), he chronicles the details of his journey from athletic 19-year-old, to car accident victim, to temporary quadriplegic, to hemiplegic. And, how the meeting of the man who was the... 2013-04-17 14:50:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-health-speaker-michael-moss-profiled-in-the-national-post.html Did you know that most brands of fruit snacks contain more sugar than actual fruit—if there's any fruit in them at all? How about the fact that the majority of the food you grab off the shelf couldn't be manufactured using natural ingredients? Health speaker Michael Moss is digging up the dirt on the processed food industry. In his new book, Moss uncovered the trifecta of the processed food industry: Salt, Sugar, and Fat. These three ingredients have created a consumer addiction to processed... 2013-04-16 9:55:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-john-ibbitson-on-immigration-and-the-big-shift.html With over 250,000 immigrants coming to Canada each year, it's no wonder the new book by politics speaker John Ibbitson is called The Big Shift. Co-authored with Darrell Bricker, the immediate bestseller argues that Canada—traditionally known as one of the world's most consensual countries—is polarizing. With major changes to the population of the country, and to the cities these new Canadians choose to call home, the power in the nation is shifting toward the West. And, as the authors... 2013-04-16 11:08:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-technology-speaker-alex-soojung-kim-pang-on-tech-addiction.html If you're like most tech-savvy people, you probably check your smartphone up to 40 times a day. You might regularly  fall asleep with your phone in your bed or your computer on. And, you may even start to hear phantom notifications going off on your device—even when there are no new emails or text messages there for you to check. Technology speaker Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, founder of Contemplative Computing, says that the human mind is actually hard-wired to engage with these new digital... 2013-04-16 12:41:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-art-speaker-molly-crabapple-fast-company.html "There’s this idea that it’s great to be a poor artist," art speaker Molly Crabapple scoffs in a new article in Fast Company. "It’s bullshit." Crabapple is an artist, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, activist, and founder of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. While it took a lot of work to get where she is today—and she hasn't taken it easy after making a name for herself, either—Crabapple is no longer living the life of the so-called starving artist. This is a testament... 2013-04-16 14:25:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-literature-speaker-lev-grossman-on-the-importance-of-libraries.html "Libraries, like scriptorium which preceded them, are these huge architectural machines for helping you to concentrate," literature speaker Lev Grossman says in an interview (embedded above) with Lavin. He describes the feeling of walking through the stacks in your local library as "traversing [a] landscape of knowledge." It's an experience, he adds, that can't be had anywhere else. That's why he says we need to revel in their cultural significance. It is a sentiment that is being shared by many... 2013-04-16 15:36:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cant-ignore-politics-economics-speaker-daron-acemoglu-james-robinson.html "The standard approach to policy-making and advice in economics implicitly or explicitly ignores politics and political economy, and maintains that if possible, any market failure should be rapidly removed," Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson write in a new essay. "This conclusion may be incorrect; because it ignores politics, this approach is oblivious to the impact of the removal of market failures on future political equilibria and economic efficiency, which can be deleterious." The political... 2013-04-16 16:40:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-tzeporah-berman-keynote-on-clean-energy-in-the-future.html "I want to be sitting with my grandchildren, and I want to be telling them about this crazy time in our history when we clawed at the Earth to get at the last of the oil," says environment speaker Tzeporah Berman. "A crazy time in history when we used to fill our cars with gas—and they're not going to believe me because this county will be such a different place." At the CBC's 2017 Starts Now Conference, Berman addressed the state of the nation—and why we need to start making changes... 2013-04-15 12:43:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-college-speaker-carl-hiaasen-in-a-new-college-keynote.html In a new college keynote that Carl Hiaasen delivered to the students of Florida International University, the author and popular satirist proved he's just as funny on the stage as he is on the page. A long-term resident of the Sunshine State, as well as a columnist and investigative reporter for the Miami Herald, Hiaasen is a prominent voice on life in Florida. In this hilarious and insightful speech, Hiaasen showed students the Florida that he sees: absurd, a bit seedy, and naturally beautiful.... 2013-04-15 14:50:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-vanessa-woods-on-the-complex-genius-of-dogs.html In what the The Atlanta Journal calls a "provocative" and "buzz-worthy" new book, science speaker Vanessa Woods proposes that dogs may be among the smartest species in the animal kingdom. Co-written with her husband and Duke University professor of evolutionary anthropology Brian Hare, The Genius of Dogs has become an instant New York Times bestseller. And, as the The Atlanta Journal writes: "it is presented in a way that makes anthropology and cognitive science accessible to the average reader."... 2013-04-15 16:14:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-rick-mercer-on-why-he-is-sticking-to-the-rick-mercer-report.html "The rants are the part of the show that’s completely personal because I write the rants myself," celebrity speaker Rick Mercer explains in a Yahoo! interview. "I actually view [the rants] first and foremost as my job. Every week I make sure that the rant is done and if people think it’s personal that’s because it is. It’s not written by a group of funny people." Mercer just wrapped the 10th season of his award-winning show The Rick Mercer Report, where he delivers his trademark... 2013-04-15 10:20:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-negotiation-speaker-misha-glouberman-on-communicating-effectively-to-achieve-a-goal.html "You want to remember what really matters to you," negotiation speaker Misha Glouberman says of interacting with others in a keynote speech, "and not fixate on one way of getting there." In his popular class on negotiation and communication, How To Talk To People About Things, he teaches participants how to interact with people more effectively and secure more positive and productive outcomes. One of the pieces of advice he gives in his class (and in the keynote above) is that it's crucial to avoid... 2013-04-15 17:10:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-marketing-speaker-rob-walker-on-creating-value.html In a recent article in ClickZ business magazine, the author shares a piece of advice that marketing speaker Rob Walker knows the value of first-hand. "No matter the method of delivery or the nature of the message," the article reads, "every good campaign has something in common. Each tells a story." That story, or meaning—and the value inherent within it— was something that Walker and his partner Joshua Glenn exploited in their Significant Objects project. Profiled in the article as an... 2013-04-15 16:39:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-spaker-srdja-popovic-named-a-young-global-leader.html Every year, the World Economic Forum selects a group of the most inspiring young leaders in the world to be admitted into their Forum of Young Global Leaders. This year, social change speaker Srdja Popovic made the list! Currently the founder of Otpor! and CANVAS, and a champion for non-violent, people-powered protesting, Popovic was part of the youth movement that overthrew Slobodan Milosevic. Now, he helps NGOs and activists harness the powerful strategies he himself employed to overthrow dictators... 2013-04-12 15:10:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-jared-diamond-on-modern-vs-traditional-war.html When science speaker Jared Diamond first went to New Guinea to study birds, he never imagined his travels would soon take him in an entirely different direction. In his new book, The World Until Yesterday, Diamond chronicles the experiences he had living with the traditional New Guinean society, and why he ultimately choose to study people instead of birds. And, he explores the lessons we can learn from analyzing the way these people live. As he says in a new interview, one of the main differences... 2013-04-12 15:26:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-pairs-with-bank-of-america.html Education speaker Salman Khan has helped millions of people brush up on their learning with his revolutionary online school The Khan Academy. While he is perhaps best known for his YouTube videos that teach users science and math, he actually got his start in finance. A former hedge fund analyst, Khan told CBS News (embedded above) that a lot of the early videos that put The Khan Academy on the map were related to the financial crisis and mortgages. That's why his recent partnership with Bank of... 2013-04-12 14:24:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-marcus-buckingham-on-successful-management.html What is it that sets the world's best leaders and company heads apart from the pack? As one of the world's most requested business speakers, Marcus Buckingham knows a thing or two about what skills top level leaders possess. In a new interview, the business consultant and author unpacks two of the key skills that help managers lead their teams to success. The first is authenticity, he says, and the second is a penchant for clarity and vividness.Buckingham believes that "your most powerful possession... 2013-04-12 16:25:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-samuel-arbesman-on-egde-and-huffpo.html "The metaphor of the half-life encapsulates this," science speaker Samuel Arbesman tells the Huffington Post, "we can't predict when a single radioactive atom is going to decay, but when you get a lot of atoms together, you can chart out a clear curve of decay, and even capture this in a single number: the half-life." In his popular book, The Half Life of Facts, the network scientist applies this principle of the half-life to all empirical data. "I can't predict the discovery that will occur next,... 2013-04-12 10:16:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-adam-alter-explains-meaning-of-drunk-tank-pink-on-bigthink.html Why did science speaker Adam Alter decide to title his new book after a shade of pink that once graced the inside of jail cells? As he explains in a new BigThink segment, Drunk Tank Pink—which is the name of this unique shade of pink, and the title of Alter's book—was originally used to pacify violent people. In the 1960s, psychologists in Canada found that painting school hallways pink tended to make the students calmer, less aggressive, and more engaged. When hearing about these results,... 2013-04-12 12:04:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-earth-day-speaker-adria-vasil-on-sustainable-investment.html Every time you make a purchase, you make a decision—whether it's a conscious one or not—about the environmental future of the planet. And, as Earth Day speaker Adria Vasil points out, the way you invest your money is just as important as the way you spend it. When you choose to buy a "greener" product over a less environmentally friendly one, or shop at a more socially responsible company instead of one that doesn't value sustainability, you have chosen to support a greener future. However,... 2013-04-11 11:12:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cities-speaker-kent-larson-designing-new-cities-for-more-people.html "Even if you live in the suburbs, what happens in cities will have an impact on you," says cities speaker Kent Larson. One of the newest exclusive speakers on the Lavin roster, Larson is the Director of MIT Media Lab's Changing Places Group. He researches new and exciting ways for people to live, work, and play in cities. His work focuses on the exploration of the practical applications of responsive urban housing, ubiquitous technologies, and investigating the creation of new urban vehicles. In... 2013-04-11 17:17:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-energy-politics-and-international-security-energy-speaker-michael-levi.html Energy plays a vital role in all aspects of our modern economy. Lavin's new energy and politics speaker Michael Levi, author of the forthcoming book The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future, recently presented at the Global Energy Series. "On the oil side, we are still part of a global market," Levi says, "so even if we're producing all that we can consume, if there's a disaterous event in the Middle East, and oil prices spike, the U.S. economy still gets hurt." This... 2013-04-11 15:37:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-drew-dudley-ted-talk-passes-one-million-views.html In his TEDxToronto Talk,  leadership speaker Drew Dudley told us that true leadership isn't unattainable. Nor do you have to change the world to make people's lives fundamentally better. His message has been received loud and clear, as his talk just passed one million views. Judging by the comments on the TED website, Dudley's definition of leadership as a series of "lollipop moments" has received an overwhelmingly positive response. These "lollipop moments," or everyday actions that make someone's... 2013-04-11 12:08:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-media-speaker-rahaf-harfoush-on-social-media-in-politics.html Sometimes called the world's first "digital" President, Barack Obama used social and digital media in a highly effective way during his first presidential election campaign. As new media speaker Rahaf Harfoush tells the CBC, his strategy "allowed him and the campaign to act like a start-up—agile, flexible, responsive—instead of being limited by a decades-old political playbook." Now Justin Trudeau, a candidate for the Canadian Liberal Party leadership position, is taking a page from... 2013-04-11 13:20:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-james-owen-weatherall-book-is-a-hit.html Within a month of hitting North American bookshelves, The Physics of Wall Street—the new book from economics speaker James Owen Weatherall—was already generating a lot of buzz. It secured the #1 spot in the categories of Mathematical Physics, Chaos Theory and Finance on Amazon, and was an Editor's Choice pick in The New York Times Book Review. Now, his book is also gaining traction in the U.K. (under the slightly altered title The Physics of Finance). In a recent review in The Telegraph,... 2013-04-11 17:06:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-rick-mercer-talks-day-of-pink-and-bullying.html Rick Mercer is wearing pink today. While the celebrity speaker and host of the Rick Mercer Report says he's usually more of a black and white guy, he's veering away from his usual color palette for a good cause. "I am happy to make the exception [and wear pink]," he says, "if it means stating loud and clear that bullying, discrimination, homophobia and transphobia in schools and communities across Canada must end." That's what the International Day of Pink is all about. The movement got its start... 2013-04-10 10:41:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-innovation-speaker-david-s-kidder-on-the-startup-playbook.html You've probably seen dozens of books claiming they can teach you how to launch a new venture and steer it to success. The Startup Playbook, by our new innovation speaker David S. Kidder, is nothing like any of those. And we mean that in the best way possible! Yes, it is geared toward breaking down the secrets to successful innovation-driven growth. Where it differs, however, is in its approach. Rather than claiming to possess a "recipe for success", Kidder acts as a curator and synthesizes the hard-hitting... 2013-04-10 15:35:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-hakeem-oluseyi-on-the-importance-of-scientific-exploration.html Whenever questions about the mysteries of the universe are asked, you can bet that someone will call science speaker Hakeem M. Oluseyi for answers. Recently featured in Are We Alone?, new miniseries on the Science Channel, the astrophysicist explains that we are living in a very exciting time. NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has recently discovered many new stars and planets that are similar to the composition of the Earth. Discoveries that then begs the question of whether there is life... 2013-04-10 14:45:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-andrew-bacevich-on-foreign-and-national-policy.html On the heels of conflict over the federal budget, and the potential of new threats from abroad, politics speaker Andrew Bacevich recently visited BNN News to discuss what these new developments mean for national and international American policy. A Professor of International Relations at Boston University, Bacevich provides uncompromising critique on the American doctrine. In his keynotes and his lectures, he explores how the 'Washington Rules' (the belief that national and global stability hinges... 2013-04-10 12:11:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-adam-alter-on-names-colors-and-labels.html Drunk Tank Pink. Not only is that the name of the new book from science speaker Adam Alter, but it also embodies the idea that unconscious cues from our environment directly impact our behavior. As Alter says in a new interview on NPR's Science Friday, this Pepto-Bismol, bubblegum-like shade of pink was proven to have a dramatically noticeable calming effect on prisoners held in cells painted that color. In the interview, he unpacks this theory in more depth—sharing several eye-opening cues... 2013-04-10 16:14:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bullying-speaker-emily-bazelon-dispels-myths-about-bullying.html "Most kids don't bully. Most kids don't like bullying," Emily Bazelon says in a new talk. "And that's a really important message because when kids know that about their own school, studies show that they actually do it even less because they see it as outlier behavior." Bazelon is one of our new speakers on bullying and the author of Sticks and Stones. In her presentation, she points out the myth that we're in the midst of some kind of bullying epidemic. Rather, we're experiencing a heightened awareness... 2013-04-09 9:39:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-author-speaker-isabel-allende-releases-mayas-notebook-april-23.html Maya's Notebook, the new book from author Isabel Allende, will be released worldwide on April 23rd. A New York Times bestselling author, Allende is set to publish a suspenseful coming of age story of a young woman who gets mixed up in a world of violence and crime. The novel is already receiving some early praise. Library Journal called Maya's Notebook a "must-read" by a "master storyteller that will enthrall and captivate." Booklist said it was an "explosive novel" with "enthralling" characters,... 2013-04-09 12:25:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/science-speaker-david-eagleman How will science modern neuroscience navigate the way we draft our social policy? And, what role does the inner workings of your brain play in the legal system?  These are questions that speaker David Eagleman your brain is like a representative democracy with all these different parties that are all trying to compete to steer the shipif this work, it could be a total game change for the legal systemwe incarcerate everybodyprison become crimimingenic it produces more crime actually there... 2013-04-09 12:10:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-jer-thorp-on-the-office-for-creative-research.html When big data speaker Jer Thorp's tenure as the Data Artist In Residence at The New York Times ended, he felt both excitement as well as fear. He was worried that his new venture, a company he co-founded called The Office for Creative Research, would either get no work—or work that he wouldn't be passionate about. Luckily, as he explained in a Creative Coding Podcast Google Hangout, that hasn't been the case. The data artist says that he has been fortunate to work on some really fascinating... 2013-04-09 16:10:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-jared-diamond-on-risk-management-in-traditional-society.html "People in traditional societies generally recognize the significance of things that you will do very often, but each time you do them the risk is low," science speaker Jared Diamond says in a new interview. These commonplace activities pose little threat to us each time we do them. Due to this limited risk, those of us in modern, Western societies tend to not see them as very dangerous. For example, the author of The World Until Yesterday says he recently just survived the most dangerous thing he... 2013-04-09 14:25:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-john-maeda-on-the-innovators-of-the-century.html "Amid the rain, and the fog, and the rain, and the rain, Seattle was home to the beginning of my journey traversing the fields of technology, art and design," education speaker John Maeda writes in a new editorial in The Seattle Times. He jokes that he was a Seattle native before it became cool to be a Seattle native; before the creative economy had taken hold; before Starbucks and the coffee culture; before the grunge music scene exploded; when Boeing, not Microsoft, was the tech giant. However,... 2013-04-09 15:29:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-health-speaker-michael-moss-on-salt-sugar-fat-and-processed-food.html Salt Sugar Fat. Not only is that the title of the explosive New York Times bestseller by our new health speaker Michael Moss, but those three ingredients are at the crux of the trillion dollar processed food industry. Food manufacturers depend on these three ingredients to create a pleasurable "mouth-feel," "bliss point," and "flavorburst." What's more, our addiction to processed food is costing us $300 billion a year in health costs. That's why Moss investigated the way America’s most recognizable... 2013-04-08 15:44:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-emily-bazelon-gets-glowing-reviews-for-bullying-book-in-new-york-times.html "In its prescriptions Sticks and Stones shines," the New York Times writes about Lavin speaker Emily Bazelon's new book. "That is why this authoritative and important book should not only be read by educators and parents alike, but should also be taught in law schools and journalism schools." Bazelon argues that stamping out bullying involves more than just disciplining the kids we catch being mean to other kids. While she says that the "if it's mean—intervene" strategy has its perks,... 2013-04-08 15:58:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-political-speaker-jonathan-haidt-talks-business-ethics-on-cbs.html As political speaker Jonathan Haidt tells CBS, the lessons he learned while writing his New York Times bestseller The Righteous Mind made a drastic impact on his political orientation. Haidt, a social psychologist by trade, says that researching the moral principles guiding both sides of the political spectrum realigned his views. "I tried so hard to see morality from everyone's point of view that I actually came to respect conservative and libertarian ideas, as much as liberal ideas," he says in... 2013-04-08 16:50:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-adam-alter-on-nature-and-the-mind-in-the-atlantic.html Why did some patients recovering from gallbladder surgery in Pennsylvania recover quicker than others? As science speaker Adam Alter proposes, a picturesque view of natural surroundings may have attributed to their speedy recovery. In an excerpt of his book Drunk Tank Pink: The Unexpected Forces That Shape Our Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors, Alter explains that, despite receiving identical treatment, "by some measures, patients who gazed out at a natural scene were four times better off than... 2013-04-08 14:24:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-open-data-speaker-david-eaves-on-promoting-transparent-government.html "If for no other reason than self-interested policy and political survival," open data speaker David Eaves writes in The Toronto Star, "our political leaders—across the spectrum but in government in particular—need to think not only about rules that will foster a more open and accountable government, but the type of leadership and culture that will support it." His comments in the Op-Ed come on the heels of a massive inquiry that Federal Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault is... 2013-04-08 15:52:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dictators-dont-like-jokes-social-change-speaker-srdja-popovic.html There is a reason why humor is an important tool to the 21st-century protestor, Srdja Popovic writes in Foreign Policy. The reason is simple: "it works." The social change speaker recently co-authored the article and discussed peaceful protesting tactics. As the founder of Otpor! (the Serbian youth movement that toppled Slobodan Milosevic), Popovic encouraged the use of street theater, pranks, and simple (yet powerful) messages as tactical strategies. Now, in his work at CANVAS, he encourages activists... 2013-04-08 16:47:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-earth-day-speaker-adria-vasil-on-50-shades-of-green-and-misleading-products.html "Really, what we’re dealing with out there is 50 shades of green," Earth Day speaker Adria Vasil writes in a new edition of her popular "Ecoholic" column in NOW Magazine. "In Productland, "green" and "natural" are often used interchangeably. I’m probably guilty of it myself. But truth is, these words aren’t always on the same page." With Earth Day coming up on April 22nd, consumers are often motivated to buy items containing buzz words implying that a product is environmentally... 2013-04-05 10:00:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-shannon-k-oneil-book-launch-talk.html Most of us have heard about the tumultuous times that Mexican citizens have endured over the past several years. After spending some time working in Mexico City herself, economics speaker Shannon K. O'Neil experienced the impacts of the violent crime, corruption, and financial implications of the Peso crisis that disrupted the positive changes taking place in the country. However, as she argues in her new book, Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead—and in this... 2013-04-05 12:28:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-drew-dudley-tedx-talk-on-leadership-qualities.html When leadership speaker Drew Dudley asked an audience member at his recent TEDxFoggyBottom talk why he "mattered," the boy was speechless. It's a simple question, Dudley says, that often elicits a look of confusion and apprehension before answering. Why is it that we have a hard time defining our merit in the world? As Dudley tells the students at George Washington University in D.C., it's because we all feel like we're "training to matter." We don't feel like we're worth anything until we attain... 2013-04-05 11:04:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-econonomics-speaker-daron-acemoglu-and-james-robinsons-why-nations-fail-reviewed.html "To say that Why Nations Fail [written by Lavin economics speakers Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson] is an ambitious book would be like saying the Indian Ocean has some water in it," The Business Standard writes. "And to say that the book has received worldwide attention would be like saying that Warren Buffett is an above-average stock picker." In a recent review, the media outlet describes the book as an "elegant and simple explanation for why some nations have prospered while others have... 2013-04-05 15:11:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-kal-penn-on-working-in-office-for-obama.html "I feel very lucky to have done two things that are so disparate that I love so much," celebrity speaker Kal Penn says of his switch from acting to politics, and his recent transition back to acting. Well-known for his roles on House, 24, How I Met Your Mother, and the Harold & Kumar franchise, Penn took a two year sabbatical from acting to pursue his passion for political advocacy full time. And, as he explained in an interview on CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, it's a switch that made... 2013-04-04 12:17:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bullying-speaker-emily-bazelon-on-empathy-to-combat-bullying.html While it's commonly said that 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me,' our new speaker Emily Bazelon begs to differ. A speaker on bullying, with a new book titled Sticks and Stones (playing off the popular saying, check out the book trailer here), Bazelon has become a leading authority on the impact that chronic verbal and psychological abuse has on children. She also has a secondary layer to her work. As she explained to us, the goal of her investigative journalism was... 2013-04-04 15:08:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-debbie-travis-on-entrepreneurship.html "Most entrepreneurs don't go around slapping themselves on the back," says business speaker Debbie Travis, "they're always thinking of the next thing, they're kind of groupies for challenge." Travis definitely fits that description. She herself wasn't content to stop expanding her empire after she hit it big in the design scene. Even though she blazed a trail in the home decor industry, creating a wildly successful television show and housewares line, she pushed herself to branch into a multitude... 2013-04-04 16:31:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-maria-konnikova-on-uncluttering-your-mind.html "It's important to remember that Holmes wasn't born Holmes," science speaker Maria Konnikova reminds us. "He learned, over time, to think like Sherlock Holmes." That means that we all have the potential to learn his astute powers of observation, as Konnikova argues that the famous sleuth's intuition came from years of practice and constructive feedback. Author of the book Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, Konnikova is a psychologist who teaches audiences to master the ever-present... 2013-04-04 17:04:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-jared-diamond-on-the-aging-process.html Measured on the time scale of human evolution, science speaker Jared Diamond says that people were living in traditional societies until virtually yesterday. That's why his most recent New York Times bestselling book is titled The World Until Yesterday. And, it's why he argues that we have a great deal to learn from these societies even today. In his talk at National Geographic Live, Diamond unpacked the key themes from his book, focusing on one chapter in particular: the aging process. As he told... 2013-04-03 13:10:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-author-speaker-salman-rushdie-on-free-speech-at-yale.html Salman Rushdie knows the true meaning of the "culture of offendedness" first hand. A world renowned author and popular arts speaker, Rushdie experienced this phenomenon from a series of safe houses after the release of The Satanic Verses—an experience he recently chronicled in his highly praised memoir, Joseph Anton. In a recent talk at Yale University (check out video footage of the event here), Rushdie reiterated the important role of freedom of speech in society and in the arts. "There is... 2013-04-03 15:09:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mental-health-speaker-michael-landsberg-mental-illness-is-not-a-weakness.html Mental health speaker Michael Landsberg is known for his charismatic role as the host of TSN's Off the Record. But, as Ashley Kascak from the Canadian Mental Health Association notes, the way he frankly and honestly speaks about mental illness—specifically his own struggles with anxiety and depression—is perhaps an even greater contribution."It’s a relief," she writes in a recent interview with Landsberg, "because it’s a good chance that someone who is still hiding their... 2013-04-03 10:24:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eric-klinenberg-on-living-alone-as-a-senior.html "If you’re planning on joining the many who have opted to live solo, you’re best off making sure you maintain frequent contact with friends and family," an excerpt from a recent column in Smithsonian reads. Luckily, according to Eric Klinenberg, many of the estimated 32.7 million Americans currently living alone aren't socially isolated—they are actually more social than their paired counterparts. That's a good thing, considering a new study published in the Smithsonian article... 2013-04-03 13:57:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-jer-thorp-on-data-visualization-in-hbr.html Jer Thorp, a big data speaker and the Former Data Artist in Residence at The New York Times, doesn't think data visualization always has to be the end result of a project. Rather, as he writes in a guest blog post in The Harvard Business Review, he sees data visualization as a process, not a product. "If we set out to visualize, instead of making a visualization, we can end up with any number of outcomes," he writes. "In fact, many of those outcomes may not even be visualizations, but rather solutions,... 2013-04-03 16:45:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-media-speaker-sue-gardner-leaving-wikimedia.html "I’ve always aimed to make the biggest contribution I can to the general public good," Sue Gardner of Wikimedia writes in a new post on the Wikimedia blog. "Today, this is pulling me towards a new and different role, one very much aligned with Wikimedia values and informed by my experiences here, and with the purpose of amplifying the voices of people advocating for the free and open internet. I don’t know exactly what this will look like—I might write a book, or start a non-profit,... 2013-04-03 15:57:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-paul-kedrosky-on-successful-entrepreneurs.html "One of my main driving ideas for entrepreneurs," economics speaker Paul Kedrosky says in new video from the Kauffman Foundation, "is that the best ones are the people who scratch their own itch." As the Infectious Greed editor explains, the most successful start ups were formed when people became "irritated at the world because the world wouldn't provide them something they needed and said: 'Oh, the hell with it. I'm going to have to go out and do it because nobody else will.'" As part of the... 2013-04-02 16:27:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-kal-penn-hosts-new-discovery-channel-show.html There's no shortage of reality television shows looking to find the next best chef, singer, dancer, or model. But the new show that celebrity speaker and actor Kal Penn will be hosting this May is looking for something different. The Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius, the newest show from The Discovery Channel, will search for some of the smartest young engineers in the world. "The series features some of the greatest young minds in America. There is a lot at stake within the show itself, and in terms... 2013-04-02 14:02:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-marina-adshade-on-hookup-culture-in-college.html On college campuses today, women are outnumbering men. This uneven male to female ratio is creating what economics speaker Marina Adshade describes as a disequilibrium in the market—and it's changing the dating scene in the process. "I treat it like a market where women are the relatively abundant resource and men are scarce," Adshade told us in an interview at our Toronto office, "and so the preferences of men are driving the outcomes of the market. And, where the preferences of men drive... 2013-04-02 9:50:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-eric-berlow-at-the-gigaom-conference.html Are computer generated algorithms actually making us dumber, not smarter? The answer is yes, according to big data speaker Eric Berlow. If we rely solely on computers to solve our problems, that is. The founder of Vibrant Data Labs recently spoke at the GigaOM Structure: Data 2013 conference, where he explained that relying on computers to solve all of our problems doesn't give us the whole picture. We need to combine those algorithms and data with human input to get a concrete understanding... 2013-04-02 15:14:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-media-speaker-alexandra-samuel-new-twitter-book.html "I believe there's a better way to use Twitter: as a relationship medium, one that helps you find, connect, and converse with people," digital and social media speaker Alexandra Samuel writes in the Harvard Business Review. "Being the first with a nugget of industry gossip is nice, but creating, nourishing and sustaining meaningful working relationships is far more fundamental to your professional success and career development." And, in her new book, Work Smarter with Twitter and HootSuite, the... 2013-04-02 16:59:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-charles-wheelan-gets-rave-review-in-the-economist.html Naked Statistics, the newest book from big data speaker Charles Wheelan, "is a revealing look at statistics’ bare essentials," writes The Economist. Relying on the "trademark humor" that he introduced in his earlier work, Naked Economics, Wheelan "makes statistics interesting and fun," says the review. Further: "His book strips the subject of its complexity to expose the sexy stuff underneath...[and] the results work wonderfully." The rave review also points out that Wheelan was successful... 2013-04-01 9:12:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-bill-strickland-at-chicago-ideas-week.html "Environment drives behavior," leadership speaker Bill Strickland told the audience at Chicago Ideas Week. "Beautiful environments create beautiful kids, prisons create prisoners." That's why the MacArthur Genius designed his arts and training centers with aesthetics in mind, and argues that everyone deserves to live, work, and learn in beautiful surroundings. In the keynote, Strickland chronicled the development of the innovative Manchester Bidwell Corporation, where he is the CEO and President.... 2013-04-01 14:08:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-lavin-judges-new-voices.html Organized for students, by students, The Voices Speech Competition that took place at Toronto's Great Hall last week brought together competitors from four colleges—each trying to take home top prize honours in a hotly contested public speaking competition. Among those deciding who would be crowned victor was our own David Lavin.After several heated oratorial hours, the panel of judges settled on George Brown College's Rebecca Chevalier, whose socially charged performance struck a chord with... 2013-04-01 12:26:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-work-speaker-linda-duxbury-on-the-sandwich-generation.html "A fifth of professionals in the country are working and taking care of both their kids as well as an older family member," The Globe & Mail reports. This generation is what work speaker Linda Duxbury refers to as the "sandwich generation." And, as she writes in a new report, "employees in the sandwich generation are getting worn down by the demands on their time and lack the resilience to emotionally separate the work-life domains." Duxbury co-authored the report, titled Balancing work, childcare... 2013-04-01 13:16:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-ram-charan-new-book-global-tilt.html The business world is in a state of flux and many people are struggling to keep up. That's where renowned business speaker and New York Times bestselling author Ram Charan comes in—with a new book on navigating this changing landscape. In Global Tilt, which was released last month, Charan chisels his decades of business experience into one easy-to-digest collection of practical advice to help companies survive these tumultuous times. "The global tilt," the publisher's description of the... 2013-04-01 15:20:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-psychology-speaker-maria-konnikova-think-like-sherlock.html Is it possible to think like the world's most famous fictional sleuth? Yes, says The Lavin Agency's newest speaker Maria Konnikova. The psychology speaker and author of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes has spent years researching the literary works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and has fused an in-depth study of the legendary character with cutting edge neuroscience to help her audiences adopt Holmes' techniques. Using the detective's strategies of ever-present mindfulness, careful observation... 2013-04-01 16:32:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-marina-adshade-on-more-women-grads.html More women are graduating from post-secondary schools than men, says economics speaker Marina Adshade. And that has a big impact on who these women are dating and marrying. "In Canada, between the ages of 25 and 44, for every 100 university educated men there are 125 university educated women, and it's the same in the U.S.," the Dollars & Sex author told us in an interview at Lavin's Toronto office. "The long-run consequences are that women who are educated who only look to marry men who are... 2013-03-28 9:23:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-rick-hillier-new-keynote-at-nav-canada.html Using his signature blend of patriotism and humour, leadership speaker Rick Hillier had attendees at a Nav Canada keynote "eating out of the palm of his hand," a reviewer wrote. In what was described as an "engaging address," the retired General shared riveting stories of his time as the commander of NATO forces and the Chief of Canada's Defence Staff—the highest rank in the Canadian forces. When he joined the speaking circuit in the late 2000's, Hillier translated his extensive military leadership... 2013-03-28 10:30:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-doug-stephens-on-combating-showrooming-in-retail.html While it's true that "showrooming" has become a hot-button issue in the retail world, retail speaker Doug Stephens says it doesn't necessarily mean the end of traditional stores as we know them. It just means that retailers have to be more inventive and give customers something unique to combat this new shopping practice. The founder of Retail Prophet, and author of The Retail Revival, recently spoke to Marketing magazine about this new era in consumerism. "We’re moving from being an industrial... 2013-03-28 11:15:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-john-ibbitsons-the-big-shift-is-canadian-bestseller.html "This conservative majority government, whether you like it or hate it, is the product of big tectonic plate shifts going on inside the body of politics—and it's not going to go away," politics speaker John Ibbitson explains. "It means suburban immigrants in the 905, in alliance with the West, are dominating the policy agenda of the country. And that's going to go on for a long time to come." In this interview with TVO, Ibbitson unpacks themes from the The Big Shift—the new book he co-authored... 2013-03-27 10:00:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-jessica-green-on-bioinformed-design-at-ted.html "Everything is covered in invisible ecosystems made of tiny lifeforms: bacteria, viruses, and fungi," science speaker Jessica Green reveals in an exciting new TED Talk. "Our desks, our computers, our pencils, our buildings—all harbor resident microbial landscapes." If we know that these worlds exist—even though they are invisible—why shouldn't we develop all of our products and structures to positively interact with these microbial ecosystems? And, as Green adds, why not design... 2013-03-27 11:10:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-diversity-speaker-marcelo-suarez-orozco-effects-on-children-of-undocumented-immigrants.html In a study that diversity speaker Marcelo Suarez-Orozco co-authored in 2011, he pointed out that there has been a lack of research on the impact of growing up as a child of illegal immigrants. Now, in an article in NBC Latino this week, the dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies discussed the impediments to living as the child of undocumented immigrants. The legal status of parents without immigration documentation can dramatically impede the success of their children,... 2013-03-27 12:45:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-saijal-patel-on-asian-market-reporting.html Why was business speaker Saijal Patel drawn from the world of finance into a business broadcasting position? "I was always interested in it. You get access to some of the smartest people in the room that you normally wouldn't get access to," says Patel in an exclusive interview at Lavin's Toronto office. Now the BNN Anchor for Business Day PM, Patel is an expert on Asian markets with a strong history in finance, business, and accounting. When she first got involved in broadcasting as a producer in... 2013-03-27 17:00:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-shannon-k-oneil-on-mexico-and-america.html The violent crime that is plaguing Mexico is very real. However, our newest economics speaker Shannon K O'Neil argues that there are many positive transformations that are taking place in the country, as well. And now, more than ever, it's important that the United States stops looking at its southern neighbor as a problem, and starts to consider them a partner. "Energy, the environment, corporations, supply chains, people, communities, and security bind the two nations together, making them truly... 2013-03-27 15:51:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-edward-o-wilson-new-book-letters-to-a-young-scientist.html When a writer for PBS got her hands on an advanced copy of the new book by science speaker Edward O. Wilson, she found herself "immersed" in its pages shortly after picking it up. Titled Letters To A Young Scientist, the book shares Wilson's 60 years of experience teaching the next generation of scientists. Teeming with advice for the eager scientist, the forthcoming work from the preeminent entomologist, naturalist, and sociobiologist is about finding a passion for science and following it even... 2013-03-27 16:29:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-human-rights-speaker-kenji-yoshino-on-prop-8-and-same-sex-marriage.html In what could become a landmark civil rights case, Hollingsworth v. Perry and United States v. Windsor will be heard by the Supreme Court this week. Both cases involve the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. Human rights speaker Kenji Yoshino (who is currently writing a book that documents the Prop 8 litigation) has appeared on numerous media outlets to discuss the potential outcomes of these hearings. The first case will be heard Tuesday and is a challenge to Proposition 8 (a ballot initiative... 2013-03-26 11:52:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-marina-adshade-on-dollars-sex-and-love.html "One of the things I like about the economic approach [to relationships] is that it allows you to strip away moral and political beliefs," economics speaker Marina Adshade told us in a recent interview at Lavin's Toronto office. "I only focus on measurable outcomes. I don't moralize, I don't judge. The word 'should' doesn't appear once in my book." Her book, Dollars and Sex: How Economics Influences Sex and Love, has just hit bookshelves everywhere. Based on her extremely popular undergraduate class,... 2013-03-26 10:06:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-jane-chen-on-cultures-of-experimentation.html "It's not just about saving babies but empowering women to save their children," social change speaker Jane Chen says of her Embrace Infant Warmer. "A mother, no matter how poor, how uneducated, will do absolutely anything to save her baby." In a keynote at Grinnell College (where Chen and Linus Liang were recently honored for their humanitarian efforts), the Embrace co-founder discussed the tremendous impact that her low-cost infant incubator has on people around the world. To date, she says that... 2013-03-26 13:39:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-jonathan-haidt-reviewed-by-the-new-york-times.html The Righteous Mind, the breakthrough book by politics speaker Jonathan Haidt, is still causing a stir in the media nearly a year after its release. Originally debuting at #6 on The New York Times Bestseller list, Haidt's book on the complexities of moral psychology and political affiliation has now been re-released in paperback. An excerpt of his work was recently featured in Reason magazine, where it was promoted on the cover. The New York Times reviewed the book this week too, and wrote that: "[Haidt]... 2013-03-26 15:10:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-vanessa-woods-the-genius-of-dogs.html "Welcome the dog child," science speaker Vanessa Woods and co-author Brian Hare write in The Wall Street Journal. "Up to 81% of Americans view their pets as family members, and think about their dogs as much as their children. 71% have a photo of their dog in their wallet or phone that they show other people." It's no wonder, then, that we consider dogs to be "man's best friend." In the article, Woods and Hare expand on the research in their instant New York Times bestselling book The Genius of Dogs.... 2013-03-26 16:23:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-adam-bryant-on-effective-leadership.html CEO's are often sought after for their insight on innovation and strategy, but business speaker Adam Bryant took a different approach when he interviewed over 200 leaders of the world's top companies. In his breakaway "Corner Office" column in The New York Times—and his book of the same name—Bryant analyzes what that the heads of these massive companies are doing 24/7: leading, managing, building a team, fostering a high performance culture, and creating a mission statement. As our newest... 2013-03-26 16:48:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-jeffrey-simpson-on-the-new-federal-budget-and-medicare.html Last week, the Conservative Party released the 2013 federal budget, and health speaker Jeffrey Simpson says that one of the biggest long-term impacts on the nation's budget hasn't been making headlines. The costs required to provide health care to an aging population are on the rise, and Simpson believes they are not sustainable. "Over the next five years," he tells The Globe and Mail, "federal spending on the elderly is going to go up by $10 billion, and on health care by $7.5 [billion]...and that's... 2013-03-25 9:58:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-jennifer-corriero-on-future-friendly-education.html Education speaker Jennifer Corriero knows the importance of incorporating digital-based learning and technologies into the classroom. As the Co-Founder of TakingITGlobal and an expert on the Internet generation, Corriero has helped empower youth to make a difference in the world. Not only that, but she has shown numerous companies how to work with youth and leverage their engagement for success. At the C21 Canada Shifting Minds Summit, Corriero took part in a number of panel discussions and workshops... 2013-03-25 11:22:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-media-speaker-amber-mac-on-mobile-technology.html Today, almost every one of us has a cell phone or a smartphone. While these miniature personal computer systems offer a great deal of benefits, they also cause significant changes to our behaviour and the way we interact with people and with technology. "In some ways I would argue that maybe we don't have what might be a normal relationship with this technology," digital media speaker Amber Mac says in a recent keynote about mobile tech. "We probably spend more time with these devices that we spend... 2013-03-25 13:41:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-anab-jain-on-designing-for-the-future.html The future isn't as "shiny and perfect" as many corporations would have you believe, innovation speaker Anab Jain says on CBC Radio's Spark. In fact, the Superflux Founder & Director says that the future will be "messy and complicated," in much the same way that things are messy and complicated today. That's why her design consultancy doesn't try to create products that fit into an idealized, perfect future—because she doesn't think it will exist. Superflux specializes in something called... 2013-03-25 15:11:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-marketing-speaker-dan-lyons-content-marketing.html In a new talk, Dan Lyons looks at the unexpected rise of content marketing—and why some of the world's biggest companies are joining in on the trend. After serving as the Technology Editor of Newsweek, as well as authoring the popular Fake Steve Jobs blog, Lyons has recently taken a position as a Marketing Fellow at HubSpot, one of the world's most acclaimed web marketing firms. As Lyons explains, companies are beginning to take charge of their own marketing efforts by creating high quality,... 2013-03-25 16:22:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-laurence-c-smith-at-the-arctic-dialoque-conference.html "The new north, as I call it, is transforming very rapidly—for better and for worse," says environment speaker Laurence C. Smith at The Arctic Dialogue Conference. Smith, an author and climate scientist at UCLA, recently spoke about the dramatic effects that climate change is having on the northern world at the University of Nordland. An expert on the subject, Smith has written countless reports and a popular book (The World in 2050) on the Arctic. He also just released a study predicting the... 2013-03-25 16:23:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-water-speaker-charles-fishman-and-shalini-kantayya.html 2013 has been declared as the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation. And, today is World Water Day. Charles Fishman and Shalini Kantayya, both water speakers, think it's vital that we pay more attention to, and redefine the way we look at, our most precious natural resource. Why? According to Kantayya, we are the midst of a looming water crisis. As she discovered when shooting her film Drop of Life, two-thirds of the world's population will be without access to clean drinking water... 2013-03-22 9:42:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cities-speaker-richard-florida-on-talent-clusters-and-the-creative-class.html "The past couple of decades have seen America sort itself into two distinct nations," cities speaker Richard Florida writes in an Atlantic Cities article, "as the more highly skilled and affluent have migrated to a relatively small number of cities and metro areas." It has become a trend for smart, educated people to assemble in areas where a large percentage of the population has college degrees. This creates what he refers to as "talent clusters." In research that Florida has conducted with Charlotta... 2013-03-22 13:16:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-nina-tandon-talks-tissue-engineering-and-medicine-at-ted.html Each individual's body is complexly unique. The problem with this, science speaker Nina Tandon says in a TED Talk, is that it can lead to major complications when you fall ill. Since our bodies are all different, and react differently and unpredictably to standard medical treatments, it can be difficult to treat health problems using a one-size-fits-all model. In her talk, Tandon presents a potential solution—personalized medical treatments that are tested on organs mimicking those of the patient.... 2013-03-22 12:45:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-single-by-choice-eric-klinenberg-kate-bolick.html Eric Klinenberg and Kate Bolick are both on board with a recent trend that's been steadily creeping into the mainstream: going solo and living alone. A new article in The Telegraph agrees that the work of both Bolick and Klinenberg points to a changing society. One in which people choose to live on their own and delay marriage—often by choice. Not only that, but the rise of the singleton isn't necessarily representative of a decaying society. In fact, many people find it liberating. "Being... 2013-03-22 16:20:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cities-speaker-candy-chang-visits-lavin.html Cities speaker and TED Fellow Candy Chang stopped by Lavin Toronto for a quick visit before her keynote at the Mixx Conference yesterday. After a quick walk around the office, the acclaimed public space artist talked to us about her home town (New Orleans), cities in general, the work of Jane Jacobs (an inspiration of hers), and her forthcoming “Before I Die” book (based on her popular public art project of the same name). Impressively, Candy also spent about ten minutes photographing... 2013-03-22 14:18:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-pop-culture-speaker-rob-walkers-new-viral-video-post-on-yahoo.html The newest video to go viral on the Web doesn't have anything to do with Goats Yelling Like Humans, nor does it feature anyone doing the Harlem Shake. In fact, as pop culture speaker Rob Walker writes on Yahoo!, the content of the most recent video to take the Internet by storm is actually quite serious. Titled simply "Wealth Inequality In America" (embedded above), it explores the distribution of wealth across the nation using simple graphics and a straightforward voice-over. While the information... 2013-03-22 15:05:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-marketing-speaker-amber-macarthur-on-marketing.html When digital and social media speaker Amber MacArthur wrote her popular book Power Friending, she advised online marketers to be authentic, creative, and brave. In a new blog post she wrote on Konnect, she explains that these staples still hold true—but digital marketing has also changed in the past three years. When MacArthur was asked to give a keynote at the Digital Media Summit recently, she decided she had to discuss how her ABCs from years past still held true. She also explored how things... 2013-03-21 9:34:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-robert-kuttner-at-the-atlantic-economy-summit.html As part of The Atlantic's Second Annual Economy Summit, Robert Kuttner weighed in on the post-recession economic health of the U.S. in the wake of the financial crisis. Joined by a panel of esteemed experts, Kuttner—a respected economics speaker and author—explored the causes of the crisis and the problems the country has to address on the road to recovery. One of the biggest issues presented during the panel was the question of debt—both national and private—and how to address... 2013-03-21 10:39:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-laurence-c-smith-on-new-arctic-shipping-lanes.html The Arctic is set to become "much more accessible than ever imagined," environment speaker Laurence C. Smith predicts in a new report. The work of the UCLA professor, and his co-writer Scott R. Stephenson, has been making headlines in the media—most recently in Maclean's and The Ottawa Citizen. The piqued interest in their findings is all for good reason: The report suggests that our changing climate could potentially redefine global shipping routes in the north. The two scientists used climate... 2013-03-21 12:24:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-adam-alters-book-drunk-tank-pink-released.html How does the name you give a child affect what other people think about them? What do weather patterns have to do with our thoughts, feelings, and actions? Science speaker Adam Alter has the answers—and they're all contained in his fascinating new book Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave. Released today, the book is a compelling look into the cues and forces that affect how humans think, feel, and act—some of which we'd never suspect.The... 2013-03-21 13:15:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mental-health-speaker-drew-dudley-speaks-at-love-my-life-event.html As mental health speaker Drew Dudley told Wilfred Laurier University students in a recent keynote speech, healing is possible for anyone—no matter what they're going through. As someone who lives with hypomania bipolar disorder, Dudley took to the stage at the school's Love My Life: A Walk For Mental Health event to discuss mental illness. The founder of Nuance Leadership Development Services, Dudley is a charismatic and highly sought after speaker on leadership and motivation. At first,... 2013-03-21 16:28:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-autism-speaker-john-elder-robison-new-book-a-hit.html Raising Cubby: A Father and Son's Adventures with Asperger's, Trains, Tractors, and High Explosives, the latest book from John Elder Robison, was released to rave reviews earlier this month. A followup to Robison's previous bestselling memoir Look Me In the Eye, his newest work tells the story of a father who's just a little bit different than other people—trying to raise a son who is just a little bit different, himself. Despite growing up with Asperger's Syndrome—during a time when... 2013-03-21 15:25:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-leadership-mark-cohon-joins-lavin.html Fresh off a 100th Grey Cup that entertained (and united) the country, Lavin is proud to introduce our new exclusive speaker, CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon. Under his leadership, we’re experiencing a Canadian Football League resurgence. It’s position as a cultural institution, as a sporting mainstay, and—perhaps most importantly—as a beloved national brand has not only solidified, but has expanded substantially since Cohon took over in 2007. In keynotes, Mark Cohon talks about... 2013-03-20 14:55:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cities-speaker-shawn-micallef-on-suburban-innovation.html While cities speaker Shawn Micallef agrees that the "shiny, centers of the city" should be celebrated and are important, the suburban spaces also hold a great deal of untapped potential. "That's where the future of the Canadian economy is, sitting in a suburban basement," he explains in an exclusive interview here at Lavin's Toronto office. One of our newest speakers, Micallef has made a career analyzing the way cities operate and drive the economy—and where the most innovative spaces are within... 2013-03-19 10:42:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-david-eagleman-on-free-will-in-time.html "Under certain circumstances it might be useful to drop the question of free will and just assume that people are not at all the same on the inside," science speaker David Eagleman says in a new interview in TIME.  "For example, if you were to look at Ted Bundy and say, well, I use my free will to make terrific choices in life and Ted Bundy over there had used his free will to make terrible decisions in life. What would be missing from that narrative is the fact that your brain and his brain... 2013-03-19 12:18:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-on-learning-comprehension.html "Instead of holding fixed how long you have to learn something, when you learn it, and the variable component being how well you learn it—we should do it the other way around," education speaker Salman Khan says in a recent college keynote at University of California Berkeley. "The variable component should be when you get to learn something and how you get to learn it (essentially at your own pace, in your own time). And what's fixed is that you expect a high level of mastery of all of those... 2013-03-19 14:16:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-media-speaker-alexandra-samuel-on-memory-and-the-internet.html "I feel like so much of the fear and criticism around the internet is [that] 'it's different from how my relationships have always worked, it's different from how my memory has worked, it's different from how I've always read'" digital media speaker Alexandra Samuel says in an interview at Lavin. "Different sometimes is better, sometimes it's worse, and sometimes—it's just different." In an increasingly digitized world, the way we process information, as well as the way we interact with and... 2013-03-19 16:23:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-john-maeda-on-innovative-design.html "Study history," innovation speaker John Maeda says in an interview after a recent keynote speech, "because there’s a lot of ‘new’ stuff in history to find again." Maeda took part in Day 1 of the Design Indaba Conference, which focused on creativity and design strategies around the world, late last month. In his talk, and in the interview, Maeda discussed the way that old can become new again when it is reworked and re-imagined. "I think that there’s always something... 2013-03-19 15:40:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cities-speaker-shawn-micallef-on-urban-living.html "No one's ever talked about Canadians being an urban people," cities speaker Shawn Micallef (one of Lavin's newest speakers) says. That's somewhat surprising, given that he says approximately 80 per cent of the nation's population lives in cities or suburbs. It is becoming increasingly less common for Canadians to live in rural areas. Rather, he says "most of us have suburban lives, urban lives. We go to Costco, or we go to a coffee shop; we use subways, we get stuck in traffic jams." This is why... 2013-03-18 15:41:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-motivational-speaker-yvonne-camus-on-high-performance-living-and-success.html "I really embrace the belief that almost anything is possible if you work hard enough at it, if you put enough effort into it," motivational speaker Yvonne Camus says in one of her highly requested talks. "It's a relentless, endless commitment to hard work that we need to develop within ourselves." This is a similar message to the one she presented at the Learning Solutions Conference and Expo last week. In her talk, Camus explored what it means to live a high performance life—and why it's... 2013-03-18 10:30:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-jessica-jackley-and-kiva-hit-one-million-borrowers.html Today marks a major milestone for social change speaker Jessica Jackley and her team at KIVA. The nonprofit microlending organization just announced that they've "reached over 1 million people in more than 65 countries through $400 million in microloans." When she co-founded KIVA back in 2005, Jackley wanted to change the conversation about poverty. She wanted to create a system where people could build relationships with others around the world by lending them money to lift themselves out of poverty.... 2013-03-18 11:30:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-technology-speaker-neil-gershenfeld-in-wired-magazine.html We've digitized communication and computing. Now, technology speaker Neil Gershenfeld tells Wired that we need to digitize our fabrication, too. And, as he's said in the past, that doesn't necessarily mean putting 3D printing at the forefront. In a recent speech at the Royal Academy of Engineering's Grand Challenges Summit, Gershenfeld explained that the real revolution lies in the ability to "[bring] programmability to the physical world." To elaborate, Gershenfeld compares the way a 3D printer... 2013-03-18 14:13:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-design-speaker-mitchell-joachim-permeable-waterfronts-wins-design-award.html Design speaker Mitchell Joachim and his team at Terreform ONE are known for thinking way outside the box when it comes to creating sustainable design solutions. Their newest project, the Urbaneer Resilient Water Infrastructure, continues the tradition. Winner of the AIA New York Award for Urban Design, Joachim's latest eco-architecture proposal focuses on the issue of storm water retention in the Brooklyn waterfront area. Instead of trying to keep water out, Joachim has devised a way to allow the... 2013-03-18 15:50:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-doug-stephens-on-winning-consumer-loyalty.html "In 1965, all you needed was 3 commercials in prime time to reach 80 per cent of the audience," retail speaker Douglas Stephens says in a recent keynote. "No wonder ad guys were doing so well." The old mass media allowed average brands to achieve above average results, he says, because all you had to do to ensure repeat business was buy ads. Today, however, you need 117 commercials in prime time to potentially reach 80 per cent of the audience. Not only that, but adding all of those extra commercials... 2013-03-18 16:53:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-roger-martin-marketing-and-strategy-are-both-integral-to-success.html "The dividing line between strategy and marketing has disappeared in practice," business speaker Roger Martin writes in the Harvard Business Review. That's why the Playing To Win co-author says it's important for business schools and companies to stop marking such a clear distinction between the two departments. "Because companies have fallen in love with specialization in skill development and fragmentation of organizational structures," he writes, "they have followed suit and generally maintain... 2013-03-15 9:42:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jared-diamond-on-foreign-aid.html The World Until Yesterday, the latest book from environmental historian and Jared Diamond, is centered around the lessons we can learn from studying traditional societies around the world. In a recent interview at Westfield State University, Diamond argued that there is a great deal we can learn from analyzing people who live in different circumstances from our own. Where some societies have succeeded, others have failed—but they all have something to teach us today about how to interact with... 2013-03-15 15:20:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-econonomics-speaker-daron-acemoglu-says-democratic-participation-will-spur-economic-growth.html "The question 'why are some countries poor and others not?' is one of the most important questions in social science," economics speaker Daron Acemoglu argues, "yet, our understanding is still imperfect, to say the least." Acemoglu, co-author of Why Nations Fail (with fellow Lavin speaker James Robinson) recently spoke at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) about this critical issue. At the Knowledge Circle event, the respected economist and M.I.T. professor drew on material from... 2013-03-15 10:47:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-talks-about-the-skills-gap-on-on-charlie-rose.html As education speaker Salman Khan tells Charlie Rose, we don't only have a skills gap in the workforce, but a "signaling gap" as well. On the one hand, there are people who do not have the credentials needed to be employable (the skills gap). On the other hand, there are people who do have the skills that employers are looking for, but have no way to show it due to a lack of official accreditation or work experience. Take the users of the Khan Academy website, for example. There is enough raw information... 2013-03-15 16:24:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-bill-strickland-dont-give-up-on-the-poor-kids.html "People are a function of the environment where you teach them," says leadership speaker Bill Strickland. In a new interview, the president and CEO of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation explains that it's easy for people to fall through the cracks if no one recognizes their potential. However, taking a chance on someone and providing them with the opportunities they need to succeed can be all it takes to help them overcome their environmental obstacles. "Don't give up on the poor kids," he advises,... 2013-03-14 10:19:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-robert-kuttner-debtors-prison.html Robert Kuttner's bold new book, Debtors' Prison: The Politics of Austerity Versus Possibility, challenges us to change the conversation about economic recovery. As a respected author, journalist, and economics speaker, Kuttner tackles one of the most pressing issues of the day with brutal honesty and a refreshing new perspective. James Fallows, another Lavin speaker and National Correspondent for The Atlantic, had this to say about Kuttner's forthcoming work: "No topics in modern political life have... 2013-03-14 10:51:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-david-goldhill-new-book-catastrophic-care.html After health speaker David Goldhil lost his father to a series of hospital-acquired infections, he decided to learn all he could about the shortcomings of what he considers a broken system. Sadly, he found that his father's case was not a unique one. In fact, as he explains to NPR, there's an estimated 100,000 similar deaths each year. Goldhill, the Chief Executive Officer of GSN, decided to write about this issue in a highly talked about article in The Atlantic back in 2009. Now, he's turned that... 2013-03-14 11:53:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-jake-harriman-gets-donation-to-nuru-from-naval-academy.html Nuru International, founded by social change speaker Jake Harriman, is about to get a generous donation from the United States Naval Academy. In honor of the USNA's 15th anniversary, the graduating class of 1998 will give their reunion gift of $100,000 to the organization. Harriman—a member of the graduating class of '98—started Nuru to help eradicate extreme poverty. During his time with the Marines, Harriman was up close and personal with people living in some of the poorest and most... 2013-03-14 13:48:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-saijal-patel-says-asian-partnerships-are-a-win-win.html China is often misunderstood as an emerging superpower, business speaker Saijal Patel explains in a new interview at Lavin's Toronto office. The fact is, the BNN host says, it is the second largest economy in the world—and Canada can't afford to ignore it. "We forget that Asia puts Canada on a pedestal," she tells us in the interview, "it's a highly regarded country because [our finances are sound], our currency is seen as a safe haven, there's a rule of law here, we have resources that so... 2013-03-14 16:39:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sociology-speaker-eric-klinenberg-mad-men-versus-father-knows-best.html Even though more Americans are living alone than ever before, sociology speaker Eric Klinenberg says that the country is actually lagging far behind many other places in the world when it comes to the rise of solo living. In a recent interview, the Going Solo author unpacks the common misconceptions surrounding the growing trend of single person households. He explains that many people believe the rise of the singleton (a person who is single and also lives alone) can be attributed to the value placed... 2013-03-13 9:14:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-college-speaker-candy-chang-before-i-die-wall-profiled.html "Every single college campus across the world can benefit from a 'Before I Die' wall." Candy Chang, the public space artist, college speaker, and TED Fellow, recently received a rave review for her community art project in a new blog entry at The Huffington Post. Since Chang first started the project, the walls have now popped up in over 30 countries in more than 10 different languages. The idea behind the initiative was to provide members of the community with a forum to remember their dreams—and... 2013-03-13 11:49:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-paul-tough-on-toxic-stress.html "The stress response mechanism is like a muscle in many ways," education speaker Paul Tough says in a keynote on stress and childhood development. "It needs exercise in order to develop." Infants and children are all exposed to some level of stress. For some, they are soothed by a parent or guardian when experiencing a stressful occurrence and this helps to build up their stress response system. They are then more resilient to trauma over time and they become better at coping with stress. However,... 2013-03-13 12:54:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-steven-pinker-does-a-reddit-ask-me-anything.html The human mind is a vast, complex system that science speaker Steven Pinker says becomes increasingly fascinating the more we learn about it. Pinker, one of the world's leading cognitive scientists and Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard, recently took part in one of Reddit's popular Ask Me Anything forums. During the live event, Reddit users asked him a myriad of questions on the research in his books, keynotes, and articles. Redditors were thrilled to have the chance to converse with the... 2013-03-13 13:33:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-drew-dudley-on-maximizing-value-not-profit.html Leadership speaker Drew Dudley has a new mantra for corporations—and Business Insider magazine agrees with him. "In order to to restore our economy and society to health, we need a new corporate mission in America. We need to stop maximizing profit and start maximizing value," a recent article in the magazine reads. This echoes what Dudley discussed in a keynote speech recently. In the talk (check it out above!) Dudley explains that profit will naturally follow if you add value to every task... 2013-03-13 15:00:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-jessica-green-on-microbes-at-the-roller-rink-in-talk-derby-to-me.html If your microbes define your identify more than the cells that make you human, and you are always passing microbes around with other people, are you really a distinct individual? That's a question posed in Talk Derby To Me, a new documentary featuring the work of science speaker Jessica Green. Green and James F. Meadow are two of the researchers involved in the project, making the doc a true TED Fellows Collaboration. The film examines the role that microbes play in human identity through the lens... 2013-03-13 15:52:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-introvert-speaker-susan-cain-gives-keynote-at-off-2013.html "If you want to figure it out," introvert speaker Susan Cain told the crowd at Montreal's OFF Infopresse 2013 conference, "[then] you have to be willing to spend some time alone in solitude." In her keynote speech at the event (which was presented by w.illi.am), Cain shared her breakthrough work about introversion and how it applies to the workplace. How did the crowd respond to Cain's declaration that companies need to stop catering to only the extroverts in their workforce? Well, the Editor-In-Chief... 2013-03-12 9:14:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-arthur-caplan-on-genetic-testing.html "Would you want to know your future if science could tell it to you?" Science and bioethics speaker Arthur Caplan posed this question in a new opinion piece on CNN—and it's one with a fairly complicated answer. Genetic testing, he says, can give you insight into what your genes hold in store for your health. But just because you can find out if you are at risk of developing a life-threatening disease, do you want to? While using scientific tests as a crystal ball to peer into your future may... 2013-03-12 10:28:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-jane-chen-on-simple-health-care-solutions.html You don't need big money, big pharma, or big labs to produce game-changing medical technologies. Just ask innovation speaker Jane Chen about the effectiveness of her simple, low-cost infant warmer for proof of that. Recently featured in The Times of India, Embrace (the social enterprise that Chen co-founded) produces baby incubators for a fraction of the cost of traditional options. As The Times reports: "Globally, four million out of 20 million pre-term babies die every year...[and] 40 per cent... 2013-03-12 12:03:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-srdja-popovic-on-non-violent-resolution.html Social change speaker and Otpor! founder Srdja Popovic believes in the power of non-violent protest to overthrow autocrats. That's why a recent piece in The Daily Beast has recommended that Syrian activists "work with people like Popovic, to see that they cannot respond to Bashar with the violence being heaped on them." Recently, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad refused to leave the capital city of Damascus—unless made to do so by force. He claims that many of the accusations surrounding his... 2013-03-12 13:14:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-jared-diamond-on-his-new-book-the-world-until-yesterday.html In a short new segment with Bookworld, Jared Diamond provides an overview of the scope and tone of his new bestseller, The World Until Yesterday. The book, he explains, creates a framework for looking at what small, traditional societies can teach us in the industrialized world. "[These societies] are like thousands of different experiments in how to run a human society," he says, "they face the same problems that all of us do, they bring up children, they grow old, they have problems of health,... 2013-03-12 15:38:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-gen-walter-natynczyk-pick-your-successor-and-delegate-to-them.html What does big business have to learn from the military? A lot, according to leadership speaker Gen. Walter Natynczyk. In a new interview with Lavin, the Former Chief of Defence Staff says it's important to give your team the skills and tools they need to succeed in their present roles—but it's equally as important to prepare them for a time when you are no longer in charge. "Select who's going to replace you; select succession," he suggests, "delegate responsbility to them while you're... 2013-03-12 16:34:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-conscious-capitalism-speaker-douglas-merill-tell-a-story-not-just-the-facts.html "Your brain isn’t a computer; it’s part of your humanness. It wants to recall information not as mere data, but as stories," conscious capitalism speaker Douglas Merrill writes in Forbes. "The key to remembering facts so you can give great interviews or speeches, or just be better organized, is to embed those facts into stories." As the ZestFinance.com co-founder explains in the article, the key to delivering a presentation that will resonate with the audience is to avoid simply laying... 2013-03-11 10:20:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-and-social-media-speaker-amber-macarthur-on-great-new-apps.html Amber MacArthur, a digital and social media speaker and technology expert, recently shared her insights on some of the most cutting-edge trends in the app world. MacArthur appeared on both CTV's App Central and KonnektNow (above) where she discussed cell phone apps ranging from the novelty variety (a DIY Harlem Shake tutorial) to more practical animated weather applications. She also said she has noticed a new trend emerging: the macro video. Applications such as Tout and Vine offer users the ability... 2013-03-11 11:13:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-solo-living-speaker-eric-klinenberg-in-the-wall-street-journal-on-single-living-homes.html More people in the United States currently live alone than ever before in history, according to New York University professor and Lavin speaker Eric Klinenberg. As the Going Solo author has said before, the impact of this rapidly growing trend is starting to permeate into many different industries (most recently, into the real estate sector). "Luxury homes designed for one—or bachelor and bachelorette pads, as they're often called—may be the hottest thing in the singles scene," a new... 2013-03-11 12:38:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-arts-speaker-patti-smith-ago-review.html Last week, Patti Smith performed an amazing show at The Art Gallery of Ontario, where her Camera Solo exhibit is on display—and some lucky Lavin staffers were there! Here’s our review. The punk legend sang a quiet but powerful set of songs to an audience who punctuated the night with shouts of devotion, gratitude, and, at times, crazed joy. Patti played “in the round,” fans on all sides of her, standing under a Frank Gehry-designed staircase that jutted out from the wall,... 2013-03-11 13:51:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-saijal-patel-have-we-underestimated-china.html Despite many predictions that China was going to find itself in economic turmoil back in 2012, business speaker Saijal Patel believes that they will bounce back from the possible crash, and show us how much we underestimate the nation in the process. "They're very capitalist, they think ten years ahead, and they are very flexible in their polices," she says. Because they are a communist nation, there is much less red tape when it comes to getting things done. "China can push policies through," she... 2013-03-11 14:17:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-diversity-speaker-minnijean-brown-trickey-gets-standing-ovation.html In 1957, diversity speaker Minnijean Brown Trickey was one of nine other black students to become the first to integrate into what was once an all-white school. In a new keynote, she says that the experience was hostile, at best. However, her reception was far more favorable years later when she walked through the doors of Carlmont High School in California. When Trickey entered the school to give a talk on civil rights recently, the audience greeted her with a standing ovation—a testament... 2013-03-11 15:07:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speakler-saijal-patel-on-asian-purchasing-power.html "What you notice with trends, whether it's personally or with corporations, is the person with the money has the power, at the end of the day," business speaker Saijal Patel says in an exclusive interview with Lavin. "And when you have a consumer market (whether it's the Japanese, the Singaporeans, the Chinese) and they have this savings rate—they also have the purchasing power that we should make note of." Before joining BNN as the financial news anchor of Business Day PM, Patel lived and... 2013-03-08 9:49:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-adam-alter-new-book-drunk-tank-pink.html In his forthcoming book, science speaker Adam Alter explores the way that the cognitive biases we hold affect the way he behave—in ways we may not even realize. Titled Drunk Tank Pink (in reference to a study suggesting pink-colored walls improved performance in school), it explores how our thought-processes effect everything from the way we grade a student's work to how well a patient recovers after surgery. Alter, an Assistant Professor of Marketing and Psychology at NYU’s Stern School... 2013-03-08 11:20:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-vanessa-woods-vanessa-woods-in-national-geographic-on-dogs.html They're known as 'man's best friend', but as science speaker Vanessa Woods proposes in an opinion piece in National Geographic, we may not have been the ones to initiate the close bond we now have with the canine species. In fact, she says that humans didn't initially take to our new found domestic pets much—choosing to hunt them to extinction rather than befriend them. "In the story of how the dog came in from the cold and onto our sofas, we tend to give ourselves a little too much credit,"... 2013-03-08 15:02:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-dustin-garis-on-sustained-innovation.html "Anything with the title 'conventional' in it, likely has a limited life span, as it probably should," innovation speaker Dustin Garis told the audience at the recent NATPE conference. "That essentially forces the industry to continue to raise the bar and innovate." As the former Lead of Global Marketing Innovation for P&G FutureWorks (and "Chief Troublemaker," as he is sometimes referred to) Garis doesn't just talk about innovation—he is a living and breathing example of it. In this talk,... 2013-03-08 13:10:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-relationship-speaker-kate-bolick-on-the-death-of-marriage.html Even though Kate Bolick's highly acclaimed Atlantic cover story "All The Single Ladies" explores the trend of women remaining single, she doesn't believe that means people are all of a sudden going to stop getting married. In a 'Group Think' article organized by Bill Moyers, Bolick opens by saying: "Marriage is going the way of books. Which aren’t going anywhere." She compares the rise of singles to the rising popularity of e-books—while they both change notions of what marriage and traditional... 2013-03-08 17:25:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-introvert-speaker-susan-cain-says-no-to-open-plan-workspaces.html Susan Cain, an expert on introversion and author of the breakout book Quiet, proposes that we reconsider the shift toward open-plan office spaces. And, the author of an INC 5000 piece on introverts in the office seems to agree. Bill Stewart, managing director and co-founder of the strategic advisory firm Avondale, writes that Cain's insight into the downfalls of open concept workspaces really resonates with him. A self-confessed introvert, Stewart says that he requires solitude and space to be productive... 2013-03-08 16:32:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-jane-chen-talks-to-young-entrepreneurs.html Jane Chen, Co-founder and CEO of Embrace, recently spoke at the Arizona State University Innovation Challenge where she encouraged students to take risks and dedicate themselves to changing the world. A popular innovation speaker, Chen came up with the idea for the Embrace Infant Warmer (a low-cost incubator to regulate premature babies' body temperatures) when she was a student at Stanford. The product is now making a real impact to the lives of children across the developing world, and is... 2013-03-07 11:37:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-college-speaker-blake-mycoskie-start-something-that-matters-is-required-college-reading.html Start Something That Matters, The New York Times bestseller from college speaker Blake Mycoskie, inspires readers to turn their passions into a career that includes both philanthropy and profit. With an uplifting message like that, it's no wonder Coastal Carolina University's Big Read committee chose it as required reading for all incoming freshmen this fall. Brianne Parker, chair of the Big Read committee, says that the book encourages students to engage in community service and entrepreneurship,... 2013-03-07 11:06:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-charles-wheelan-talks-stats-on-mpr-news.html As Charles Wheelan tells MPR, the reason a lot of us stopped taking an interest in statistics is because we stopped being told why it was important. And, as the Naked Statistics author says in the interview, understanding statistics (even on a basic level) is important for all of us. One of the great things about statistics is that it gives us a shorthand way to convey and understand large amounts of complex information. To most of us, statistical formulas can look like a foreign language. However,... 2013-03-07 13:40:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ted2013-david-lavin-and-nina-tandon.html As David Lavin says in this new interview, the TED Fellows are some of the most interesting and cutting edge thinkers in the world. As the President of The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau, he's had the chance to rub elbows with some of these bright minds both here at the agency and, recently, at TED2013. Some of the work the TED Fellows are doing might not become mainstream knowledge for another 5, 10, or 15 years, Lavin explains in the interview, but their advancements are actually making a difference... 2013-03-07 14:43:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-edward-o-wilson-on-morality-and-evolution.html "Only the understanding of evolution offers a chance to get a real understanding of the human species," science speaker Edward O. Wilson says in a new interview. "We are determined by the interplay between individual and group selection where individual selection is responsible for much of what we call sin, while group selection is responsible for the greater part of virtue." In Spiegel International, the two time Pulitzer Prize-winning author and biologist explains that he has recently changed his... 2013-03-07 16:01:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-jessica-jackley-on-tech-and-microfinance.html Jessica Jackley, a social change speaker and the co-founder of KIVA, knows about the power of technology to help lift people out of poverty first-hand—after all, it's what KIVA is based on. In an interview at the Atlantic Meets Pacific Conference, she explained how the internet and microfinance has allowed her to pinpoint individual needs and fulfill them in a whole new way. Traditional ventures of the past aimed at helping the poor were generally philanthropic in nature, and attempted to address... 2013-03-06 10:37:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-media-speaker-alexandra-samuel-hbr-making-time-for-social-media.html "Many of us decide that social media is worth doing without deciding what is worth giving up for it," digital media speaker Alexandra Samuel writes in the Harvard Business Review. "And unless you're one of the miraculous few who does have plenty of empty space on your dance card, you must give something up in order to make time for social networking." As she explains in the article, you can't expect social media results without designating time to social networking. While many big companies have... 2013-03-06 9:50:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-steve-wozniak-sends-letter-to-korean-student.html Not only is Steve Wozniak a great innovation keynote speaker, he's a genuinely nice guy as well! That was made even more evident when 19-year-old South Korean student Yang Yeon-su sent him a letter to thank him for his great speech at her school last summer. Not only did Wozniak reply, but he gave the young girl detailed advice and a hopeful message to pass on to the rest of her classmates. In the letter, he expanded on points he made in his presentation about the future of technology, and tips on... 2013-03-06 17:18:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-work-speaker-linda-duxbury-on-a-looming-labor-shortage.html According to work speaker Linda Duxbury, there's a severe labour shortage in Canada's skilled trades. In a recent keynote for the Ottawa Integrated Local Labour Market Planning (OILLMP) group, she said that: "Within 10 years, Canada will see a shortage of 800,000 skilled workers." That shortage is most evident in the construction sector. While this trend means there are more job opportunities for potential new employees—it's causing problems for homebuyers as well as residential and commercial... 2013-03-06 12:36:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-john-ibbitson-the-big-shift.html "In university classrooms across Canada, professors are teaching their students nonsense," an except from politics speaker John Ibbitson's new book, The Big Shift (which is in stores now), reads. "In newspaper columns and on television, commentators are talking rot. Authors and playwrights and poets and musicians sing of a country that doesn’t exist. Politicians offer promises that people don’t want them to keep." As Ibbitson and Darrell Bricker explain in the book, the era of the Laurentian... 2013-03-06 15:38:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-internet-speaker-sue-gardner-to-diversify-wikipedia.html “The Wikimedia Foundation’s goal is to bring the sum total of all knowledge to the entire world in every person’s own language,” says internet speaker Sue Gardner in a recent discussion at the State Library of Queensland. As the Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, Gardner plays a major role in the operation of the massive crowd-sourced site Wikipedia. As she explained in the talk, despite the site's success there have certainly been obstacles along the way. Many of... 2013-03-06 14:47:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-laurence-c-smith-on-melting-arctic-ice-and-shipping-routes.html According to environment speaker Laurence C. Smith, our changing climate is poised to redefine the way the global economy ships its goods. "By midcentury, changing sea ice conditions enable expanded September navigability for common open-water ships crossing the Arctic along the Northern Sea Route over the Russian Federation," Smith writes in a new report. The melting sea ice will provide "robust new routes for moderately ice-strengthened (Polar Class 6) ships over the North Pole, and new routes... 2013-03-05 13:28:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-eric-berlow-maps-the-tedx-talk-trends.html The underlying purpose of TED and TEDx talks is to spread powerful and intriguing ideas around the world. Eric Berlow, a TED Senior Fellow and complexity scientist, thought it would be interesting to see which of those ideas were really spreading globally. With TED2013 going on right now, and with the total number of the talks viewed online surpassing 1 billion, big data speaker Eric Berlow and Quid's Sean Gourley put together a data visualization showing which topics overlap. While it may seem that... 2013-03-05 9:40:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-drew-dudley-add-value-and-profit-will-follow.html "I don't want to treat money and jobs and promotions as goals in and of themselves anymore," leadership speaker Drew Dudley says in a keynote speech. "Instead I'm going to see these things as the natural by-products that come to you if you add tremendous value." He says that he believes "any value you put out comes back three times over." Although it doesn't necessarily come back when you think you want it, need it, or deserve it, he says that it's important to believe that any value you add will... 2013-03-05 14:33:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cities-speaker-richard-florida-on-miamis-creative-class.html "Cities are incubators of innovation," says Richard Florida in his presentation at Startup City: Miami. Launched by The Atlantic and The Atlantic Cities (where Florida is a Senior Editor), the conference saw Florida and other leading entrepreneurs, tech experts, and cities speakers explore the potential of Miami's innovative ecosystem. As of late, the city has experienced rapid growth and a surge in both entrepreneurship and creative ventures. The close proximity of creative individuals in cities... 2013-03-05 15:15:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-technology-speaker-neil-gershenfeld-discusses-the-interspecies-internet-with-peter-gabriel-at-ted2013.html What do technology speaker Neil Gershenfeld, musician Peter Gabriel, cognitive psychologist Diana Reiss, and Vint Cerf (one of the builders of the early Internet) have in common? They all see the potential that technology has to allow animals to communicate with humans. In a joint presentation at TED2013, they took turns explaining their new project: The Interspecies Internet. Also referred to as I2I, the project is a non-profit organization created to explore, encourage and facilitate communication... 2013-03-05 16:53:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-morality-speaker-jonathan-haidt-on-disgust-and-politics.html "Morality isn't just about stealing and killing," morality speaker Jonathan Haidt tells the audience in a new talk. "Honesty, it's often about menstruation, and food, and who you are having sex with, and how you handle corpses." Haidt, a social psychologist and author of the bestseller The Righteous Mind, explained that what we are disgusted by is a guiding force of our morality. While we evolved to feel disgusted by things that make us sick when consumed, that feeling of disgust has expanded to... 2013-03-04 9:55:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-marina-adshade-in-canadian-business.html "The pleasure of reading [Marina Adshade's] Dollars and Sex," Canadian Business writes, "is that Adshade doesn't have an agenda to push...The book is a clever collection of small conservation-ready revelations packaged in an accessible way." In the article, the author explains that Adshade's market lens approach to love is equally as refreshing as it is eye-opening. "As a writer, she is blissfully unsentimental about her material. She's interested in people's choices, not in judging them...that's... 2013-03-04 14:17:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rob-walker-on-evernote-in-bloomberg-businessweek.html "The promise is that Evernote saves your ideas," Rob Walker writes in a new feature in Bloomberg Businessweek, "[it] documents your meetings, archives articles, reminds you what your kid wants for Christmas, and coughs up the business card of Plaid Jacket Guy from that conference in Scottsdale." The digital note-taking tool (which Alexandra Samuel praises in her article in The Harvard Business Review) has amassed 50 million+ users worldwide—and with that kind of a fan base, it's no wonder those... 2013-03-04 12:03:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-jeffrey-simpson-on-medicare-and-national-identity.html English-speaking Canadians have done something that health speaker Jeffrey Simpson thinks is very strange—they've elevated healthcare to the point of it being their top-ranking national symbol. Attaching our national identity to Medicare is something that he says few, if any, other countries have done and we have transformed this policy  initiative into national mythology. "It's existential for us," Simpson says in a new video on The Globe and Mail, "and anything that's existential is... 2013-03-04 15:40:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-douglas-stephens-retail-revival-launch.html Friday marked the launch of retail speaker Doug Stephens' book, The Retail Revival: Re-Imagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism. We were there to celebrate with Doug, and got a good look at the release, which examines the rapidly reforming market landscape and offers insights on how businesses can adapt and survive in the face of online pressures.Doug also got a special thank-you from Lavin speaker Amber Mac. Doug is often a guest on Amber's show, App Central, where he shares some of the... 2013-03-04 16:01:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-jessica-jackley-money-isnt-the-only-currency.html "I grew up with some angst and some stress about money," social change speaker Jessica Jackley told the crowd at a recent CreativeMornings lecture. When she was growing up, Jackley says that she would become extremely disheartened every time she learned about someone living in extreme poverty—to the point where she admits to sometimes having felt guilty for her own wealth. In the talk, she shared the story of how she co-founded KIVA (a highly successful microlending website) and how her relationship... 2013-03-04 16:35:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-david-suzuki-economics-speaker-jeff-rubin-on-cbc.html "When you live in a finite world, you can't grow anything forever," environment speaker David Suzuki tells CBC radio. That's a similar message to what economics speaker Jeff Rubin promotes, which is part of the reason why the two have joined forces on a national Eco-Tour to discuss sustainability and economic growth. As Rubin explains in the interview, despite their seemingly unusual partnership, he and Suzuki complement each other—and have more in common than most people think. "The message... 2013-03-01 9:41:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-john-ibbitson-susan-cain-introverts-in-office.html As Susan Cain once argued in an opinion piece in The New York Times, we often imagine leaders as charismatic extroverts. “Culturally, we tend to associate leadership with extroversion and attach less importance to judgment, vision and mettle,” Cain wrote in the article. “We prize leaders who are eager talkers over those who have something to say." As she explained in her article—and as politics speaker John Ibbitson has recently argued in a new piece in The Globe and Mail—the... 2013-03-01 10:56:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-comedian-speaker-dave-hemstad-on-corporate-vs-club-comedy.html As comedian Dave Hemstad explains in a new interview with Lavin, there's a big difference between presenting your material at a comedy club and delivering it it to a room full of businesspeople. Making that distinction, and then being able to host an event while catering to different standards, is what's made Hemstad such a smash-hit at conferences and comedy venues alike. In the interview, Hemstad uses the analogy of a comedy club as a "home game" and the corporate function as an "away game," to... 2013-03-01 12:25:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-rick-mercer-wins-3-canadian-screen-awards.html It looks like celebrity speaker and television host Rick Mercer is going to have to clear out some room in his trophy case. Again. At the inaugural Canadian Screen Awards (a combination of what were once the Genie and Gemini Awards), he took home 3 awards for his work with the record-breaking CBC hit, The Rick Mercer Report. The show itself won the statue (which has yet to be named) for "Best Music, Variety, Sketch Comedy or Talk Program" and Mercer and his team were also honoured for "Best Writing... 2013-03-01 12:49:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-media-speaker-amber-macarthur.html Most establishments you enter have at least one camera set up inside, whether it's for theft-prevention or customer research. But, as digital media speaker Amber MacArthur explains in this keynote speech, some of those cameras also utilize facial recognition technology to get a better indication of who is coming in and out of the store. An example of this technology in action is the app Scene Tap. MacArthur explains that the app is designed to tell users how many people are at a certain restaurant... 2013-03-01 14:31:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-john-maeda-on-art-and-innovation.html "Why does STEAM policy matter?" asks innovation speaker John Maeda of his quest to turn the current curriculem of STEM courses (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) into STEAM courses (the A representing the addition of arts). The answer is simple. "It is how America will reign competitive and remain the leader in the 21st century." In a recent panel presentation, the President of Rhode Island School of Design explained that innovation is the key component to kick-starting our... 2013-03-01 16:17:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-finance-speaker-david-chilton-on-failure.html "If you're not failing a lot, you're probably not trying enough," says finance speaker David Chilton in an interview on CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. The Wealthy Barber author and Dragons' Den host embraces his mistakes, even saying that he looks back on them "fondly." While he jokes that his partners may not have such optimistic feelings about their previous failures, Chilton says that they have helped him learn his strengths—and his weaknesses.On the show, the personal finance expert... 2013-02-28 10:53:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-jane-chen-and-embrace-in-techcrunch.html "As the team walked through some of its design concepts, it felt like this would be the product that Apple would create if it were in the healthcare space," TechCrunch writes of Jane Chen's Embrace Infant Warmer. "There’s that much attention to detail here." The website recently profiled the innovation speaker's breakthrough health care product and the positive work that Embrace Disruptive Health Care Technology is doing around the world in a recurring column called 'The Weekly Good.' As a... 2013-02-28 14:19:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-jessi-cruickshank-at-global-awareness-week.html As part of Global Awareness Week, celebrity speaker Jessi Cruickshank ventured to MacEwan University to give the students a keynote on striking a school-life balance and fulfilling their potential. (Another Lavin speaker, Shalini Kantayya, also spoke during that week.) The event was organized to spread awareness about the important issues and injustices taking place internationally, and to celebrate diversity and multiculturalism. Sharing lessons learned from her time in university and... 2013-02-28 12:49:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-water-speaker-charles-fishman-on-being-smart-about-water.html As Big Thirst author and water speaker Charles Fishman reminds us in a new interview, our reliance on water is more entrenched in our lives than we even realize. We're using water even when we don't know it, he says. "Anytime anybody in the world punches enter on a Google search," he tells us in an exclusive interview at Lavin's Toronto office,  "you're using two tablespoons of water just to conduct that Google search, just for that person." That's a whole lot of water being consumed in a way... 2013-02-28 15:25:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eric-klinenberg-on-solo-living-in-smithsonian.html "If we once worried about isolation, today, more and more critics are concerned that we’re overconnected," Eric Klinenberg tells Smithsonian Magazine. "So in a moment like this, living alone is one way to get a kind of restorative solitude, a solitude that can be productive, because your home can be an oasis from the constant chatter and overwhelming stimulation of the digital urban existence." Perhaps that's part of the reason that approximately 28 per cent of the American population chooses... 2013-02-28 16:36:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-author-speaker-teju-cole-talks-about-open-city-at-boston-college.html Echoing the themes from his book, Teju Cole told students at Boston College that post-9/11 New York is an "open city." Not so coincidentally, that's also the title of his critically acclaimed book. A self-proclaimed lover of the city, Cole explores the way that the bustling metropolis operates today after being attacked several years ago. "You’re looking into the sky, and even today, when you see a plane going behind a building, as planes normally do," he says in the talk, "there’s... 2013-02-28 15:54:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-patti-smith-honored-by-brynn-marr-college.html As one of TIME's most influential people in the world, Patti Smith has inspired generations of fans all over the world. Bryn Mawr College recently honored Smith's contribution to music and the arts by presenting her with the Katharine Hepburn Medal. They called her a "trailblazer in the male-dominated world of rock and roll," and said that she inspires students because she "conveys enormous passion and continues to transform herself throughout her artistic journey." In a tribute video, students at... 2013-02-27 13:02:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-marcelo-suarez-orozco-on-early-childhood-education.html "Quality preschool matters in the lives of low-income immigrant children," education speaker Marcelo Suarez-Orozco writes in the New York Times. In the Op-Ed (which he co-wrote with Rashmita Mistry) he explains that the achievement gap for the children of immigrants is evident as early as age three. He reports that many of these children rank below their white peers in various areas such as "vocabulary, letter recognition and early numeracy skills." Considering that these children are the fastest-growing... 2013-02-27 12:26:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-adam-alter-on-metacognition.html In a new talk with Edge.org, science speaker and NYU Professor Adam Alter discussed the role that metacognition plays in our lives. He isn't studying what people are thinking, so much as what is it like to think. As he explains there are two layers to our thought process: the basic level where we process thoughts, and an "overlayed experience" where we think about how these thoughts affect us. While we think about something, we simultaneously wonder if we are having a hard time processing that thought... 2013-02-27 14:41:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-doug-stephens-on-new-consumerism-the-retail-revival.html "I think [we are living in] unquestionably the most exciting time in business, certainly in consumerism...I think in history," retail speaker Doug Stephens explained in a keynote speech. Radical changes are happening in economics, demographics, and in media and technology, he says. These changes—and what they mean for those in the retail and sales industries specifically—are outlined in his new book, The Retail Revival: Reimagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism. The book is... 2013-02-27 13:18:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-drew-dudley-on-success.html "Sometimes at work you aren't in charge of what you have to do," leadership speaker Drew Dudley says, "but you are always in charge of who you are." Further, he says that tying your life's goals to someone else's whims is extremely disempowering and you have to trust in your own abilities. In a recent keynote speech, Dudley explained that there is a difference between profit and value. Attaching your life goals solely to profit is ultimately less rewarding than having value-driven goals. When you... 2013-02-27 15:17:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-cesar-harada-travels-to-tokyo-with-protei.html Innovation speaker Cesar Harada and his Protei team recently visited Tokyo to explore a collaboration with the FURO Robotics Research Center to develop their innovative sailing drones. FURO has designed processors that Harada and his team will integrate into their Protei design. Their drones will even be controlled using Playstation controllers! In the video above, Harada tests out this new partnership and experiments with different configurations of boards and drones. The trip is part of the mobile-accelerator... 2013-02-27 16:05:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-morality-speaker-eyal-press-distance-and-morality.html "Distance enables all of us, sadly enough, to violate our morals," Eyal Press says. In an interview at our office in New York, the Beautiful Souls author explains that one of the themes in his book is how our moral convictions can waver when exposed to physical, psychological, or emotional distance. The more we separate ourselves from our feeling of what is right, the easier it is to harm another person without really internalizing the effects of doing so.  One of the people he chronicled in... 2013-02-26 8:38:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-jonathan-haidt-on-morality-in-politics.html As social psychologist and politics speaker Jonathan Haidt argues, humans tend to bind together in teams based on moral beliefs. They then hold to their convictions so fiercely that they tend to demonize anyone with an opposing viewpoint. This is especially evident in the political system where we see Democrats and Republicans fiercely squaring off on every issue before them. This has created a truly ineffective hyper-partisan climate in congress. While we know that people in different political... 2013-02-25 9:54:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-marketing-speaker-andrew-bailey-social-media-and-digial-marketing.html The Royal Family has one. So does the Vatican. And, as digital marketing speaker Andrew Bailey says in a new keynote, you should have one too. A social media strategy, that is. "What's so interesting about this time is that [so many] of the consumers are there [online]," Bailey says of the impact of social media. Currently the Chairman of Proximity North America, Bailey explains that the numbers and penetration of the digital market has grown exponentially over the past ten years—and those... 2013-02-25 15:52:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neuroscience-speaker-david-eagleman-talks-brain-science-research-in-the-new-york-times.html In a New York Times Op-Ed, neuroscience speaker David Eagleman says that when it comes to what we know about our brains, we've barely scratched the surface. That's why he believes that President Obama's plan to pour a cool $3 billion into neuroscience research will be a valuable investment. The initiative, known as the Brain Activity Map (BAM) project, will bring together the brightest neuroscientists today to better understand the activity in our brains. The implications for what we can... 2013-02-25 11:12:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-jessica-jackley-at-leadership-conference.html Jessica Jackley recently gave a keynote at Texas Christian University's State of Leadership Conference—and attendees raved about her presentation. Dede Williams, director of the BNSF Next Generation Leadership program, said that "Jessica did an amazing job," and TCU student Kyle Cochran said that Jackley's talk was "inspirational," and made him think seriously about his own goals. At the event, Jackley shared her personal journey from a young student with a passion for eliciting social... 2013-02-25 14:33:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-charles-fishman-college-kids-need-to-know-about-water.html "Almost everything in the world that's important in the next ten and twenty years is related to water," environment speaker Charles Fishman says, "[including] economic growth, food security, climate change," and keeping our major bodies of water clean and swimmable. As he told us in a recent interview at the Lavin Toroto office, our water resources are under pressure in part because of unfortunate things happening in the world—but partially due to good things, too. As the economies around the... 2013-02-25 15:14:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-samuel-arbesman-limits-to-data.html Just because we know that something is true today doesn't mean that it will always be true—or that we should give up researching something when we think we have the right answer. In a new article in Slate, Samuel Arbesman, science speaker and author of The Half-Life of Facts, explains that our world is in "draft form." He refers to this idea as "pessimistic meta-induction", that despite thinking we have a firm understanding of the world today, previous generations once thought the same thing... 2013-02-25 17:06:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-jer-thorp-at-ted-youth.html You can learn a lot about people in 140 characters or less. Millions of tweets of that length are sent on Twitter every day. Big data speaker Jer Thorp, the former Data Artist in Residence at The New York Times, was curious about would happen if he combined all of the valuable data lingering on the social media site into a massive visualization. What kind of information could he learn about people's lives and the commonalities they share with one another? If you compile all the "Good Morning" tweets... 2013-02-22 14:41:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-in-fast-company.html While there's something to be said for tradition, education speaker Salman Khan tells Fast Company that the reasons why our education system still follows a classroom-based lecture format simply don't hold up anymore. The founder of The Khan Academy was recently featured in the magazine in a conversation with Katie Salen, founder of the Institute of Play. Salen uses games and other technology to teach her students, just as Khan relies heavily on video content and the Internet to instruct his thousands... 2013-02-22 15:40:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-sue-gardner-being-critical-of-media.html Sue Gardner, executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, seemed shocked when she was asked when she planned to start using ads to generate revenue for Wikipedia. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked the interviewer on American Public Media. "We will never do that." If she was forced to decide between using ads and shutting down the site, however, she said she would unfortunately have to start using ads. Luckily, the crowd-funding method that Wikipedia employs has been working out pretty well so far.... 2013-02-22 16:31:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-hakeem-olusey-talks-sonic-booms-asteroids.html When a meteor hurdled through the Earth's atmosphere and crash-landed in Russia recently, many major news outlets turned to science speaker Hakeem Oluseyi to explain the event. The science speaker and TED Fellow appeared on The Ed Show, The Today Show, and NBC Nightly News after the meteor's collision course with Earth. "The asteroid in Russia was a wake-up call," he tells NBC, "I think that we're becoming aware that we are in jeopardy from these kinds of collisions." He says that nearly two tonnes... 2013-02-22 13:19:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dave-hemstad-on-the-cbc.html In his standup, Dave Hemstad often provides observational musings on day-to-day life: the frustrations and social issues we all think about, but don't often discuss. Hemstad recently appeared on George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight to do just that—cracking jokes about the upcoming Awards season and life in Canada in general. Always hilarious—without being crude—Hemstad has a commanding stage presence no matter what the venue. He is confident and flexible with his material, which makes... 2013-02-22 12:15:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-china-speaker-james-fallows-talks-chinese-cyber-threats-on-msnbc.html Over the past decade, government and corporate concerns about the threat of cyber attacks have been drastically increasing. According to a new study released this week, those concerns may very well be justified. James Fallows, a China speaker and national correspondent for The Atlantic, recently shared his thoughts about the findings in the Mandiant report on MSNBC. Compiled by an American computer security firm, the 60-page report lists in-depth details linking a string of recent cyber attacks to... 2013-02-22 10:35:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-an-evening-with-celebrity-speaker-kal-penn-new-keynote.html During his time working with the Obama administration, Kal Penn was responsible for engaging youth and getting them involved in the democratic practice. That, coupled with his charismatic personality and energetic stage presence makes him a great role model for empowering youth about other topics, as well. This week, the celebrity speaker gave a keynote at the Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival in California where he did just that. The event was created to encourage students to speak openly... 2013-02-21 10:42:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-fortune-glowing-review-to-business-speaker-roger-martin-new-book.html Business speaker Roger Martin has become a leading voice on the important role that effective business strategy can play in the success of a company. However, many leaders know strategy is important but don't know how to successfully implement it. That's why Martin and A.G. Lafley co-authored the new book Playing To Win. And, as Fortune Magazine writes: "Managers everywhere should be grateful." The publication recently reviewed the new book, praising the authors for their ability to tackle such a... 2013-02-21 11:15:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-diversity-speaker-ta-nehisi-coates-interview-emancipation-proclamation.html 2013 marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and Ta-Nehisi Coates recently discussed its impact on the current state of racial equality in America. Coates, one of the most heralded and unique voices on black America, also gave a keynote at Dickinson College in Carlisle in commemoration of the anniversary. In the talk, the diversity speaker explored the legacy of the Civil War and Lincoln's signing of the Proclamation, and how these events have impacted contemporary American... 2013-02-21 12:27:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-john-maeda-brings-steam-caucus-to-congress.html There are many educators who advocate for the vital role that arts-based cirriculums play in learning. Where education speaker John Maeda differs, is that he has brought that argument to Washington—and they listened. As he shared in an interview with Reuters at The World Economic Forum, his efforts have helped launch the Congressional STEAM Caucus. The bipartisan caucus was formed to help incorporate art and design concepts into what are known as the "STEM" courses in education: Science,... 2013-02-21 14:12:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-patrick-lencioni-on-team-building.html Being the "smartest" company doesn't necessarily translate into being the most successful company. As leadership speaker Patrick Lencioni notes in his keynote talk, successful companies focus on the "health" of their organization, too. "Business intelligence is really important, don't get me wrong," the executive consultant and author says. "However, it's only half the equation for maximizing your potential as an organization. And yet, it gets about 99 per cent of the attention from most leaders."... 2013-02-21 15:40:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-susan-cain-introverts-in-the-classroom.html "We need to rethink what we mean by diversity," introvert and education speaker Susan Cain told the audience at a college keynote in Illinois. "We know that when we have racial diversity and gender diversity to make up our companies or schools, they perform better. The same exact thing is true when it comes to personality diversity." By personality diversity, she means celebrating a mix of people who are both introverts and extroverts—an idea that has been getting a massive amount of attention... 2013-02-21 16:30:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gayle-tzemach-lemmon-on-fighting-poverty-with-business.html Gayle Tzemach Lemmon agrees with President Barack Obama's decision to spotlight poverty in his State of the Union address. However, she thinks that there was one solution to helping those who live on less than $1 a day that was left off his list—entrepreneurship. Men and women in some of the poorest regions in the world are turning to business to lift themselves out of poverty. And, according to Lemmon, these people are doing a lot more than just surviving. In fact, they're thriving. Lemmon... 2013-02-20 10:29:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-blake-mycoskie-ticket-to-win-contest.html There are numerous contests that reward the winner with a relaxing and lavish vacation to some tropical island. Social change speaker Blake Mycoskie wants to give the winners of his Ticket To Win contest a more profound experience. He'll be taking a select group of participants on one of TOMS' giving trips—letting them see the company's operating process first-hand by physically delivering shoes to children in need. "I want to bring customers on these trips so not only do they get to experience... 2013-02-20 11:20:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonathan-haidt-talks-to-bill-moyers-about-contentious-culture.html We're stuck in a tribal us-versus-them type of mentality, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt tells Bill Moyers. As he explains in a recent one-on-one interview, we have the tendency to "bind together into teams that can cooperate in order to compete with other teams." Sometimes, as in the case of a foreign attack like 9/11 or a college football game, that mindset can be beneficial. "Conversely," Haidt argues, "when there are moral divisions within the group, and no external attack, the tribalism... 2013-02-20 12:33:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-salman-rushdie-new-keynote-a-coe-college.html Salman Rushdie has never considered himself to be a provocateur. As he told the crowd at his recent keynote at the Coe College Contemporary Issues Forum, he actually considered The Satanic Verses to be one of his least political books. "That just shows you writers can be wrong about their work," he joked. He explains that he wrote the book as a personal expression of his own journey through faith and identity. However, the book caused an uproar—and has been so important that it was both ferociously... 2013-02-20 14:20:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-richard-florida-on-nbc-talks-about-creating-department-of-cities.html According to the U.S. Census Bureau, America's fifty largest cities house 2/3 of the total population and are responsible for 3/4 of the country's economic output. Considering cities do so much of America's heavy lifting in terms of productivity and innovation, Richard Florida believes that President Obama should consider creating a Department Of Cities. There's already a cabinet-level agency dedicated to urban development (the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, or, HUD). So, why shouldn't... 2013-02-20 15:22:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-natalie-jeremijenko-talks-about-redefining-drone-use.html What if war didn't need to have irreversible consequences? What if there was a way to achieve political and tactical goals without the tremendous loss of civilian life? These are the questions that fascinate innovation speaker Natalie Jeremijenko. As the former Director of Yale's Engineering Design Studio, and the current Director of the xDesign Environmental Health Clinic at NYU, Jeremijenko has spent much of her life engrossed in technological development. As she explains in a new lecture, she... 2013-02-20 16:17:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-rick-hillier-on-driving-a-team-to-success.html Investing in people and motivating your team is a vital component of success. What, then, does world renowned leadership speaker Rick Hillier say is the best way to accomplish this? As he explains in a new interview, practicing "perpetual optimism"—both at work and in your daily life—gets the job done the most effectively. It's one thing to get people to show up for work physically, he says. It's a whole other story, however, to get their minds and their bodies to show up and get excited... 2013-02-19 9:32:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-negotiations-speaker-misha-glouberman-in-the-globe-and-mail.html If you are going to be sitting in on negotiation speaker Misha Glouberman's class today, here is one of the first lessons he may give you: "[living in a city] you are always in conflict—and I don’t think that’s a bad thing." Globerman (who begins his six-week workshop on conflict resolution at the University of Toronto’s Barnicke gallery Feb.19) was recently featured in The Globe and Mail. Glouberman, who The Globe calls a "Toronto staple" is the co-inventor of the non-expert... 2013-02-19 10:53:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-marina-adshade-new-book-featured-in-the-new-york-times.html As it turns out, Economics 101 has just as much to teach us about matters of the heart as it does about stock markets and money. That's the topic of the forthcoming book by Marina Adshade—a book that is already causing quite a stir. Fresh off the buzz from a cover story in The National Post, Dollars & Sex has also been cited in a New York Times feature and in Maclean's Magazine. In the Times, Adshade's "delightful" new book is heralded for making a very interesting argument: the search... 2013-02-19 13:44:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-debbie-travis-in-canadian-health-and-lifestyle-magazine.html When you flip on the television today, there are design and decor shows aplenty. WhenDebbie Travis first discovered her love for decorating and interior design, however, that market didn't exist. While she originally wasn't sure how she could turn her love for transforming a room into a television show, she eventually blazed the trail for interior design-focused television. In 1995, Debbie Travis' Painted House became one of the first decorating shows in North America. The first season was purchased... 2013-02-19 15:09:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-tzeporah-berman-on-climate-change-in-the-globe-and-mail.html Tzeporah Berman, in a new interview with The Globe and Mail, says that the United States is well on its way to meeting its climate targets. Why, then, is Canada lagging so far behind? "The fact is that the government and industry plan to triple oil sands production in the next seven years," the environment speaker writes. "The resulting emissions will cancel out every other effort in Canada to reduce climate pollution." She explains that at this rate, even making it halfway to our 2020 goals will... 2013-02-19 16:59:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-page-on-how-i-met-your-mother.html While Steven Page is a household name in Canada, those in the United States recently got a dose of his sharp wit and engaging personality, too. The former Barenaked Ladies front man and successful solo artist appeared on the popular comedy How I Met Your Mother earlier this month. The episode featured Page alongside some other familiar Canadian faces in an episode poking fun at Canadian stereotypes. Deadpan and spot-on, Page made jokes about the country's pop culture scene. Page also made a stop... 2013-02-19 16:27:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eaves-exploring-white-house-server.html It seems that open data speaker David Eaves isn't the only one advocating for an extensive open data movement. For the third year in a row, 90 different cities around the world will be taking part in the International Open Data Day. Even The White House will be involved! The event will take place on Feb. 23. People across the globe are encouraged to take part in numerous hacking events geared toward accessing, and finding new ways of using, the vast amount of data available. The open data movement... 2013-02-15 10:38:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lev-grossman-new-fantasy-book-the-magicians-land.html Fans of the bestselling books The Magicians and The Magician King by Lev Grossman have been waiting with bated breath for another book in the series to hit the stores. Unfortunately, that day is not today. However, Amazon has released a few teasers from Grossman's next Magicians book, titled The Magician’s Land, to tide fans over until the fantasy book's official launch:"Wharton’s personal pencils really were remarkable pencils: olive green, and made from some oily, aromatic wood that... 2013-02-15 12:24:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eric-klinenberg-in-the-economist.html Some people believe that the rise in solo living points to the decaying of civil society. Eric Klinenberg, author of the breakthrough book Going Solo, disagrees. In fact, he argues that more people are choosing to live alone than ever before—and they're enjoying the independence that comes along with it. The Economist recently profiled Klinenberg's groundbreaking research, and documented the positive by-products of living alone. Young people, for example, see the move to a single person household... 2013-02-15 13:34:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-molly-crabapple-in-a-new-pbs-documentary.html It's not enough to be able to draw beautiful, competent illustrations anymore. As Molly Crabapple explains in a new PBS documentary, the people who succeed as illustrators are the people who also know how to brand themselves. They're not only good artists, but genuinely interesting people with a unique viewpoint that shines through in their work. A lot of Crabapple's work is inspired by the New York burlesque scene, the Victorian Era, and the work of activists and journalists. That doesn't mean that... 2013-02-14 14:10:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-christian-rudder-of-okcupid-talks-to-ted-about-data-and-love.html While some people are still skeptical about whether they can find true love online, OkCupid co-founder and Dataclysm author Christian Rudder has good reason to believe in the powers of Internet Cupid: he met his own wife on a dating site! And the big data speaker is not alone. Hundreds of other people every day are finding a love connection on a dating site, too. As Rudder says in a new TED Blog post, about 500 people disable their OkCupid accounts daily because they've found someone on the... 2013-02-14 11:35:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-bryant-terry-in-the-scion-iq-ad.html Chef and health speaker Bryant Terry is passionate about food. Considering the Scion iQ's tag line says it's a vehicle "made for people who are driven to follow their passions," it's no wonder the car company chose Terry as the face of their new campaign. In the new ad, Terry is seen popping in and out of farmer's markets and gardens, signing copies of his critically-acclaimed cookbooks, and giving live presentations. All while using the pint-sized vehicle to get from stop to stop. These activities... 2013-02-14 9:53:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-srdja-popovic-on-social-movements-at-tedx.html "I assume we all love jokes, but what do jokes have to do with revolutions?" Srdja Popovic asks the crowd at a recent TEDx keynote. Some people would argue that revolutionaries should be solemn and serious because they are dealing with serious issues. And, if you look at photos of famous revolutionaries of the past, many of them are. However, that mindset seems to be changing. In his talk, Popovic mentions a recent study which showed that the chance of success for an armed, straight-faced, revolutionary... 2013-02-14 11:31:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-salman-rushdie-keynote-on-literature-and-freedom-of-speech.html Literature's role in society is far greater than simply being a form of entertainment. As acclaimed author Salman Rushdie told the audience at a recent keynote, great literature erodes boundaries to understanding. And, it connects us to one another. "One of the things literature can do is to encourage a world view," he told the capacity crowd of over 1,000, "which in turn encourages tolerance and civilization, and sets us up against this other view, an identity defined by hostility, which leads to... 2013-02-14 15:10:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bill-strickland-honored-by-the-us-senate.html Bill Strickland's contributions to education and his community are about to be recognized in a big way. U.S. Senator Bob Casey is holding a symposium in Strickland's honor on Feb. 25. The Senator will give a speech and discuss the tremendous work that Strickland has done for those not just in Pittsburgh, but to the nation as a whole. The award will commemorate Black History Month and recognize Strickland's incredible journey to becoming Founder, President, and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation... 2013-02-14 16:00:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-james-fallows-at-the-2013-state-of-the-valley-conference.html China is turning into a stiff competitor in the international market. However, The Atlantic's James Fallows says that Silicon Valley still stands to hold its edge as a world leader in innovation. As the keynote speaker at the 2013 State of the Valley Conference, Fallows applied his expertise on the Chinese market to discuss how America will compete as China rises in international influence. While conditions may be improving overseas, Fallows says that political conditions in China will hinder its... 2013-02-13 11:01:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeremy-gutsche-in-the-boomer-revolution-documentary.html Innovation speaker Jeremy Gutsche wants you to understand the mindset of the baby boomer. Considering there were 8.2 million babies born during the baby boom, and these people now account for 2/3 of consumer spending—it's probably in your best interest to get inside their heads. In a new documentary from Dreamfilm Productions, Gutsche tells you all you need to know about those born between 1946 and 1965: a cohort who make up one third of the population in Canada and are the largest and wealthiest... 2013-02-13 11:54:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-on-classroom-participation-in-the-atlantic.html Susan Cain's breakthrough work on introversion has drawn almost 4 million unique viewers to her TED Talk and given her book Quiet a well-deserved spot on numerous "Best Of" lists. It's no wonder, then, that her research has been popping up in conversations about reconfiguring the workplace and the classroom to better foster the talents of introverts. According to Jessica Lahey, a teacher in New Hampshire: "This year, I am hearing a lot of questions about how to best educate introverted students and,... 2013-02-13 12:49:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-doug-stephens-new-talk-on-innovation.html "Problem solving is about narrowing and focusing thinking," innovation speaker Doug Stephens writes in his new book, The Retail Revival. "Innovation is about broadening and expanding thinking. Half of the art of great innovation is recognizing the difference." With over 25 years of experience advising some of the world's biggest companies, Stephens has seen a pattern emerging. While he doesn't think that anyone truly holds foolproof strategies to innovation, there are a few key errors many companies... 2013-02-13 14:05:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eyal-press-on-dissent-being-contagious.html Why did Eyal Press think it was important to tell the stories of people who stood up for what they thought was right, even when it meant disobeying authority? As he says in an exclusive interview at Lavin's New York office, he believes these actions are contagious. "I don't think we'll ever live in a world where people who stand up in the face of the group, when the group is veering in the wrong direction, will be the majority," he laments, "I just don't think that's realistic." The people who take... 2013-02-13 16:11:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-blake-mycoskie-on-operating-toms-as-a-for-profit-business.html "There's a place for profits and there's a place for non-profits," social change speaker Blake Mycoskie argued in a recent podcast. "I don't think that the world's problems can be addressed in an either-or-situation." Both models of giving are needed to combat the social problems in the world. However, in the case of TOMS, Mycoskie's own social business, a for-profit model was more viable because he needed to provide aid over a sustained period of time. When you provide long-term aid using a... 2013-02-12 13:18:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bell-lets-talk-day-lavins-mental-health-speakers.html There's often a negative stigma attached to discussing mental illness. Open conversation is key to reversing that stigma and changing the conversation about mental health. This year's Bell 'Let's Talk' Day encourages businesses and community members to educate themselves on the facts about mental illness and to spread the word to others. Participants are asked to share content on social media in exchange for a 5 cent donation from Bell to mental health  initiatives across the country. The Bell... 2013-02-12 10:31:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jared-diamond-keynote-at-the-new-school.html "Tribes constitute thousands of natural experiments in how to run a human society," Jared Diamond says in his new talk at The New School. "They constitute experiments from which we ourselves may be able to learn." In his new book, The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?, Diamond unpacks this idea further, arguing that tribal societies of the past and present may have more to teach us in the industrialized world than we think. In an event presented by Lavin, the Pulitzer... 2013-02-12 11:45:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-doug-stephens-new-book-retail-revival.html We're in the midst of a new era in consumerism—and retail speaker Doug Stephens knows what it's going to take for brands to remain competitive in the rapidly changing market. Stephens recently stopped by our Toronto office to fill us in on the new wave in retail. As a retail futurist, Stephens is highly sought after for his opinions on emerging trends in the industry. Now, his new book will help companies take the plunge into a revolutionary new way of doing business. For sale in pre-order... 2013-02-12 14:34:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-paul-tough-on-how-a-strong-support-network-helps-kids-succeed.html Sometimes children are exposed to such seemingly insurmountable obstacles that they can lose faith in their potential to succeed. As education speaker Paul Tough explains in a recent keynote, being told that you can succeed has a tremendous impact on your actual ability to do so. While having a strong support system doesn't improve the IQ that you are born with, it does improve your self-confidence. Children who are nurtured and supported in their academic ventures are more likely to achieve their... 2013-02-12 15:28:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-steve-wozniak-make-your-own-rules.html As innovation speaker Steve Wozniak says in a presentation at the Georgia State University Distinguished Speaker's Series, nothing that he designed from Apple was copied from a textbook. Technology and engineering is an art form, he explains, and true genius cannot be taught. When he designed products for Apple, he says that he tried to put things together in his own unique way. While there are obviously rules that need to be followed so the product will function, he says that he used the rules... 2013-02-12 16:41:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alexandra-samuel-in-hbr-on-having-an-online-hr-policy.html As Alexandra Samuel admits in a new post in the Harvard Buisness Review, it's inevitable that your company will eventually have to let someone go. However, she points to the social media scandals that erupted when employees were fired from Applebee's and HMV as cautionary tales for HR departments everywhere. "Companies need to consider both their HR policies and their social media policies in light of the very real possibility that any termination or workplace dispute may become very public very... 2013-02-11 9:44:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-amber-macarthur-make-better-use-of-your-facebook-data.html Amber MacArthur says there's a wealth of easily accessible data lingering on your social media profile that is probably not being used to its full potential. With all the recent talk about the potential uses for big data, we have lost sight of some of the data right in front of our eyes. For a business, knowing which content was the most popular can prove to be invaluable (and free!) insight into consumer behavior patterns. However, most people don't curate the surface-level data in a meaningful... 2013-02-11 10:57:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeffrey-simpson-aging-population-affects-economic-growth.html "Two trends have snuck up on us—slower long-term economic growth and an aging society." This is what health speaker Jeffrey Simpson calls an "unfunded future liability." In an article he wrote for The Globe & Mail, he says that health care costs for seniors are going to skyrocket as more people enter into retirement. Not only that, but the sheer number of senior citizens age 65 and over is set to increase from 14 per cent to 25 per cent in the next twenty years. This means that there will... 2013-02-11 11:50:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-andrew-bacevich-on-middle-eastern-military-intervention.html Andrew Bacevich wants to know whether United States government have achieved their goals in the Middle East over the past 30 years. It's a concern that a great deal of Americans arguably share. As he writes in a new article, "following the promulgation of the Carter Doctrine in 1980, the Pentagon came to see the Islamic world as its principle "target"—the region demanding the greatest attention and the focus of U.S. military activities." Prior to the 1980's, Bacevich says that American involvement... 2013-02-11 14:06:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonathan-haidt-fix-our-congress.html According to Jonathan Haidt, we need to overhaul the U.S. Congress—because it's just not doing its job anymore. "We’re deciding some of the most important issues of our day not based on what’s best for the country, or on careful deliberation," he argues in a new article, "but based on what terms can possibly survive the shredding machine of our divided Congress as it lurches past its self-imposed deadlines." Instead of working together to make the best decisions for as many people... 2013-02-11 14:55:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-marina-adshade-on-the-cover-of-the-national-post.html What does money and economics have to do with love and romance? It's a question Marina Adshade gets asked all the time—and one she answers in her recent cover story in The National Post. At first, it's hard to wrap your head around the idea that matters of the heart can be most effectively evaluated from a pragmatic approach. As Adshade tells The Post, people tend to be baffled by the idea that we make a lot of our relationship decisions based on money. However, she adds that if "you give people... 2013-02-11 16:37:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeff-chang-artists-are-central-to-social-change.html According to Jeff Chang, "artists are central to social change." As he told the audience at The Creative Time Summit, making change is a process and the cultural component of that process is vital. Since cultural shifts often precede political ones, artists are the ones who create a medium to change the dialogue. "Culture is how we change the narrative," Chang says, "it helps us to imagine what change can look like and makes it feel not just possible but inevitable." It's difficult to think of the... 2013-02-08 15:13:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-matt-taibbi-does-an-ama-on-reddit.html "This AMA thing is wild...thanks for being here," Matt Taibbi typed to a drove of eager Redditers this week. The third Lavin speaker to turn to the online social media community in recent months (Reza Aslan and Andrew Coyne have done Ask Me Anything events as well), Taibbi logged on to his computer to earnestly answer as many questions as possible. Perhaps most well-known for his biting articles in Rolling Stone, Taibbi's question and answer session ran the gamut of topics ranging from his time writing... 2013-02-08 17:38:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cora-tsouflidou-presents-inspiring-keynote-and-wins-award.html It wasn't easy, but leadership speaker Cora Tsouflidou transformed her local Montreal eatery into a booming national chain of healthy breakfast restaurants. With over 130 stores in the Cora chain to date, it's no surprise that she was recently honored with the ORN Restaurateur of the Year award. As well as being commemorated for her breakthrough success, Tsouflidou also shared her tips on successful entrepreneurship in a keynote that attendees called "inspiring." At the event (the 39th Top Management... 2013-02-08 18:27:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-srdja-popovic-new-talk-on-people-power-in-nonviolent-movements.html Few people can speak about revolutionary action in a way that is inspirational, yet humorous. Srdja Popovic, however, is one of those few. He is able to discuss the life-changing work that his organization CANVAS (Centre for Applied Non-Violent Action & Strategies) is doing to topple dictatorships without casting a completely somber mood over the audience. In his talk at Syracuse University in New York, he uses his unique mix of humor, charisma, and wit to explore the power that exists in non-violent... 2013-02-07 17:07:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-shalini-kantayya-talks-about-a-drop-of-life.html "Water is becoming the commodity of the 21st century." Shalini Kantayya says in a new interview. "In fact, the former president of the World Bank said: if the wars were fought of the last century over oil, the wars of this century will be fought over water." That is the message she conveys in her Sci-Fi film A Drop of Life—that we are all in the midst of a water crisis. As she says during the interview on Breakfast Television, she originally intended her film to be based more on fiction than... 2013-02-07 12:47:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-reza-aslan-does-an-ama-on-reddit-about-east-west-relations.html The online Reddit community broke into an in-depth, but respectful, conversation about the Middle East when Reza Aslan conducted an Ask Me Anything forum earlier this week. The professor and bestselling author opened the floor for anyone on the social media site to ask him questions about, literally, anything. However, the conversation mainly centered around issues of religion, East-West relations, and foreign policy. The forum was particularly in line with Aslan's area of expertise since he often... 2013-02-07 10:28:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sam-arbesman-your-college-education-will-expire.html It's likely that a great deal of what you've learned in college probably won't stand the test of time. Sam Arbesman, author of The Half-Life of Facts, says that this is true of all knowledge—it's not definitive. In an article in the University of Kansas' newspaper, Arbesman's revelatory research is cited as a reason for redefining the way we look at education. As Arbesman proposes, we can't treat our education as a done deal. Knowledge changes all the time and we can't assume that what... 2013-02-07 11:25:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeremy-gutsche-on-cultural-innovation-at-parallels-2013.html What are you trying to do with your company? It may sound like an easy question, but as innovation speaker Jeremy Gutsche told the audience at the Parallels Summit 2013, understanding your company's goals are key components to drafting an effective strategy. "Why should I choose you versus any of the other competitive vendors in the room?" he asked. Part of that decision, he says, relies on whether you've made a cultural connection with your consumer. You need to focus your strategy on understanding... 2013-02-07 14:06:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-in-the-ted-blog.html When the TED blog asked introvert speaker Susan Cain if she thought that her work has eliminated some of the bias around introversion, she replied: "Yes, and it started within minutes of giving my TED talk!" If that's not proof of how her material (her compelling TED talk and her bestseller Quiet) resonates with the public, you can look to the numerous awards and media features she has received in the past year to further cement her relevance. With her TED talk now approaching the 4 million view... 2013-02-07 17:15:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-douglas-merrill-in-forbes-on-being-productive-at-work.html "Ever wondered why, no matter how much you slept the night before, you can’t focus on anything by 4 p.m.?" Douglas Merrill asks in a new Forbes post. Luckily, the innovation speaker not only asks the question, but he has the answer. Your lack of concentration may very well stem from all the times you had to shift your attention from one thing to another during the day. While you may think you are successfully multitasking when you answer an email in between attending a meeting and sitting in... 2013-02-06 15:59:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-chuck-klosterman-i-wear-the-black-hat-new-talk.html Chuck Klosterman drew a standing-room-only crowd to the first reading of his new book earlier this week. Pretty impressive considering the book hasn't even been released! As part of the Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series at Butler University, he shared sections of the forthcoming I Wear the Black Hat—an insightful and wickedly funny account of the culture of villainy in society. After the reading, he stayed to field questions from the full house of eager listeners. A pervasive theme... 2013-02-06 16:29:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-spying-ray-boisvert-in-brian-stewarts-new-doc.html In this country, many of us believe that espionage is something that only happens in other parts of the world—or in James Bond movies. However, as Ray Boisvert explains in Brian Stewart's new documentary on CBC, there are more spies in our midst that we think. Not only that, but the threat they pose to our national security isn't being taken as seriously as it should be. "I think there's a deep-seeded belief that we're Canadians and nobody would want to harm us in the economic sense or otherwise,"... 2013-02-06 16:23:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-candy-chang-creates-neighborland-to-improve-public-spaces.html There are undoubtedly things about your neighborhood that you wish you could change. As public space artist Candy Chang explains in a recent talk at a Creative Sante Fe event, there are people in your community who probably share your vision. The problem is that they don't have the means to team up with you to set the wheels in motion. That's why she co-founded Neighborland.com. The site allows people to share their suggestions about improving the public spaces in their cities with others who have... 2013-02-06 16:37:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mira-nair-on-creating-Camaraderie-in-the-workplace.html With numerous international awards and an Oscar nod under her belt, it would be easy for Mira Nair to take all the credit for the success of her films. However, the formidable director says that it takes an army to make a good film—and everyone's role in the process attributes to the final product. "The power of cinema is that everything is important, everything is democratic," she explains in a recent interview about the way she runs her film sets. She likes her crew to operate like a family... 2013-02-06 16:55:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alexandra-samuel-at-ted-x-on-online-migration.html "Right now we're in the middle of one of the largest migrations in human history," Alexandra Samuel told her audience at TEDxSFU. What's unique about that migration is that it's not a movement of physical bodies, but rather, of human consciousness. And where is that migration taking place? It's happening worldwide—when people move out of the offline space and into the online world. If you're having trouble visualizing how massive this shift truly is, Samuel points out that Americans alone... 2013-02-06 17:02:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-alex-steffen-carbon-zero-giveaway.html Alex Steffen’s new book, Carbon Zero, is a striking consolidation of his strengths: it lays out in clear, bold, and urgent language a practical plan for living—and thriving—on our planet in “the age of climate consequences.” In order to spread his timely message, The Lavin Agency has teamed up with Alex, who we’ve worked with for years, to give away free copies of Carbon Zero in eBook, mobile, and even PDF formats. If you want a copy (and the book is really good:... 2013-02-05 11:28:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeff-rubin-in-the-globe-on-uranium.html Just because you can, should you? That's what energy speaker Jeff Rubin is wondering about Uranium Energy Corp.'s decision to develop a new mine in the U.S. In a recent article in The Globe & Mail, the renowned economist lays out the pros and cons of fracking (the process used to extract oil) to harness uranium. As Rubin has written previously, fracking has become the next big thing in resource refining. The main problem, however, is the tremendous use of water required to complete the procedure.... 2013-02-05 14:17:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alex-pang-tedx-youth-blogging-monks.html Alex Soojung-Kim Pang's work centers around the way we interact—both socially, and biologically—with an increasingly digital world. In a recent talk at TEDxYouth@Monterey, Pang told a fascinating story about the nature of distraction, and our tendency to blame digital devices for our shrinking attention spans. Pang tells the story of a buddhist monk, living alone in the mountains of Sri Lanka, who (inexplicably) is a successful blogger. When he asked the monk—and others like him—the... 2013-02-05 14:36:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-candy-chang-before-I-die-book.html This fall, public space artist Candy Chang will take her Before I Die project from community walls to the printed page with the release of a new book on St. Martin’s Press. Chang is a former New York Times art director who uses simple objects, such as stickers and chalk, to bolster community engagement. Her Before I Die walls, which ask people to write down one thing they wish to do before they die, have been popping up throughout North America. They’ve appeared from university campuses... 2013-02-05 15:14:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-roger-martin-on-business-strategy-in-forbes.html "We feel that most people involved in strategy find it complicated, largely unpleasant and pretty unproductive," Roger Martin says in an interview with Forbes. "So we decided to write a book to show that strategy can and should be simple, fun and effective." Martin and co-author A.G. Lafley penned Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works to help companies implement their own strategic vision. As he says in the interview, the book was written for any company, in any industry, that is looking to creative... 2013-02-05 15:20:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rick-mercer-on-why-he-loves-his-job-on-cbc.html "I would be a fool not to be excited to go to work everyday," Rick Mercer says in a new interview. "I get to do all the things I like doing, and thankfully, there's an audience for that." Mercer recently spoke at the CBC Winter 2013 Season Preview, where he shared his thoughts on what makes working on The Rick Mercer Report so great, and what to expect in the coming season. As he says, a lot of the show is spontaneous and he never knows what to expect from one episode to the next. While they have... 2013-02-04 15:05:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-paul-tough-the-cognitive-hypothesis.html "The conventional wisdom that's governed our thinking about child development and education for the past couple of decades has been misguided," education speaker Paul Tough explains in his keynote about educational knowledge. "We've been emphasizing the wrong skills and abilities in our kids and we've been using the wrong strategies to develop those skills and abilities." In the talk, he used material from his bestselling book How Children Succeed to demonstrate how our idea of what skills are important... 2013-02-04 16:39:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-charles-wheelan-brilliant-new-book.html How do you make a book about statistics inviting to the general public? You do what Charles Wheelan did: title it Naked Statistics, cram it full of witty, applicable examples, and compare LeBron James to the central limit theorem. According to the San Fransico Chronicle, Wheelan's method led to the publication of a "brilliant, funny new book." Calling him the "best math teacher you never had," the reviewer says that Wheelan made a "wise choice" by keeping it simple—and leaving the complex... 2013-02-04 16:31:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-dustin-garis-at-natpe-conference.html Innovation speaker Dustin Garis got comfortable for his recent talk at the NATPE conference: donning a spa robe and slippers while getting a massage on stage. The Former Lead of Global Marketing Innovation for P&G FutureWorks wasn't just unwinding, however. Rather, he was embracing his signature presentation style—and thinking outside of the box. Often referred to as the "Chief Troublemaker", Garis was part of the Masters of Messaging panel where he discussed how to disrupt our day-to-day... 2013-02-04 11:31:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-jeremy-gutsche-on-transparency-on-bnn.html While you may not think too deeply about the layout of your office building, innovation speaker Jeremy Gutsche explains that the design of your office is actually "an element of branding" for your company. Constantly on the lookout for the next cutting-edge developments in every industry, Gutsche recently spoke about the rise of "imposed interaction" in the workplace. This increasingly popular open concept business environment encourages workers to interact with coworkers in different departments... 2013-02-04 14:18:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-care-speaker-jeffrey-simpson-interview-on-writing-chronic-condition.html "Every public opinion poll that I have seen over the last decade lists health-care as the number one or two subject of importance to Canadians," health-care speaker Jeffrey Simpson explains in a new Q&A. "Moreover, when Canadians are asked for their most important national symbol they invariably say 'health-care,' which is quite weird if you think about it—that a people should define themselves by their health-care system." After writing about the flailing Medicare system for years in his... 2013-02-04 13:23:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-keynote-about-introverts-at-ola-conference.html What better audience for Susan Cain to present her book Quiet to than a group of librarians? Last week, the bestselling author and popular keynote speaker gave a rousing speech at the Ontario Library Assocation's 2013 conference. And she wasn't "shh'd" once! Hosted in Toronto, the event brought librarians from around the province together—and Cain was a real hit. Despite being a self-professed introvert who spent a full year perfecting her stage presence, Cain was poised and natural in front... 2013-02-04 9:34:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jane-chen-on-social-business-in-hbr.html As every social entrepreneur knows, it can be tough to decide whether your new company should follow a for-profit or not-for-profit business model. Jane Chen, Co-founder and CEO of Embrace, was faced with a similar situation when she first started her company. In The Harvard Business Review, she explains how she came to her decision and shares advice on determining which avenue will work for your unique business. The Embrace Infant Warmer, Chen's core product, was conceptualized in 2007 at Stanford.... 2013-02-01 15:22:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-waneek-horn-miller-on-embracing-your-heritage.html "For so long the Canadian public, and the world, have seen it as a craft, and it's not," Waneek Horn-Miller says of the work that goes into aboriginal clothing and footwear. As a First Nations issues speaker, she promotes the importance of embracing her culture and sharing it with the world. In her role as the spokesperson for the Manitobah Mucklucks brand of footwear, she talks about the importance of buying aboriginal products. In a new commercial, she shares stories of her own heritage and explains... 2013-02-01 14:34:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-molly-crabapple-on-taking-charge-of-your-career.html "To me, business is really about the art of getting things done," Molly Crabapple told us in an interview at our New York office. That's why she doesn't believe that artists can't be a part of the business world. "People have this notion that artists should not be businesspeople," she explains. The artist, she says, is often led to believe that they should not play a part in advancing their own career—that they are only 'the creative' and someone else will do the rest. However, if running a... 2013-02-01 13:20:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rahaf-harfoush-gives-keynote-at-social-media-week.html Although the Internet was designed to be an instrument of the people, with limited government enforcement, its increased popularity is causing policy makers to question that limited involvement. Rahaf Harfoush, Author of ArchiTechs: How to Work, Govern & Learn in a Hyper-Connected World, will give a keynote discussion at Social Media Week in February to address that very issue. She will join Ross LaJeunesse, Google's Global Head of Free Expression and International Relations, to discuss the way... 2013-02-01 12:35:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eyal-press-on-writing-beautiful-souls.html Standing up for what you believe to be morally "right" isn't always easy. According to Eyal Press, writing about the people who take a stand has proven to be equally as challenging. In this exclusive interview with Lavin, the Beautiful Souls author describes what it was like profiling the people in his book. All of the individuals he chronicled, ordinary people doing regular jobs, had "broken rank" in some way or another—disobeying an order or a superior because they felt they were being asked... 2013-02-01 9:24:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-andrew-bacevich-in-the-new-york-times-on-military-leadership.html In a New York Times opinion piece, Andrew Bacevich argues that Chuck Hagel's confirmation hearings could act as a catalyst to major changes in U.S. National Security policies. Hagel has been nominated by President Obama to be the next U.S. Defense Secretary. Despite controversy over Hagel's stance on Iran and Israel, Bacevich believes these hearings have the potential to spark debate on important issues in the Pentagon, such as military leadership and analyzing past failures to improve upon... 2013-01-31 16:25:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-on-introverts-honor-who-you-are.html Until the turn of the nineteenth century, we lived in a character-based society. That means, as Susan Cain explains in a new interview, that people were evaluated based on their good deeds and their moral constitution. When people lived in small, rural towns they would interact with the same people they had known for their whole life. They were not necessarily required to be flamboyant and extroverted to make a good impression on their fellow citizens. However, at the time of industrialization, when... 2013-01-31 9:35:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jared-diamond-managing-risk-in-traditional-society.html You may not realize it, but you have a near death experience every time you step into the shower. According to Jared Diamond, it's important to be attentive to "hazards that carry a low risk each time but are encountered frequently." This includes sudsing up in your shower. If you take one shower a day for 365 days, Diamond has calculated that your risk of having an accident is 1 in 5,475. Now, this may seem alarmist and slightly paranoid, but this "Constructive Paranoia" has been saving the lives... 2013-01-31 10:33:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lisa-shannon-in-the-nyt-on-somalia.html The mood at Sister Somalia is somber. Co-founded by Lisa Shannon, the organization is located in Mogadishu and provides support to Somali sexual violence survivors. They were making progress, and women were speaking out against the atrocities occurring in the region. However, as Shannon explains in The New York Times, a recent incident has pushed them several steps back. After a woman came forward about being abused by government officials, she was accused of fabricating the attack and charged... 2013-01-31 11:47:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-pinker-at-the-economists-world-in-2013.html With 2013 well underway, what can we expect to learn about human nature, morality, and society in the year to come? Steven Pinker, a leading cognitive scientist, gives his predictions in a keynote at the The Economist’s World in 2013 Festival. While he says that he doesn't want to make bold predictions about any "eureka!" moments that will occur in the field this year, he does speak to one important emerging trend. Although there are many things that define human nature, he says that "understanding... 2013-01-31 14:55:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-john-maeda-at-the-world-economic-forum.html As leadership speaker John Maeda tells the audience at the World Economic forum, taking a creative approach to leadership can prove to be highly effective. Or, more accurately, he showed them. In his talk, he illustrated—quite literally—his points using sketches and diagrams. His presentation was reviewed in a recent Scientifc American article, and they praised his unique perspective and his non-traditional way of presenting it.As the president of the Rhode Island School of Design, Maeda... 2013-01-31 16:34:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dr-richard-heinzl-keynote-inspired-audiences.html While his work with the North American Chapter of Doctors Without Borders is less hands-on than it once was, Dr. Richard Heinzl still delivers inspiring speeches about his experience in the field. He recently spoke at the Excellence in Leadership Dinner, where he discussed the important role that the organization plays in improving the health of those in need. Not only that, but he explained that his work is about more than just treating the ill—it's also about increasing public awareness... 2013-01-30 11:22:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-charles-wheelan-naked-statistics-glowing-review-in-the-nyt.html Naked Statistics, the newest book by Charles Wheelan, was written to make statistical analysis relevant to everyday life. And, according to a glowing review in The New York Times, it has succeeded in doing just that. Not only is Wheelan's writing applicable to counting cards and betting on sports outcomes, but it's also a crucial read for making statistically sound bets about your health. Even though it's not specifically about medicine, The Times calls it the most important health book of the year.... 2013-01-30 10:11:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-drew-dudley-new-keynote.html "We act as if leadership is something we need permission to use; we need permission to connect it with our own identity," leadership speaker Drew Dudley told the audience in a new keynote. What's interesting, is that we often take great pride when someone calls us a leader, but feel as though we can't make that designation ourselves. Calling ourselves a leader often brings up a feeling that we're being too arrogant, or cocky. While we all strive to achieve that title, we worry that people will think... 2013-01-30 15:41:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-richard-florida-on-class-divides-in-business-insider.html "Although our cities are more than ever our most powerful economic engines," Richard Florida writes in a new blog series, "they also are becoming more divided along class lines, creating distinct experiences within a given city." In the Business Insider post, the author of The Rise of the Creative Class and Who's Your City? addresses these distinct divides between the working, service, and 'creative' class in New York.  One of the most notable factors he mentions is the segregation between upper... 2013-01-30 14:07:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-robert-kuttner-bridging-the-equality-gap-obamas-second-term.html According to politics speaker Robert Kuttner, President Obama is off to a great start in his second term. However, as he writes in The Huffington Post, the widening equality gap is poised to be The President's biggest challenge. "While I am delighted with President Obama's new forcefulness and commitment to a more just society, he—and we—need to recognize what an uphill climb this is," Kuttner writes. "All of these ideas are at the outer edge of political discourse. They need to become... 2013-01-30 12:39:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-public-speaking-for-introverts-class.html After years of being petrified of the stage, self-proclaimed introvert Susan Cain has overcome her fears and made a name for herself on the speaking circuit. Her talks have become so successful, in fact, that she's decided to teach others that it's possible to own the stage—even if the thought of public speaking leaves them weak in the knees. As Fast Company reports, Cain is currently organizing an online public speaking class for introverts. While there is no start date announced yet, the... 2013-01-29 9:42:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-tom-wujec-visually-records-bloomberg-conference.html They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but imagine transforming thousands of words into meaningful pictures. That's what Tom Wujec, an innovation speaker and Fellow at Autodesk, did for the Bloomberg Businessweek Design Conference. As each speaker presented their ideas, Wujec furiously translated their thoughts into images. He completed each sketch in real-time and at the end of the conference, had created a collection of 44 visual transcriptions of the event. (Check them out here.) These... 2013-01-29 11:20:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-charles-ferguson-on-apple-in-the-guardian.html Charles Ferguson isn't one to hold back on his opinions—even when it comes a wildly popular company like Apple. Ferguson is the Academy Award-winning Director of Inside Job and No End in Sight, and was formerly an independent consultant for Apple. In a recent article in The Guardian, Ferguson says that although the tech giant produced stellar fourth-quarter earnings by conventional standards, they have the potential to do much better. He explains that Apple needs to step up its game in order... 2013-01-29 12:08:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neuroscience-speaker-david-eagleman-new-keynote-on-the-perception-of-time.html Why is it that time seems to speed up as we get older and slow down drastically when we're in a life-threatening situation? In a new keynote from renowned neuroscience speaker David Eagleman, he explains that time is extremely difficult to study—but that we're starting to better understand how we perceive it. Because we can't physically see or feel time, it possesses an abstract quality which makes it hard to measure. In this talk, Eagleman discusses the way that our brains perceive time—giving... 2013-01-29 14:11:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alex-pang-at-lift-conference-on-contemplative-computing.html Alex Soojung-Kim Pang started his keynote at LIFT off with a somewhat unusual request: he asked the audience to check their email. As they did, Pang asked them to notice if they were holding their breath. "Almost everyone holds their breath while they check their email," he says, "but almost no one realizes it." Aside from being an interesting tidbit, that fact is also an important illustration of the effects that digital technology has on our bodies—and our lives.As he explains, holding your... 2013-01-29 16:09:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-sam-arbesman-in-wired-on-long-data.html "No matter how big that data is or what insights we glean from it, it is still just a snapshot: a moment in time," science speaker Samuel Arbesman writes in Wired. "That’s why I think we need to stop getting stuck only on big data and start thinking about long data." As he argues in the article, the human race has evolved drastically over long periods of time. Because of this, we need to analyze data sets that have historical sweep instead of focusing solely on the short snippet of time that... 2013-01-29 15:16:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-ronald-mallett-time-travel-is-possible.html If you thought that time travel was purely science fiction—think again. As science speaker Ronald Mallett explained in a recent interview, time travel has already been proven to be scientifically possible. "Einstein’s theory says that time slows down the faster you travel," the Time Traveler author explains. "This has also been proven with clocks on passenger jets, the clocks actually slow down by a few seconds." Named as a role model for 2013, he first became interested in time travel... 2013-01-28 10:17:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-amber-macarthur-gives-a-digital-webinar-on-social-media.html Amber MacArthur, a 'relentless adaptation' speaker and author of Power Friending, says the most exciting part of social media is the ability to measure its success. As she explains in a recent webinar hosted by Design Lounge, measuring your activity and response is one of the most important things to do when launching a social media campaign. There are many apps and programs that can help compile your social media metrics, and she advises that you make use of them. Rather than just posting a link... 2013-01-28 11:34:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-marketing-speaker-jack-bensimon-improved-faith-in-real-estate-market.html Despite recent hiccups in the real estate market, many of the respondents in marketing speaker Jack Bensimon's new Consumerology report are still confident in the value of their homes. Commissioned by Bensimon Byrne and conducted by The Gandalf Group, the report found that the majority of Canadians surveyed expect the value of their home to increase, and one in three are considering buying real estate in the next year. Further, 44 per cent think that now is a good time for someone to buy their first... 2013-01-28 12:49:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eyal-press-on-todays-moral-dilemmas.html What is it that causes some of us to stick to our conscience, even in the face of punishment? Eyal Press, the author of Beautiful Souls: The Courage and Conscience of Ordinary People discusses how we compartmentalize ethical concerns in a new interview. An exclusive Lavin speaker, Press explains that we often become aware of modern ethical conflicts but then shrug them off. "It's so easy to see a news report and then just kind of go on in our lives," he tells us in the interview. We will read or... 2013-01-28 15:34:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-ben-rattray-changeorg-featured-in-times-of-india.html When social change speaker Ben Rattray started Change.org, he knew he was on to something. As The Times of India reports, online petitions are rapidly emerging as one of the most influential agents for social change in India (where the site is becoming increasingly popular). The site allows members to draft or add to a petition online with the goal of pushing the will of the people to the decisionmakers. Also, it brings the topic into public discussion and keeps it in people's minds. And, as is being... 2013-01-28 13:50:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-lewis-mackenzie-on-the-mali-conflict.html Leadership speaker Lewis MacKenzie, a retired General-Major and one of the world's most respected peacekeepers, believes that there are more effective measures that the country can take to ease the conflict in Mali than "boots on the ground" combat. As he writes in a piece in The Globe & Mail: "Significant additional logistic support to the African-led forces [is] our best and most valuable potential contribution." He suggests that what the French (who are currently stationed in Mali, West Africa)... 2013-01-28 16:33:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eric-klinenberg-in-the-daily-mail-living-alone.html If you live alone—by your own choosing—you're in good company. As Eric Klinenberg points out in his book Going Solo, about one in seven Americans live alone, which amounts to 31 million people. Of those people, 50% are also single. 50 years ago, only 22% of the population was single and a mere four million lived alone. The rise in solo living has become one of the fastest growing social trends of the last half century. If you thought that those numbers seemed high, just compare them to... 2013-01-25 10:05:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-native-speaker-waneek-horn-miller-brand-ambassador-for-canadian-company.html As one of North America's most inspiring Native speakers, Waneek Horn-Miller is proud of her heritage and is highly involved in the aboriginal community. She recently signed on with the Manitobah Mukluks company to be the brand ambassador for the traditional, Canadian-made footwear. “This is a success story," Waneek Horn-Miller says of the Manitobah Mukluks company in an interview. "I love the product and the people involved. Everyone is personable, down-to-earth and family-oriented, just... 2013-01-25 11:48:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sue-gardner-named-to-board-of-global-voices.html Sue Gardner, executive director of The Wikimedia Foundation, has just been appointed to sit on the board of directors at the citizen media initative Global Voices, which marks another foray into the world of collaborative media for Gardner. She is also one of very few women heading up a top ten website (Wikipedia) that is mainly compiled from user-created content. Global Voices is an online community composed of over 1300 authors and translators who publish reports from citizen journalists around... 2013-01-25 14:01:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-charles-wheelan-stats-are-all-around-us.html "We know more about people than we've ever known," Charles Wheelan said in a recent presentation, "and that data is cheap and easy to manipulate, to use, to study." With the advent of cheap computing and digital technology, there is more data available at our fingertips than ever before—and if we embrace it rather than run from it, we can achieve some remarkable things. That's why Wheelan's book, Naked Statistics, has taken the fear out of data. As he says in the talk, it's important to understand... 2013-01-25 15:38:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-conference-speaker-linda-duxbury-speaks-at-carelton-gets-award.html Fresh off the publication of her major national Work-Life Balance survey, conference speaker Linda Duxbury will be presenting her groundbreaking findings at Carleton University. Duxbury, a workplace health expert and Professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, completed the landmark study late last year. Duxbury found that many Canadians feel they have more work to do than they have hours in the day. Piling more responsibilities onto already overworked employees isn't increasing... 2013-01-25 16:37:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-before-i-die-candy-chang-inspires-gw-university-students.html Brian Doyle, a student at George Washington University in D.C., wanted to bring a "positive, community-building project to his campus." When he saw Candy Chang speak at TED Global, he knew that her "Before I Die" installation was exactly what he was looking for. The project originated in New Orleans and uses simple materials (a black wall and sidewalk chalk) to help communities spread messages of hope and inspiration. The phrase "Before I Die..." is written on the wall, and participants complete... 2013-01-24 10:29:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-the-economist-raves-about-paul-toughs-how-children-succeed.html Why is it that some children do so well in school while others do not? In education speaker Paul Tough's book, How Children Succeed, he provides groundbreaking research to answer that very question. And, as The Economist notes, the book is "provocative, ambitious, and elegantly written." The article mentions that previous efforts to close the achievement gap between poor and privileged students have achieved minimal success. In Tough's book, he presents a new way of looking at education to help bridge... 2013-01-24 11:23:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-teju-cole-on-effective-public-spaces.html "For me, the point of public space is that it needs to be something that is open to all kinds of people, to all classes," Teju Cole, author of Open City, says in a recent interview. Making effective use of public spaces is crucial, he adds, given that cities are, by definition, crowded places. There are millions of people living in the same small area and it's important that they feel comfortable in the spaces they share with others. It is in these public spaces that we intersect and interact with... 2013-01-24 12:32:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gayle-tzemach-lemmon-the-end-of-the-combat-ban.html For ten years, female, American soldiers have been fighting and dying in combat. Except, as Gayle Tzemach Lemmon notes, a technicality prevents them from being recognized as doing so. They aren't given the honors and rights that go along with front line service because they technically aren't allowed to be in combat situations in the first place. But, as Lemmon reports in The Daily Beast, this paradoxical reality will soon come to an end. There is no law prohibiting women from fighting on the front... 2013-01-24 13:48:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-molly-crabapple-exclusive-lavin-interview-on-making-it-big.html "Everything in the world is conspiring to try to force people into this mold where they work for other people until their life energy's exhausted," Molly Crabapple says. "You have to try to resist that." In an exclusive interview at Lavin's New York office, Crabapple shared her thoughts on how to stay motivated to lead an interesting life. The best way to motivate yourself, she says, is to remember that you only have one life—and you should spend it living out your dreams.To Crabapple, an interesting... 2013-01-24 15:32:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-neil-gershenfeld-the-next-revolution-is-bigger-than-3d-printing.html "Microwave ovens are convenient for some things, but they still haven’t replaced the rest of the kitchen," science speaker Neil Gershenfeld says in a recent interview. While 3D printing is certainly a breakthrough technology—it isn't necessarily the beginning of a second industrial revolution. Gershenfeld, Director of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, explains that the next big revolution will be bigger than 3D printing. Despite what some critics say, he believes that technical breakthroughs... 2013-01-24 16:11:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-nina-tandon-pursue-many-interests-interview-at-lavin.html What question does tissue engineer Nina Tandon get asked most by her students? In an exclusive interview with Lavin, the science speaker says that when her pupils aren't inquiring about course materials—they're asking her for career advice. What does she tell them? "Don't worry about being that one thing," she explains, "worry about making sure that you keep several lights alive." She believes that there's no one right way to live your life, and pursuing several different interests is the key... 2013-01-23 9:39:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mental-health-speaker-michael-landsberg-at-mental-health-awareness-week.html Most people know Michael Landsberg as the charismatic face of TSN's Off The Record. While sports reporting is a big part of his life, the mental health speaker said he's found another outlet that is just as fulfilling for him. As the opening speaker for a Mental Health Awareness Week event, Landsberg shared his inspiring story of dealing with anxiety and depression. And, how giving these presentations has become an important part of his career. "It’s new to me in the past year, but over the... 2013-01-23 11:14:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-roger-martin-strategizing-prepares-you-for-the-future.html "Contrary to popular opinion, strategy is not about turning uncertainty into certainty," business speaker Roger Martin writes in the Harvard Business Review. Rather, he suggests "thinking about strategy as a way of dealing productively with life's inevitable uncertainty, by continuously making and updating your bets about the future." Martin is an expert on helping businesses craft effective strategies to achieve long-term goals. In his new book, Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, Martin... 2013-01-23 12:25:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neri-oxman-prints-3d-couture-for-paris-fashion-week.html Haute couture clothing is designed to conform perfectly to a person's body; it's meant to feel almost like a second skin. Thanks to Neri Oxman's new method of digital fabrication, models at Paris Fashion Week wore couture designs that literally conformed to their bodies. Oxman, an award-winning designer at the MIT Media Lab, teamed up with fashion designer Iris van Herpen to create a 3D skirt and cape for a recent runway show. Produced using 3D printing technology developed by Stratasys, the clothing... 2013-01-23 13:27:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-conference-speaker-john-maeda-on-creative-leadership.html As John Maeda argues in Forbes, business leaders can stand to learn a great deal from artists and designers. That explains why architect Zaha Hadid was recently given the Aenne Burda award for creative leadership. Maeda, a conference speaker at this week's Digital-Life-Design event, asked attendees whether they considered themselves to be creatives, leaders, or a combination of both. The reason he asks is because most people don't associate creative types with strong leadership skills—and Maeda... 2013-01-23 15:26:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jared-diamond-traditional-societies-steven-colbert.html Jared Diamond recently appeared on The Colbert Report to talk about his new book, The World Until Yesterday, and receive some good-natured ribbing from Steven Colbert. Diamond certainly doesn't need the "Colbert bump", as his book debuted in the top-three on The New York Times bestseller list. However, he still found the time to sit down with the leader of Colbert nation to talk about the main theme in his book—the differences and similarities between modern society and traditional societies,... 2013-01-23 14:33:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-jeff-rubin-oil-and-water-dont-mix.html First there were disputes over oil. Now, economics speaker Jeff Rubin says, there is a tug-of-war over the water needed to extract that oil. As he writes in The Globe and Mail, oil and water don't mix—and that's bad news for the energy industry. "It’s unfortunate, because the new fuel sources that the International Energy Agency claims will allow North America to reach energy independence require tremendous amounts of water," he says. And when you need about 2 barrels of water to produce... 2013-01-22 9:27:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-reggie-love-on-cbs-president-obamas-second-term.html As President Obama steams ahead into his second term, his former body man Reggie Love reminisces about the past term—and weighs in on what the next four years has in store. Love arguably spent more time with the President during his first term than anyone in the world, traveling a whopping one million miles with him. On CBS's This Morning, Love described how the Presidential duties have shaped and changed Obama. "Four years at any job changes you, but when the buck stops with you, I think there... 2013-01-22 10:36:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ray-boisvert-on-cbc-discussing-violent-insider-threats.html Amidst reports that Canadian nationals may have been involved in a hostage-taking situation in Algeria, Ray Boisvert, Former Assistant Director of Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS), spoke to the CBC about possible threats of violence in the country. He discussed what's known as insider threats, where nationals leave their country of origin to commit crimes or violent acts overseas. The initial problem is, obviously, that the act itself is being committed. The secondary problem lies... 2013-01-22 11:24:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-review-of-new-jared-diamond-book-in-scientific-american.html Michael Shermer, a columnist for Scientific American, calls Jared Diamond’s new book a "magnificent concluding opus on not only our nature and our history, but our destiny as a species." He also says that the book, titled The World Until Yesterday, is an apt successor to his Pulitzer Prize-Winning Guns, Germs and Steel. Professor John Horgan, who also writes for Scientific American, has high praise for Diamond's new book as well. Most of us would say that we prefer living in a modern, industrialized... 2013-01-22 12:47:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ta-nehisi-coates-colbert-obama.html On inauguration night, Ta-Nehisi Coates appeared on The Colbert Report to talk about President Obama’s second term—and, at the insistence of Colbert, about Michelle Obama’s new bangs! Coates is an incisive speaker on race in America. He's a Senior Editor at The Atlantic, where he wrote a defining article of Obama’s first term, “Fear of a Black President,” and profiled the Chicago of Michelle Obama’s formative years.“As a black guy,” Colbert asked... 2013-01-22 13:53:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-roy-baumeister-strengthen-your-willpower-muscle.html If you've ever wondered why it's easy to exercise self-control in some instances and not in others, Roy Baumeister knows the answer: your willpower reserve is a limited resource. Scientists and other researchers are now tuning in to his findings. By examining the results of Baumeister's tests, it's been found that willpower is like a muscle. It can be strengthened with increased use, but weakened with overuse. In an article in The Huffington Post, Baumeister's studies are used to explain why sometimes... 2013-01-22 15:50:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jared-diamond-in-macleans-traditional-societies.html What can we learn from traditional societies, and how should we view them? According to Jared Diamond, we must maintain an objective approach, and "we should neither despise nor idealize [them]." In an interview with Maclean's, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and geographer discusses themes from his new book, The World Until Yesterday. In the book, he explains that traditional societies live very differently than we do. While some practices (leaving the old/sick behind while the rest of the group... 2013-01-21 9:36:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-debbie-berebichez-big-data-isnt-new.html There has been a lot of talk about the implications of big data of late. While science speaker Debbie Berebichez says that the buzz around big data is warranted, the fervor around it being a hot, new technique is not. In fact, the history of big data is quite storied—and the physics community and experts on Wall Street have been using it for quite some time. Applying this technique to Internet technology problems is a new advancement, however. The important thing to keep in mind, she says,... 2013-01-21 10:37:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-margaret-atwood-in-wired.html Margaret Atwood is at it again. Her most recent project, Fanado, is reinventing the relationship between artist and fan. And, as Wired aptly puts it, "her writing tools are as forward-looking as her books." Atwood is one of the rare authors who has earned commercial, critical, and academic success. She is highly engaged with her fans (she's an active Twitter user with well over 300,000 followers) and often discusses the role that literature plays in society in her keynotes and media appearances.... 2013-01-21 12:08:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-angela-davis-dont-subordinate-your-aspirations.html As social change speaker Angela Davis says in her keynote address at the Peace Ball in Washington, President Obama's work is just beginning. With the long election campaign behind him, he is now embarking on his second term as President of the United States. While Davis says it's wonderful to support him, "that support should also be expressed in our determination to raise issues that have been largely ignored or not appropriately addressed by the administration." Now that he has made it back into... 2013-01-21 13:42:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-paul-tough-how-malleable-is-your-intelligence.html Do you think your IQ is malleable? That is, do you think that the level of intelligence you're born with is what you're stuck with for life? Or can it be improved? As education speaker Paul Tough told an audience during a recent keynote, it is very difficult to change your IQ after around age 8. Despite this, he also says that the kids who excel in their education tend to be those who believe that they can change it. Regardless of the facts, these kids believe they can do better and get smarter—and... 2013-01-21 14:58:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-pedro-noguera-less-testing-in-schools-nyt-oped.html "It’s time for the federal government to return to defending the educational rights of the most vulnerable children," Pedro Noguera declares in an opinion piece in The New York Times. Currently the Professor of Education at New York University, he is an expert on public education. As he explains in the article, the No Child Left Behind Policy (Elementary and Secondary Education Act), was good in theory—but disappointing in practice. Instead of directly addressing educational inequalities... 2013-01-21 16:15:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-care-speaker-jeffrey-simpson-less-money-makes-for-better-health-care-reforms.html "Necessity is often the mother of invention," health care speaker Jeffrey Simpson argues, "and as a consequence, you're going to get people that have to use their craniums now to find more innovative ways of doing things because they won't be able to get money to throw at these problems." The problems he is referring to relate to the overpriced and under-performing health care system. And, as he says in a recent interview, these problems can't be fixed by monetary means. Hopefully, however, this... 2013-01-18 9:34:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-molly-crabapple-brings-art-to-the-masses.html The way an artist becomes successful financially is much different than creatives in other mediums. Molly Crabapple shed some light on this important difference in a recent interview at Lavin. Traditionally, artists make more money when their pieces becomes more valuable and cost more. Therefore, less people are able to purchase their work and the acclaim of the artist rises; unlike in other creative industries where the become more successful an artist gets, the more accessible their product becomes.... 2013-01-18 12:26:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-ben-rattray-at-tedx-manila.html Social media has afforded almost anyone, anywhere in the world, the ability to speak out against social injustice. As Ben Rattray explains in his keynote at TEDxManila, this has given rise to a new, specific form of social movement: the micro-movement. Social media has allowed more people to get involved in smaller, personal causes. These micro-movements have proven to be as successful—if not more successful—than their larger counterparts. Thanks to platforms like Rattray's Change.org... 2013-01-18 10:52:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-spotting-a-liar-pamela-meyer-gives-7-suspicious-phrases.html The next time you get the feeling someone is being dishonest with you, Pamela Meyer says there are cues to look for to catch them in a fib. Author of Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception, Meyer has discovered that people who fudge the truth generally use certain patterns of speech that, if aware of, you can recognize. While there are certainly exceptions to these rules, Meyer says they are good to pick up on. (Check out these tips in more depth in her keynote).1) Repetition: If someone... 2013-01-18 14:20:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-digital-media-speaker-amber-macarthur-standing-out-on-social-media.html "People are truly getting overwhelmed with all of the stuff they have to sift through [online]," digital media speaker Amber MacArthur says, "and you want to do something to stand out from the crowd." In a recent keynote speech, the Power Friending author reveals that there are certain things your company can do to catch people's attention online. And in the highly competitive digital space, it's more important than ever to rise above the pack. She provided the audience with several tips that will... 2013-01-18 13:33:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-motivation-speaker-roy-baumeister-in-time-willpower-is-finite.html By now, many of those ambitious New Year's Resolutions we made on the first of the month have probably gone by the wayside. Roy Baumeister says that there are ways you can prevent this from happening. It is possible, he tells TIME magazine, to improve your willpower. "Metaphorically, it’s like a muscle," he says, and with practice you can keep those early January resolutions going strong the whole year round. In a recent Q&A in TIME, the Willpower author shares his tips on stretching and... 2013-01-18 14:56:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-facebook-fatigue-amber-macarthur-on-micro-social-networks.html As the big social networks increase in size, users can feel like they've lost that intimate connection with their followers. As Amber MacArthur says in a recent keynote, there are new tools on the digital market that can help ease the "Facebook fatigue" that some of us may be feeling. Instead of having hundreds—or even thousands—of followers on our social networks, these new applications limit the number of online friends you are allowed to accumulate. This provides a more intimate social... 2013-01-17 9:33:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-nina-tandon-tissue-engineering.html Imagine requiring a new heart and receiving a transplant organ, made of living tissue, that was grown by a scientist in a lab. Sounds like science fiction, right? Nina Tandon says the idea isn't as far fetched as we may think. As she explains in an exclusive interview with Lavin, scientists have been able to grow all sorts of tissues in the lab for years. While she admits that the heart is certainly "hard to grow," she doesn't believe that it is impossible. However, we may be waiting awhile before... 2013-01-17 10:19:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alexandra-samuel-on-digital-note-taking.html Alexandra Samuel wants you to stop putting pen to paper—and bring your note-taking into the digital era. In The Huffington Post, the social media expert argues that conventional note-taking is nowhere near as effective as using a tool like Evernote. "If you had that, I could shoot you the link of the book I want you to read, or the contact card of the person you want to meet," she says. "And if you planned to act on any of the ideas or outcomes from [a] meeting, you would want to pop the follow-up... 2013-01-17 11:05:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mental-health-speaker-michael-landsberg-lifting-the-stigma-of-mental-health.html "If you talk about mental illness in a dark, sombre message, no one is going to listen," Michael Landsberg says in a recent interview. "I try to bring a sense of levity." Landsberg is the host of the popular TSN sports talk show Off The Record. He is charismatic, bold, upbeat, and demands attention in front of the camera. He has also suffered from depression for most of his life, and now he is speaking out about his experiences to help reverse the stigma surrounding mental illness. People can be... 2013-01-17 11:50:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-translates-lessons-to-spanish.html The work of education speaker Salman Khan, and the lessons he teaches at his Khan Academy, have helped people around the world further their education. Now, with the help of Carlos Slim Helu, those who speak Spanish can benefit from his lessons, too. Slim, the richest man in the world, announced that he and Khan are partnering to create Spanish translations of Khan's lessons and training courses. Thanks to this partnership, students, teachers, and researchers in Mexico will have access to up to 1,000... 2013-01-17 12:41:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jessica-jackley-changing-the-poverty-rhetoric.html Growing up, Jessica Jackley says that any story about the poor made her feel like solving the problem of poverty was impossible. Further, none of the pitches she was given about how to help those in need really spoke to her. As she explains in a new keynote, she felt that she was given "very strange call[s] to action." On the one hand you were provided with staggering statistics about the fact that half of the world's population lives on around a dollar a day. Then, you would be told: "don't worry... 2013-01-17 16:08:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-three-lavin-speakers-top-the-new-york-times-best-seller-list.html Fresh off its release, The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond has shot to the top of the charts and debuted in the top three of The New York Times Bestseller List! The book explores tribal and traditional societies, both present and past, that are vastly different from our own. Using compelling case studies and in-depth research, Diamond examines what we can learn from these traditional societies. The geography professor is the author of two other bestselling books (one of which, Guns, Germs... 2013-01-16 9:45:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kevin-oleary-lets-talk-about-money-on-the-national-post.html "Marriage is actually a huge financial decision," business speaker Kevin O'Leary says in a new video interview with The National Post. While he admits it doesn't sound very romantic to think about money issues when you're deciding to spend your life with someone, it's an essential part of having a happy and successful union down the road. It's very important to think of marriage not just as a romantic union, but as a financial one. Marriage is, in fact, a contractual agreement. Expanding on advice... 2013-01-16 10:56:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-blake-mycoskie-does-business-right-says-ibm-study.html According to the IBM Global CEO Study, CEOs like Blake Mycoskie of TOMS are the future of corporate leadership. The report, "Leading Through Connections," surveyed almost 2,000 global CEOs, general managers and senior public sector leaders about the effects of increased connectivity between customer and corporation thanks to new digital tools. Not only do consumers want more meaningful connections with the leaders of their favorite companies, they also want more transparency, and a reason to care... 2013-01-16 11:46:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-erwann-michel-kerjan-global-risks-report.html According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks 2013 report, rising greenhouse gas emissions ranks as the third largest threat to our society. Erwann Michel-Kerjan, a catastrophic risk management expert, says that a recent increase in extreme weather events means that we need to take action. He has argued for the development of national disaster management strategies to better prepare for the effects of these natural catastrophes. While the report listed climate change as tertiary,... 2013-01-16 13:32:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-robert-kuttner-credit-card-debt-is-different-than-public-debt.html As veteran financial journalist Robert Kuttner pointedly explains, credit cards don't work the same way that our public debt does. In an opinion piece for Reuters, he says that there are many differences between consumer debt and the national deficit. For starters, a purchase made on a credit card rarely increases an individual's earning power, whereas the money that a country borrows affects economic growth. When public deficit spending helps to increase economic growth, the debt becomes less severe."Unlike... 2013-01-16 14:26:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tim-flannery-in-grist-new-era-of-climate-norms.html Australians are used to the heat. A recent heatwave, however, is proving to be too hot for most residents to handle. Temperatures down under have consistently been topping 102.2 degrees F (39 degrees C) this past week. Tim Flannery, an environmental speaker and author of the international best-seller The Weather Makers, says this extreme weather is proof of a massive climate change taking place. "When you start breaking records, and you do it consistently, and you see it over and over again, that... 2013-01-16 15:47:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kevin-oleary-the-cold-hard-truth-new-book.html “Money can be a very powerful ally or a very powerful enemy if you don’t treat it properly,” Kevin O'Leary says in a interview about his new book Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women & Money. A followup to his first effort, Cold Hard Truth On Business, Money & Life, the business mogul has served up a second helping of advice to whip your finances into shape. In The Chronicle Herald interview, O'Leary explains that he is constantly asked for advice on money matters. "I keep getting... 2013-01-15 9:54:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-roger-martin-new-book-playing-to-win-how-strategy-really-works.html Are you just playing—or playing to win? That's what the new book by business speaker Roger Martin and A.G. Lafley will help your company determine. As one of today's best-known business thinkers, Martin has teamed up with Lafley (former Procter & Gamble CEO) to write what Publishers Weekly says is a "standout" guide to business strategy. Titled Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, the new book is due on bookshelves this February. The book explains the nuances of planning, and executing,... 2013-01-15 11:09:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-roy-baumeister-new-study-on-happiness-and-meaning.html All living creatures pursue happiness, Roy Baumeister says. What makes humans unique, however, is that we also seek out meaning in our lives. In a new article in The Atlantic, the social psychologist and willpower expert unveils his new study about the difference between living a happy life and a meaningful life. Baumeister and his team of researchers asked 400 Americans between the ages of 18 and 78 whether they felt that their lives were meaningful and/or happy. What they found was that there was... 2013-01-15 11:49:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-media-week-jessica-jackley-tonya-surman.html Technology is undeniably changing our lives and shaping our future. Perhaps one of its greatest assets is its ability to foster collaboration and cooperation between people across the world. As part of Social Media Week, Jessica Jackley and Tonya Surman will discuss the collaborative benefits of social and digital media. The Internet has allowed us to share our collective intelligence with others to achieve meaningfully impact the world; something that both Jackley and Surman have done to great success.... 2013-01-15 12:56:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-amber-macarthur-in-fast-company-leveraging-online-networking.html "Whether you're looking for a traditional four-year gig or you're pursuing your dream as an entrepreneur, success depends on who you know," Amber MacArthur writes in a new Fast Company article. MacArthur knows about the power of the personal network firsthand. In her book, Power Friending, her consulting, and her informative keynotes, she gives the ins-and-outs of using online connections to get a job or grow your business. According to a new Jobvite survey, social networks were the main source... 2013-01-15 14:18:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-charles-wheelan-naked-statistics-in-new-scientist.html Making statistics fun for non-statisticians is a tall order. Charles Wheelan bravely took on the challenge in his new book, Naked Statistics. A follow-up to his wildly successful Naked Economics, Wheelan's second venture uses intriguing real world examples to explore the benefits of understanding statistical analysis. Kevin McConway, a professor of applied statistics at The Open University, recently reviewed it in New Scientist. He says that Wheelan's style is "innovative and often witty," and that... 2013-01-15 15:49:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonathan-haidt-on-msnbc-discussing-hyper-partianship.html As Jonathan Haidt explains in a recent interview on MSNBC, outsider threats are no longer bringing society together the way they once did. Instead, there are dozens of theoretical "asteroids" hurtling toward us, ready to destroy society, that are tearing us apart. We are living in an increasingly hyper-partisan political system where each side holds fast to their views. While there's nothing wrong with partisanship and debate, Haidt says the problem is that neither party is willing to even hear the... 2013-01-14 9:34:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-misha-glouberman-david-lavin-on-TED-talks.html David Lavin, president of The Lavin Agency speakers bureau, has a lot of experience working with TED speakers—in fact, he was invited by TED to deliver a keynote to their Fellows. As he tells negotiation and communication speaker Misha Glouberman in this exclusive discussion, the secret behind the success of TED is the people they put on stage. TED doesn't pick  average, run-of-the-mill speakers to lead their lectures. Rather, they choose people who are "genuinely, passionately, engaged... 2013-01-14 15:54:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-justin-fox-in-the-atlantic-on-tech-monopolies.html "Just because the Internet has succeeded in blowing up some of these established communications monopolies and oligopolies [like radio, newspapers and TV]," Justin Fox cautions, "doesn’t mean it won’t create its own." In a new article in The Atlantic, Fox takes a look at some of today's biggest tech companies: the new monopolists. Many of these companies (Facebook and Google, for example) are beginning to take on the characteristics of utilities. Despite not explicitly calling themselves... 2013-01-14 12:18:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-debbie-berebichez-at-ted-ed.html To most of us, sound and light seem like vastly different entities. However, as science speaker Debbie Berebichez argues in her talk at TED-Ed, there are many similarities that exist between the two phenomenon. And physicists, she explained, are trained to see these commonalities. In the case of sound and light, despite materializing in completely different ways physically, Berebichez tells the audience that they behave similarly. They both get from one point to another in waves. And while we have... 2013-01-14 11:05:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeffrey-simpson-medicare-isnt-that-great.html The rest of the nation is finally starting to catch on to something that health care speaker Jeffrey Simpson has been saying for quite some time: Medicare isn't the cream of the crop as far as medical systems go. As he writes in The Globe and Mail, there have been a few political leaders in the country who have "dropped the clichés" recently. Instead of mindlessly perpetuating the rhetoric that we are at the top of the health care game in Canada, people are starting to do their homework. They... 2013-01-14 15:04:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-chuck-klosterman-new-book-i-wear-the-black-hat.html Chuck Klosterman's new book is due out this summer—and he recently tweeted a picture of the cover to add to the anticipation. The book is called I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) and is slated for release this July (you can pre-order it over at Amazon.) It's a collection of essays about the concept of villainy in society. In his typical style, the bestselling author and New York Times Ethicist combines pop culture references with sharp wit to paint a complex... 2013-01-14 16:38:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-quiet-sparks-new-viral-web-series.html Susan Cain's breakthrough research on introversion has been turned into another live animation video series (the first one was drawn by Molly Crabapple for RSA) and its gone viral! Composed by dwlFilms, the series features several episodes that have taken material from Cain's bestselling book Quiet and turned it into an animated short feature. So far, the first episode has already gained over a million views! It's no surprise that the video has become so popular given that Cain's work on introversion... 2013-01-11 9:22:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeremy-gutsche-on-capturing-consumer-attention.html Even though we're only a week into 2013, innovation speaker Jeremy Gutsche already has a firm handle on the upcoming trends for this year. As he explains in his interview with The Globe and Mail (check it out here), the next big thing in marketing for 2013 is creating a connection with your consumer. Whether you use brazen social media campaigns or revamp ordinary products into something a bit more out-of-the-box, winning over the increasingly knowledgeable customer requires that companies go the... 2013-01-11 11:47:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-marina-adshade-on-the-economics-of-love-on-cbc.html Dr. Marina Adshade is an economist that's taking money into the bedroom by analyzing the role that finances play in our love lives. "Economics tells us a lot about human behaviour," she explains in an interview on CBC, making it an excellent analytical tool for explaining why we do what we do in relationships. As she details in her interview, and in her economics classes, income and education are playing a vital role in how we choose our mates. This marks a significant shift, she notes, that has... 2013-01-11 11:25:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-vanessa-farquharson-earth-day-speaker-goes-green.html With New Years Day less than two weeks behind us, what better time than now to make a resolution to live a little bit greener this year? Vanessa Farquharson did it, and in 366 days she went from being a self-proclaimed product-junkie to a bonafide advocate for living a more conscious and less plugged-in life. She spent a year taking baby steps toward living a green, but practical, lifestyle. She documented her life-altering journey on her blog and in her wildly funny—and truly informative—book... 2013-01-11 12:23:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-reviews-of-the-physics-of-wall-street-james-owen-weatherall.html James Owen Weatherall, our new exclusive speaker, has released a groundbreaking book that takes a novel look at the stock market. Titled The Physics of Wall Street, the book offers an insightful analysis of the financial crisis and the role that physics could have played in preventing it. The crisis, he writes, “was partly a failure of mathematical modeling." However, he declares that the real problem "was a failure of some very sophisticated financial institutions to think like physicists."... 2013-01-11 14:14:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-speaker-storm-chaser-george-kourouni.html Most people run from extreme weather. George Kourounis, on the other hand, is constantly putting himself in the storm's path—intentionally. One of the world's most active storm chasers, and our newest speaker, Kourounis is the first person to have filmed inside of three of the most fierce natural forces on the planet: a tornado, the eye of a hurricane, and an active volcano. 15 years ago he began chasing storms and has since explored all types of exhilarating natural phenomena. From monster... 2013-01-10 9:45:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kal-penn-teaching-ability-rated-in-new-york-magazine.html According to students at The University of Pennsylvania, Kal Penn is "awesome and funny as hell!" While he already has proven successful in film, television, and politics, he also recently added a stint in teaching to his roster. According to a review in New York Magazine, he was quite a hit with the students. Penn taught "Contemporary American teen films" at the University of Pennsylvania and thanks to his extensive background in the media industry combined with his knowledge of pop culture... 2013-01-10 10:31:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-robert-kuttner-governments-need-to-invest-more.html The job numbers are out—and economics speaker Robert Kuttner says they aren't looking very promising. As he explains in a report in The Huffington Post, the 155,000 new jobs that were created in December hovers around the national average from months past. And, as he laments, there weren't enough jobs created to make a positive impact in the unemployment rate or the economy. "The president needs to use his leadership skills to make clear that this is not about this cut versus that cut. Budget... 2013-01-10 13:31:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-human-rights-speaker-lisa-shannon-learning-to-be-a-leader.html While the Congolese conflict still rages on, human rights speaker Lisa Shannon is hopeful about the progress that is being made as of late. The humanitarian activist spoke with us here at the agency about her recent efforts to improve conditions in the nation. As the founder of Run for Congo Women and the ambassador for Women for Women International, Shannon has been deeply involved with bringing attention to the violence plaguing the Congo. She has noticed a significant increase in international... 2013-01-10 11:43:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jared-diamond-on-npr-traditional-society.html There is a common misconception that the so-called "primitive" societies in the world have little to teach us. But as Jared Diamond explains in a recent interview with NPR, we still have much to learn from the people living in these hunter-gatherer tribes. This is also a major theme in his new book, The World Until Yesterday. For starters, these traditional cultures often speak far more languages than we do in more "modern" societies. For example, Diamond focused on a group of New Guineans as research... 2013-01-10 14:25:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alex-soojung-kimpang-contemplative-computing.html Alex Soojung-Kim Pang agrees with the literature that argues that technology changes our relationships and our evaluation of memory and cognition. However, he does disagree with those who say that these changes are strictly negative. He argues that technology, for all its distracting qualities, can actually be used to make us more productive and lead happier, more creative lives. A visitor at the Peace Innovation Lab at Stanford University, and an Associate Fellow at Oxford University's Saïd... 2013-01-10 16:23:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-adria-vasil-safeguarding-against-exaggerated-green-claims.html As ecoholic Adria Vasil has noted many times, there is an inundation of greenwashing (false environmentally-friendly advertising) taking place on our product packaging. As she explains in an interview with Lavin, she is trying to safeguard against the backlash from products being labeled as green when they actually aren't. Unfortunately, finding out that we have been duped into thinking that certain goods are environmentally friendly, which indeed are not, leads us to mistrust the entire industry.... 2013-01-10 15:43:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-roger-martin-why-most-companies-dont-plan-for-the-future.html "In truth every company has a strategy," business speaker Roger Martin explains in a recent article in The Harvard Business Review. However, many company leaders he has spoken to admit to not explicitly planning their future strategies, choosing instead to make decisions in the now rather than thinking about long-term goals. Companies have strategies, he clarifies, they just aren't specifically sitting down and planning them. While many have argued that the operating environment is changing too rapidly... 2013-01-09 10:14:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-defusing-political-conflicts-jonathan-haidt-new-ted-talk.html Why can't we all just get along? It's a question social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has tackled extensively in his work, and, as he says in a new TED Talk and interview, it's a question he believes he's found the answer to. In short, he explains that despite all the political divides and hostility between opposing sides, it is possible for us to find common ground—as long as we're willing to accept that we can learn something from those we may not agree with. The problem, he explains in a new... 2013-01-09 10:57:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-fatima-bhutto-power-operates-as-violence-in-pakistan.html In a new video interview, Fatima Bhutto discusses the Pakistani dynasty and the way that power in the country operates as a form of violence. She says that the most powerful people in Pakistan are protected by law—even protected from the consequences of their own corrupt actions by those laws—and the people are "protected by nothing and held hostage by silence." While she says that there is always a choice to speak out against corruption, the problem is that one is not always able to... 2013-01-09 11:39:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-redesigning-leadership-john-maeda-in-forbes.html In a new article in Forbes, John Maeda says that the future of innovation lies in the hands of the creatives—and that the most successful leaders will be those who embrace creative forms of team management. Business leaders can stand to learn a great deal from artists and designers, he explains, especially in terms of the way they collaborate. Artists often spend hours in their studios collaborating and sharing their progress with other artists. As Maeda notes, this is an important skill for... 2013-01-09 13:18:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-lewis-mackenzie-visits-lavin-office.html Major-General (ret'd) Lewis MacKenzie, a highly sought-after leadership speaker, recently stopped by our Toronto office to catch us up on current events, his theories on leadership, and his unique presentation style. Joined by several of us here at the agency (including Mackenzie Gruer, pictured above!) Lewis MacKenzie shared a snippet of his whirlwind schedule; providing insight on the current conflict in Mali, sharing his recent auto racing results,  and giving first hand account of his recent... 2013-01-09 14:47:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-shannon-brownlee-in-the-atlantic-health-care-costs.html When people talk about the "costs of health care," Shannon Brownlee says that everyone's definition of these costs is drastically different. "This creates confusion even among experts, to say nothing of the public, and it is getting in the way of a frank discussion about how the nation can address the central challenge," she tells The Atlantic, "that we are spending more and more on health care without seeing equivalent improvements in health." In a new article, the health speaker and author of Overtreated... 2013-01-09 16:35:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eaves-new-york-gun-map-open-data-vs-personal-privacy.html David Eaves is a leader in the "open movement", but as he explains in his latest blog post, there's a fine line that exists between transparency and a breach of privacy. "There is lots of information governments collect about people—the vast majority of which is not, and should not be available," he explains in the post. "As both an open data advocate and a gov 2.0 advocate I’m strongly interested in ensuring that—around any given data set—peoples sense of privacy is preserved."... 2013-01-08 9:54:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-rick-mercer-on-his-rant-writing-process.html There are few YouTube videos, aside from those by Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, perhaps, that have racked up the numbers that celebrity speaker Rick Mercer's trademark rants have. Thus far, the comedian and television host has earned over 25 million views to his channel—and that's only counting the ones on his official account. Delivered each week on his Gemini-winning show The Rick Mercer Report and then published online shortly thereafter, his rants are always on his mind, he says in a recent... 2013-01-08 10:44:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-stephen-lewis-tvo-interview-on-ngos.html In a recent interview with TVO, human rights speaker Stephen Lewis talked about ways to get involved with a good cause when the government has so drastically cut foreign aid spending. New agreements for budgets and funding allocation has dramatically decreased the funding going to help humanitarian causes, he explains. Due to this, Lewis argues that "countries which deserve humanitarian support won't get it and we will focus all of our relationships on trade arrangements and trade agreements which... 2013-01-08 11:32:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-bill-strickland-on-npr-empowering-students.html Bill Strickland recently appeared on a local NPR affiliate station to discuss the opening of a new program that uses the arts to teach at-risk students, and why it is so important to incorporate arts education in these programs. Located in the Charlotte area, Studio 345 uses innovate new techniques to help decrease student drop-out rates and increase performance. Strickland's Manchester Bidwell Corporation operates in much the same way, and he was asked to be on the radio show to discuss how he steered... 2013-01-08 12:54:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonathan-haidt-book-an-essential-read.html In a new review in The Pacific Standard, Jonathan Haidt's book The Righteous Mind was described as an "essential" read that acts as an "invaluable road map" to navigating the political spectrum, regardless of where on it you fall. "This is a book that asks us to step outside ourselves and admit that the ideas we hold—beliefs that seem so inherently right—are products of our genes and environment, not of some immutable truth," the reviewer writes. It is this revolutionary way of thinking... 2013-01-08 13:50:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-james-fallows-charles-fishman-made-in-the-usa.html In December, an Atlantic cover story made quite a splash—and is continuing to make waves into the new year. James Fallows and Charles Fishman, contributors to the magazine, made convincing arguments to suggest that American manufacturing may be the way of the future. Outsourcing could soon be going out of style. Fallows, an expert on the Chinese economy, and Fishman, the author of the award-winning book The Wal-Mart Effect, claim that there are many reasons why a recent shift toward more insourcing... 2013-01-08 14:37:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-charles-wheelan-naked-statistics-in-salon-magazine.html Fresh off the presses this week, Charles Wheelan's newest book, Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data, recently got the Salon treatment. The magazine featured a teaser excerpt of Wheelan's follow-up to the wildly successful Naked Economics earlier this month, leaving audiences with a taste of the author's aptitude for making numbers come alive. "Statistics cannot be any smarter than the people who use them," the excerpt reads. "And in some cases, they can make smart people do dumb things."... 2013-01-08 15:17:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eric-klinenberg-on-npr.html Fresh off his recent feature in The New Yorker, Eric Klinenberg stopped by NPR to give an interview on the importance of community in disaster situations. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, a great deal of attention is being paid to reviving and improving city infrastructure. However, as Klinenberg explains, overhauling social infrastructure is just as important as the physical construction of a city in saving lives in a disaster situation. Using research from his acclaimed book Heat Wave: A Social... 2013-01-08 16:04:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kevin-oleary-on-personal-finance-in-toronto-star.html Imagine cutting off your coffee habit cold turkey. While that may seem impossible to the java-obsessed, Kevin O'Leary provides a convincing case as to why investing that money into a savings account instead makes good financial sense. In his new book, The Cold Hard Truth About Men, Women and Money, the business mogul shares his advice on making effective personal finance decisions and securing a more successful financial future. One of the tips he provides, as discussed in a review in the Moneyville... 2013-01-07 10:25:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-deborah-berebichez-the-importance-of-a-science-education.html "There is an unfortunate stereotype that 'physics is boring and complicated,'" science speaker Deborah Berebichez explains in a new interview. "I try to break up this stereotype by designing programs that deliver scientific content in easy and engaging ways....[proving that] science is not just about a complicated equation on a blackboard that nobody can understand." It is that commitment to accessibility that ranked Berebichez as one of the Top Ten Women In Tech and has attributed to the success... 2013-01-07 14:36:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-margaret-atwood-in-the-documentary-bad-writing.html If there's anyone equipped to discuss the transition of the written word over time, it's certainly Margaret Atwood. In Bad Writing, a documentary from director Vernon Lott, Atwood joins a group of her literary peers to explore what it means to be a good writer—and how important good writing is to our society. "Narrative arts come with being a human being," she says in the film. "Art is an evolved adaptation and, particularly the narrative arts, those capabilities and interests evolved in the... 2013-01-07 11:04:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-jeff-rubin-in-the-globe-and-mail-canadian-oil-industry.html Jeff Rubin, an internationally renowned economist and trusted voice on the future of oil and energy, recently shared his thoughts on the wealth transfer from Canadian oil producers to American refineries. Using Suncor and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL) as examples, the economics speaker discussed how these massive Albertan oil sands producers process their oil in two very different ways. And, as he says in The Globe and Mail article, these differences are a "a microcosm of the predicament... 2013-01-07 11:59:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-blake-mycoskie-toms-store-in-venice.html "I believe business can be used to improve people’s lives," social change speaker Blake Mycoskie says in a new interview. "And the only reason it makes sense to get into retail is to create community spaces to improve people’s lives." With the launch of the first physical TOMS retail store in Venice, California late last year, Mycoskie is hoping to have created not just a purchasing hub but also a community space for residents to interact with each other. The venue boasts the full... 2013-01-07 14:14:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-molly-crabapple-exclusive-lavin-interview.html "I believe in following your dreams, being incredibly passionate, and being ruthlessly practical about what it takes to get there," Molly Crabapple says in an exclusive Lavin interview. Crabapple is the founder of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, an artist, and a writer. In the interview, she shares her advice on how to make it in the cutthroat art world based on her own personal experiences doing just that. "It is absolutely possible to make a living on your passion," she explains, but you... 2013-01-07 15:41:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jer-thorp-on-big-data-at-poptech-2012.html As Jer Thorp explains in his recent PopTech keynote speech, big data could be the next big oil—which, depending on how we manage this valuable resource, could be extremely promising or potentially dangerous. At the The Office For Creative Research (which Thorp recently launched), the artist and educator explores the problems associated with the abundance of information available to us today. "Let’s try to not make the same mistakes with this new resource that we have with the last ones,"... 2013-01-07 16:21:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-drew-dudley-lollipop-moments-on-tumblr.html If you're looking for some upbeat reading material to renew your faith in the power of everyday leadership, look no further than the Lollipop Moments Tumblr account inspired by leadership speaker Drew Dudley. The blog collects reader submissions of uplifting and inspirational examples of human kindness (which Dudley calls "lollipop moments" in his popular TEDx talk embedded above) that, no matter how small they may seem, have made a tremendous difference in someone's life. As Dudley explains in his... 2013-01-05 15:10:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-paul-tough-grit-test.html How gritty are you? According to education speaker Paul Tough, the "grittier" you are, the more likely you are to succeed in life. He doesn't mean gritty in a John Wayne from the wild west kind of way, though he does admit that that reference certainly has a "deep historical resonance." Rather, he is referring to a relatively new category in psychology that measures how determined one is to achieve their goals. As he explains in a new keynote, grit can be defined as, "perseverance in pursuit of a... 2013-01-04 9:48:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bnn-headline-innovation-speaker-jeremy-gutsche.html In a recent discussion on BNN Headline, innovation speaker Jeremy Gutsche gave a wrap-up of the most promising trends in marketing from 2012—and weighs in on what he thinks will be big in the year to come.  As the founder of Trendhunter.com, one of the world's largest trend spotting websites, Gutsche is constantly evaluating the most popular innovations. He then uses the crowd-sourced data he acquires from his site to predict what will be big in the future. One of the most important changes... 2013-01-04 11:42:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-american-manufacturing-charles-fishman-on-npr.html After years of sending manufacturing jobs overseas, Charles Fishman says that we are now starting to move in the reverse direction. We are now seeing a return of industry to the West and an increasing number of products are now being made In America. In a recent interview with NPR, Fishman expands on the material he covered in his popular Atlantic cover story. He explains that there has been an increase in the number of companies that have moved their manufacturing out of China and Mexico and back... 2013-01-04 13:15:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retai-speaker-doug-stephens-mobile-commerce.html "For me, mobile 3.0 is pulling everything together," retail speaker Doug Stephens explains in a keynote speech. "It's pulling in social, it's pulling in my past purchase preferences, my financial information, my calendar, my purchase history...and melding it into an algorithm that follows me wherever I go." Not only does this algorithm chart what you've already done on your cell phone or your computer, but Stephens says it also becomes predictive of what you will do. The technology learns your preferences... 2013-01-04 12:32:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-do-we-want-have-it-all-linda-duxbury.html While 2012 was a year full of conversation about gender relations in the workplace and the changing economic status of women—and men—Linda Duxbury argues that a more important issue to discuss is the fact that both sexes are experiencing an increased workload. New studies show that an increasing number of women are becoming the sole breadwinner of their families, but Duxbury argues that tensions which appear, on the surface, to be gender related can actually be attributed to more responsibilities... 2013-01-04 16:18:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mitchell-joachim-tells-us-how-to-grow-a-living-treehouse.html Mitchell Joachim wants to change the building profession using innovative new building technologies. What does that mean, exactly? One of his projects, for example, uses ficus wrapped around geometric structures to create a living, breathing treehouse. Instead of constructing buildings in various locations and shipping the materials from site-to-site, Joachim decided to conceptualize a model whereby the architecture is a part of the ecosystem around it. In the case of his treehouse, the structure... 2013-01-04 15:38:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eagleman-using-big-data-to-prevent-crime.html "We treat incarceration as a one-size-fits-all solution," David Eagleman explains in a recent interview about the U.S. justice system. "In America, we incarcerate more of the population than any other nation in the world—because in large part, there is no nuance to how we approach the system." He explains that differences in people's physiologically driven behavior are not taken into account in the judicial system. Instead, every offender is treated the same and punishments are uniform even... 2013-01-03 11:28:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speakers-reveal-the-2013-trends-to-fast-company.html To kick off 2013, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, and Kevin O'Leary—three big-draw business speakers and hosts of ABC's Shark Tank—shared their predictions for the trends to watch this year. Despite never seeming to agree on the hit TV show, the three business moguls all shared the view that the biggest assets to a company are the people who run the team. In a recent Fast Company article, they each shared their insights on how the people involved in the business—whether it be... 2013-01-03 10:09:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rick-mercer-toronto-star-op-ed.html Celebrity speaker Rick Mercer, master of the rant, might have a bone to pick with anyone who thinks that Canada doesn't have a good comedy scene—especially because he himself is so well-known for his sense of humour! In a new opinion piece in the Toronto Star, the host of the Gemini-winning show The Rick Mercer report is cited as an example of a Canadian who has made it big with his satire. In the article—which reads similarly to the style Mercer invokes in his popular rants—the... 2013-01-03 10:58:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-adria-vasil-change-the-world-by-speaking-your-mind.html What does Ecoholic author and environmental speaker Adria Vasil suggest we all employ as a New Year's resolution? Speaking up when something is bothering us, she writes in a new article. It's a skill worth honing if we want to make big changes in 2013, and she explains that we don't do it enough. "Until we evolve into a race of mind-readers," she writes, "speaking the truth is the squeaky wheel getting the oil so, gang, it’s time to say it out loud." While she focuses mainly on environmental... 2013-01-03 11:50:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-climate-proofing-a-city-new-yorker-story-eric-klinenberg.html Superstorm Sandy served as a powerful wake up call for policy makers. Not only are people now starting to think critically about the ramifications of an increase in severe weather, but social scientists like Eric Klinenberg are also looking at how we can "climate-proof our cities" to better cope with these natural disasters. In a recent New Yorker article, he explains that having a better understanding of how people live in a city, and who they are living in a city with, can help us minimize damage... 2013-01-03 13:26:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-the-cold-hard-truth-kevin-olearys-new-book.html Kevin O'Leary is a legend in the business world. And, after you read his new book, The Cold Hard Truth About Men, Women and Money, you might be too. Trying to get a handle on your money can be difficult for anyone, and even O'Leary has made some mistakes on his path to financial success. In his book, the co-judge of CBC's Dragons' Den and ABC's Shark Tank shares a host of commonly made money mistakes. He also lays out strategies to avoid these pitfalls in order to improve your overall financial health.... 2013-01-03 16:20:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-building-human-body-parts-nina-tandon-in-wired.html When Nina Tandon was sitting in an evening physiology class, she made a connection between electrical engineering and the human body which sparked her interest in developing a way to grow tissue and bone. In a Wired profile piece on the TED Fellow and Tissue Engineer, she explains that the body is a truly electrical being. Learning to understand and harness the electrical signals that control the way cells operate, she says, meant that she could one day make cells do what she wanted. In short, the... 2013-01-03 14:53:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-best-of-2012-bill-gates-calls-steven-pinkers-book-a-triumph.html It's one thing to top Bill Gates' list of the best books of 2012 (which Steven Pinker did with The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined). It's quite another to have Gates say that your book is "one of the most important books [he's] read—not just this year, but ever." The computer software mogul gave Pinker's groundbreaking chronicle of human violence a glowing review on his website. He called it an important "contribution, not just to historical scholarship, but to the world,"... 2013-01-02 9:26:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-movie-in-the-works-for-bestselling-author-neil-pasricha.html Neil Pasricha hit it big by writing about the little things that make life great. So big, in fact, that his Book Of Awesome—which has spent more than 125 weeks on the bestseller list—has been optioned to be turned into a feature film. While it's still in the very early stages, it's safe to say that the project will be chock-full of the most positive parts of life. Listed as #3 overall on The Globe and Mail's "Full Year Bestseller List" in 2012—and #1 in non-fiction for 2010 and... 2013-01-02 11:38:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-samuel-arbesman-on-npr-tiny-advances-drive-science.html Science speaker Samuel Arbesman recently appeared on NPR to discuss the most important scientific advancements of 2012. However, while many consider the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle—an important determinant for explaining the masses of particles in the universe—to be at the top of list, Arbesman says it isn't always the biggest or most revolutionary discoveries that change the way we look at the world. "It's not necessarily true that we need to find these singular big discoveries,"... 2013-01-02 10:50:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-in-psychologytoday.html Education speaker Salman Khan has received a lot of press—and an equal amount of praise—for the revolutionary model of learning he employs with his video-based online school The Khan Academy. In a new interview in Psychology Today, Khan explains that his goal is to help students take control of their learning. Instead of learning a skill for the sake of passing a test or advancing to the next grade level, he hopes that the future of education will focus on retaining the knowledge you... 2013-01-02 14:58:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-fora-tv-rates-david-eaglemans-science-keynote-best-of-2012.html 2012 was a good year for David Eagleman, a renowned neuroscientist and internationally bestselling author. His keynote on the perception of time was listed as one of the top ten science speeches of the year by FORA.tv, and his book, Incognito (named as a "Book of the Year" by The Boston Globe) got a ringing endorsement from former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the New York Times. A daring scientist, the Guggenheim Fellow brings complex scientific theories to the masses and makes them both accessible... 2013-01-02 12:29:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-whats-in-store-for-afghan-women-gayle-tzemach-lemmon-cnn.html "Certainly the years since 2001 have been marked by dramatic changes for Afghan women," Gayle Tzemach Lemmon writes in a new opinion piece on CNN. There have been significant gains for women in the war-torn country in the past decade, but Lemmon says that there is concern over how those advances will be protected when NATO forces withdraw from the area in 2014—a deadline that looms in the not-so-distant future. In her New York Times bestseller The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, Lemmon documented... 2013-01-02 14:23:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alexandra-samuel-new-years-resolutions-to-improve-your-digital-life.html It's that time of year again: the time when you make a list of New Year's Resolutions that often involve joining a gym, eating better, or improving your financial health. Alexandra Samuel posted her own list of resolutions that are a little less traditional than most—but just as beneficial. While many of us focus on improving our lives in the "real world" at the start of each new year, our "digital lives" have now become just as important as our offline ones, and Samuel has dedicated her list... 2013-01-02 15:28:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-movie-science-janna-levin-on-bbc.html We all know that we are supposed to suspend our disbelief when we watch movies and television shows. As Janna Levin explains in a video segment on the BBC, this is especially true when it comes to the science shown in film and on TV. Levin was one of several prominent real-life scientists asked to discuss the blatant errors and misconceptions about the scientific community that are portrayed in the media. As Levin explains, whenever there is a problem that a scientist needs to address on the big... 2013-01-02 16:19:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-say-goodbye-to-cheap-oil-jeff-rubin-on-cbc.html "I think what we've got to recognize," economics speaker Jeff Rubin says in an interview on CBC, "is when you change the price of oil you don't just change the speed at which you can drive your car. More fundamentally, you change the speed at which your economy can grow." In the radio segment, Rubin discusses the idea that the rising price of oil will cause economic growth to come to a halt—something that he says isn't necessarily a bad thing. Drawing from material in his book The End Of Growth,... 2012-12-31 10:05:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-daron-acemoglu-how-politics-shapes-economic-prosperity.html "You have to get your politics right in order to prosper economically," Daron Acemoglu explains in a new video interview. Using material from his New York Times bestseller Why Nations Fail (co-authored with James Robinson), he describes the causes of the economic crisis in Europe—and ways that other nations can avoid suffering the same fate. The most important takeaway from his book, he says, is that the economic and political systems in a country have to be inclusive to ensure prosperity.... 2012-12-28 9:34:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-margaret-atwood-on-npr.html The advent of new, digital technologies has certainly changed the publishing world. However, as Margaret Atwood explains in an NPR interview, not all of those changes are a threat to traditional methods of storytelling. In fact, she argues that digital media and the Internet have made it possible to reinvent a traditional publishing platform long forgotten. Her new project, a serial book series called Positron, is being posted section-by-section on new website called Byliner. As she explains, this... 2012-12-28 10:51:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ben-rattray-tedx-manila.html As social change speaker Ben Rattray tells an audience at his recent TEDx talk, it is small, focused, goals that are the most effective in creating widespread improvements. While many people set out with a big goal like tackling global poverty or ending world hunger, Rattray explains that micro-movements and small, manageable aims are more likely to make an impact that sweeping, abstract ones. People try to take on too much, he explains. Instead, he advises that you: “focus on one thing and... 2012-12-28 12:06:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kate-bolick-on-the-history-of-singlehood.html In 2011, Kate Bolick wrote a blockbuster piece called "All The Single Ladies," which landed on the cover of The Atlantic (marking only the third time that a woman has received that honor).Over a year later, the fervor around the article's subject matter has yet to die down. In fact, many other authors are now speaking about the rise of solo living (as Eric Klinenberg does in his book, Going Solo) and the decreasing marriage rate. More people are choosing to live alone, and choosing to delay marriage... 2012-12-28 14:53:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gina-kolata-biological-clues-to-extreme-violence.html In a recent New York Times article, Gina Kolata explores the role that genetics play in the development of violent and otherwise socially unacceptable behaviors. In the wake of the tragic Newton, Connecticut school shootings, people are desperately seeking answers to the culprit's motivations in an effort to help prevent similar incidents in the future. Scientists at a Connecticut university have said that they are planning to examine the genetic makeup of the culprit's brain. "This apparently is... 2012-12-27 12:01:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-human-rights-speaker-angela-davis-incarceration-perpetuates-violence.html This month, human rights speaker Angela Davis shared the stage with renowned linguist Noam Chomsky to discuss the abolition of the prison industrial complex. A gifted public speaker, Davis has dedicated much of her career to the discussion of alternate methods of dealing with violence. At the event (Radical Futures And Prospects For Freedom) Davis explains that, as a society, we have shifted our attention away from the eradication of violence and toward retribution and revenge. Instead of examining... 2012-12-27 10:56:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-embrace-jane-chen-at-wired-2012.html "A mother—no matter how impoverished, no matter how poor, no matter how uneducated—will do anything to save her babies," Jane Chen explains in her powerful keynote speech at the Wired 2012 conference. The two-day event took place in London, England earlier this month and featured some of the top innovators in the world. In the talk, Chen shared the story of how she co-founded the social enterprise Embrace, and the process that lead to the creation of the company's first product: the Embrace... 2012-12-27 13:09:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alone-in-america-eric-klinenberg-on-the-positives-of-solo-living.html As Eric Klinenberg explains in his new keynote, Americans in the 1950's thought anyone living alone—who wanted to live alone—was "sick, neurotic, and immoral". That stigma has largely subsided, as the number of people who choose to delay marriage and long term relationships has risen sharply. 50 per cent of adults today live in single-family households, Klinenberg says. And, as he explains in the keynote and in his new book, Going Solo, this is one of the biggest changes to the demographics... 2012-12-24 9:41:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-chilton-gives-his-better-gift-giving-advice-on-cbc.html Budgeting your spending around the holidays can be a real struggle. David Chilton, a personal finance expert, advises us to spend less—and spend smarter—to help ease some of this season's gift giving stress. And if you have any last minute shopping still to do, the Wealthy Barber author and Dragons' Den host suggests operating on a cash-based budget instead of dipping into credit cards. He says that those who pay in cash physically see the money leaving their wallet and can see that their... 2012-12-24 10:40:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rick-mercer-on-cbc-a-nation-of-ranters.html "I always liked politics as my sport," celebrity speaker Rick Mercer says in a new interview on the CBC. For Mercer, the old adage to never talk about politics at the dinner table was a rule often broken. Getting into heated debates over the hot-topic issues of the day with his family was what sparked his passion for delivering hilarious, yet relatable, rants on his show The Rick Mercer Report. Those rants have now been assembled into a new book called A Nation Worth Ranting About. While he does... 2012-12-24 11:18:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-breaking-ranks-eyal-press-on-why-some-people-rebel.html What happens when your moral stance clashes drastically with the norm? Who are the people that "break ranks" to follow their conscience—and disobey authority in the process? Eyal Press, our newest exclusive speaker, is seeking out answers to these probing questions. In his newest book, Beautiful Souls: The Courage and Conscience of Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times, he profiles people who stood up for their moral convictions in the face of extreme consequences. In the book, he explores... 2012-12-21 9:23:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-my-week-in-hell-how-molly-crabapple-disrupted-the-art-world.html "'Week in hell' was my attempt to break artistic cliches," new exclusive Lavin speaker Molly Crabapple told the audience at the Cusp conference. Called "THE artist of our time" by comedian Margaret Cho, Crabapple is known for breaking boundaries and has turned the art world on its head—something she did, to great success, with her "My Week In Hell" project. As she tells the audience in her talk, there was a time in her life—before she turned 28, to be exact—when she felt like she... 2012-12-21 10:09:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-preparing-for-2030-laurence-c-smith-on-nprs-talk-of-the-nation.html "None of us can predict the future," Laurence C. Smith says in an interview on NPR's Talk of the Nation, "but it's certainly reasonable to project some long-term trends should current activities continue as they are now." That type of projection is exactly what the UCLA Climate Scientist did in his sweeping debut book The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilizations Northern Future. During the radio show, Smith drew on research used in his book to discuss parallels between his projections for... 2012-12-21 11:00:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-john-ibbitson-three-fearless-political-predictions-for-2013.html In a recent video, John Ibbitson—The Globe and Mail's Ottawa Bureau Chief—lays out three fearless predictions for the political year to come:1. The Canadian Government will buy the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.Despite a great deal of controversy surrounding the cost, Ibbitson predicts that, eventually, the government will        decide that the American jet is the best bet to replace the old, worn-out CF-18s.2. Adrian Dix will become a headache for Steven... 2012-12-21 15:56:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-marcelo-suarez-orozco-new-americans-require-new-ways-of-learning.html According to a new report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau, there will be no majority groups in society by the year 2043. Diversity speaker Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, an expert on globalization and immigration, recently spoke to FOX News about the implications of this demographic shift. Currently the Dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, Suarez-Orozco says that U.S. born children of immigrants—the fastest growing demographic in the population—will feel the... 2012-12-21 12:04:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neil-pasricha-holidays-are-awesome.html With everything happening in the world, it can be easy to get overwhelmed and feel a little down sometimes. That's why Neil Pasricha decided to start his blockbuster blog, 1000 Awesome Things. The blog became so popular that it spun into a bestselling book series including: The Book of Awesome, The Book of (Even More) Awesome, and The Book of (Holiday) Awesome. He recently appeared on Canada AM to share his insights on the benefits that focusing on life's little joys can bring to your life. Pasricha... 2012-12-21 15:13:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-living-stone-explores-our-dark-side-in-mans-first-war.html "Human beings are simply ambivalent about harming one another," David Livingstone Smith says in a new documentary, Man's First War. "We have this interesting combination of altruism and cooperation, and violence." In the film, he explains how there are two views on human nature: one, that we are innately bloodthirsty, violent, and prone to outbursts if not restrained by society; and two, that we are innately cooperate and benign creatures that are turned violent by society. Essentially, he explains... 2012-12-20 9:45:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-finance-speaker-david-chilton-be-a-cheap-optimist.html "In the next three, to seven, to ten years we're going to have some challenges," finance speaker David Chilton says in an interview after one of his recent keynotes. The Dragons' Den host spoke at the Farm Forum Event this month, and shared his knowledge on the economy and money management within the agriculture industry. Known for his optimistic outlook, Chilton's opinion is well-respected because of his firm grasp on reality and his ability to deliver concrete solutions to economic problems. He... 2012-12-20 10:48:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-hayley-wickenheiser-an-inspiration.html 2014 may seem pretty far away to most of us, but leadership speaker Hayley Wickenheiser is already preparing to heat up the ice at her fifth winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Known both for her undeniable hockey skill and her ability to motivate others around her, Wickenheiser is seen as a role model both inside and outside the rink. In a recent CTV profile on the decorated Olympian, her coaches and teammates explained what makes her such a natural leader.“Her inspiration to be the best... 2012-12-20 11:34:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-john-ibbitson-new-gallup-poll-shows-money-may-not-buy-happiness.html We may feel a bit stressed trying to get everything done before the holidays, but John Ibbitson says that many of us have a lot to be happy about—and we should slow down and enjoy that good news in time for the festive season. According to a new Gallup poll, 80 per cent of Canadians agree with him, and are content with their lives. The poll, which Ibbitson discusses in a new Globe and Mail column, asked respondents in 148 countries to rate how good of a day they had the day before the poll... 2012-12-20 13:18:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeffrey-simpson-new-doctor-deal-to-fix-medicare.html "Medicare was supposed to be fixed by injections of large sums of new cash," Jeffrey Simpson writes in a new article in The Globe and Mail. But, as he explains in his recent book Chronic Condition, it hasn't—and the country is in desperate need of a new operations model for it to survive. He does say that a new deal which has been reached between the government and Ontario doctors may be a step in the right direction, however. "The money certainly didn’t buy change; indeed, it inhibited... 2012-12-20 14:15:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-sean-gourley-the-mathematics-of-war.html Does knowing your timetables give you insight into the nature of human conflict? Not exactly, but Ted Fellow and big data speaker Sean Gourley—who our newest exclusive speaker—is using data and algorithms to understand the fatality and frequency of attacks during battle. In other words—he is charting the mathematics of war. As he explains in his popular TED Talk, from the outside, the conflicts currently taking place throughout the world seem incomprehensible to us. However,... 2012-12-20 14:53:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-blog-speaker-paul-tough-parents-are-antidote-to-stress.html The world can be a very stressful place, especially for a child. As education speaker Paul Tough explains, children who have strong connections with their parents at a young age learn to deal with stress better than those who don't. "When children are able to form a close, attached, nurturing, bond with a parent or another caregiver," he says in a recent talk, "it acts as a kind of buffer, a kind of protection against even the worst kinds of toxic stress." Tough, author of the breakthrough book How... 2012-12-20 15:42:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cnn-profiles-john-maeda-and-his-popular-ted-talk.html As part of its special "TED Talk Tuesdays" series, CNN recently profiled the innovative design principles practiced by  John Maeda, and provided a breakdown of the popular TED talk he gave this past summer. As he explains in the talk, design is a discipline which is just as worthy of recognition and esteem as math or science. Not only that, but good design can actually help us learn new things and create a better world. As technology becomes a bigger and bigger part of our daily activities,... 2012-12-20 16:13:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-teju-cole-twitter-is-the-real-stream-of-consciousness.html Social media may indeed be more than just an outlet for sharing what you had for lunch, or funny pictures of animals, according to Teju Cole. "Twitter is the real stream of consciousness," he said at the recent Twitter Fiction Festival. He was chosen to host the event thanks to his creative use of the social media site as a new medium for serial storytelling. In his project Small Fates, Cole embraced digital technology in the creative process by cleverly—and skillfully—using the 140 character... 2012-12-19 15:35:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alex-samuels-new-ebook.html "Getting hung up on questions like 'where did I put that?' and 'what should I really do next?' doesn’t just waste time and energy; it can actually keep you from achieving your full potential," Alexandra Samuel writes in her new eBook, Work Smarter with Evernote. Released by the Harvard Business Review Press earlier this week, the short tech guide provides detailed advice on how to use social media tools to be more focused and productive in your personal and professional life. Similar to the... 2012-12-19 12:39:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-general-rick-hillier-steering-your-team-to-success.html Retired General Rick Hillier, the former Canadian Chief of Defence staff, says that anyone has the potential to be a great leader—they just have to put in the work to do so. "You have to work hard, study, and learn from your mistakes," he says in a recent interview, adding that even the greatest natural-born leaders have to perfect their skills over time. Everyone can become a better leader, he explains, and it is important to not only work on new strategies to lead more effectively, but to... 2012-12-19 11:31:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bioethicist-art-caplan-violence-is-a-public-health-issue.html "Make the discussion of violence a public health priority," bioethicist Arthur Caplan suggests in a new blog on NBC News. With everyone scrambling to find a solution to prevent mass acts of violence like the recent school shooting in Newton from happening again, Caplan says that we as a society need to seriously reevaluate how we deal with violence as a nation. There is no quick fix, or one single, magic solution that will ensure that this type of violent outburst never takes place again. However,... 2012-12-19 10:34:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-michael-pinball-clemons-be-brave-enough-to-change-the-world.html “We have the power to effect change,” Michael Pinball Clemons says, “[but] if we don’t have the courage to care, it won’t happen." Clemons recently addressed a forum of community leaders in the wake of the tragic shooting of Kasandra Perkins, 22, by her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher. Clemons said it is vital for men—and all people, but men especially in this instance—to be brave enough to stand up to this type of violence and "put... 2012-12-19 16:33:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-stephen-lewis-an-eloquent-speaker-whose-keynotes-never-disappoint.html Human rights speaker Stephen Lewis has devoted much of his career to fighting the AIDS pandemic internationally. Recently, the former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa gave a keynote speech at the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network’s 20th anniversary gala to a full-house. A representative of the event said Lewis was "eloquent" and that he "did not disappoint."  After leaving the podium, he conducted an interview with CANFAR (Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research), where he shared... 2012-12-19 13:58:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-good-rock-star-jessica-jackley-shares-her-wisdom-in-a-new-class.html Who do you hire when you are looking for the perfect candidate to teach a course on Entrepreneurial Design for Social Change? Well, a "social-good rock star," of course. That's exactly what Drew University thinks of Jessica Jackley; and it's why she—and her husband Reza Aslan, a writer and religion scholar—was chosen as the "perfect role model" for teaching students how to make the world a better place. “The social entrepreneurship world is nothing exclusive or far away," she tells... 2012-12-19 15:48:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-networks-for-social-justice-ben-rattray-on-the-power-of-technology.html Despite attracting over 2 million new users each month, Change.org—the digital petition-signing platform developed by social change speaker Ben Rattray—didn't pick up steam right off the bat. What he describes as the turning point for the organization was when they narrowed their focus and specified their goals. As he explained during his talk at the Atlantic Meets The Pacific conference, Change.org became much more successful when it focused on creating petitions to advocate for small,... 2012-12-19 14:55:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-secretary-of-education-likes-how-children-succeed-by-paul-tough.html As 2012 draws to a close, The Wall Street Journal asked some prominent figures to share their favorite books from the past year. How Children Succeed by education speaker Paul Tough was listed as recommended reading by Mr. Arne Duncan—a recommendation that carries some extra weight given Duncan's role as the Secretary of Education. Duncan said that Tough's book was "extraordinarily thoughtful" and that it had a "profound impact on [him] as both a parent and a policy maker." He says what resonated... 2012-12-18 9:57:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-the-book-of-awesome-by-neil-pasricha-is-a-bestseller.html The Book of Awesome, the feel-good bestseller by Neil Pasricha, is back at #1 this week in The Globe And Mail—even beating out Ellen for the top spot! Since April 2010, the book—which is a compilation of some of life's greatest little pleasures—has been on and off the bestseller list. To date, it has spent over 130 weeks at the top. It is the #1 bestselling non-fiction book in Canada over the past two years and the #1 Canadian book overall from 2010 onwards. All in all, the book... 2012-12-18 10:33:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eric-klinenberg-single-women-arent-voting-republican.html More women in North America are single than ever before—and studies are showing that a majority of them are Democrats. Citing evidence from the work of Eric Klinenberg, author of Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, a recent article by CBS reports that many unmarried women don't back the Republicans. This is especially concerning for the GOP, because the growing number of women who are forgoing marriage until later in life—and sometimes altogether—are... 2012-12-18 11:03:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-jeremy-gutsche-unveils-the-biggest-trends-for-2013.html The people who win in their industries don't settle for knowing what's big now—they predict, and act on, what's going to be big tomorrow. That's exactly what innovation speaker Jeremy Gutsche does with Trendhunter.com and what he tells others to do in his standing-room only keynotes. His popular and authoritative crowd-sourced website compiles a collection of the biggest trends in every industry. Gutsche and his team then use that data to predict wider trends and forecast the next big thing... 2012-12-18 13:55:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-fatima-bhutto-dont-write-to-save-the-world.html "Please, don't write to save the world," Fatima Bhutto urges in a keynote at the One Young World Summit 2012. "Write to break barriers, write to destroy boundaries, write to push for peace, write to spread compassion...but don't write to save the world." When addressing the room full of young "ambassadors," as they refer to themselves, at the summit, Bhutto says that the idea that "one group of people or one set of actions alone can save the world, or can save anything," is both "mistaken" and "dangerous".... 2012-12-18 11:52:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-motivational-speaker-yvonne-camus-evaluate-yourself-when-youre-at-your-best.html Motivational speaker Yvonne Camus says that it's OK to admit that you aren't going to be on your game 100 per cent of the time. She also says that it's important to be able to tell the difference between those times when you are succeeding and the times when you aren't. Why? Because too many of us criticize or analyze our performance when we are doing poorly—and it's much more effective to do so when we are doing well. "The most successful, happy people I meet are people who have the ability... 2012-12-18 12:58:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-candy-chang-before-i-die-spreading-phenomenon.html Candy Chang's Before I Die started in a local New Orleans community—and now it's begun to spread across the country. The project by Chang, a Senior TED Fellow, used public space as a real-life message board where residents were encouraged to share what they wanted to accomplish before their time on Earth was over. Recently, an imitation project—which Chang encourages—popped up at a suburban mall. Chang's projects fuse art, design, and urban planning to bring communities together... 2012-12-18 16:24:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-andelman-2030-the-end-of-the-superpower.html According to a new report issued by the U.S. National Intelligence Council, the Chinese economy is likely to surpass that of the United States in less than two decades. David Andelman, Editor of the World Policy Journal, agrees that 2030 will bring massive changes in both the East and the West. He also says that this change in the global economy will trigger a massive power shift. "I think we're going to find that there is no real superpower anymore [by 2030]," he says in an interview with Huffington... 2012-12-18 16:45:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eagleman-understanding-mental-health-issues-matters.html In the wake of the the tragic shootings that took place last week at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, trusted neuroscientist David Eagleman says that it is important that we, "prioritize our national discussion of mental illness," now more than ever. "I suggest we take this tragedy as a wake-up call about how we want to address mental illness in our society," he writes in a new blog entry. "A deeper understanding can fuel early detection, resources, prevention, rehabilitation, and cures."... 2012-12-17 10:12:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-roger-martin-see-the-bigger-picture.html "I discovered there's a long list of what highly effective leaders do," Roger Martin told the audience in his keynote at the People for Education conference, "and some of them are actually entirely, mutually contradictory." In the talk, he explained how he spent a great deal of time researching the actions of successful business executives only to realize that researching what they do is nowhere near as beneficial as researching how they think. Since people are bound to react in different ways to... 2012-12-17 11:10:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-janna-levin-dont-ignore-other-scientific-disciplines-learn-from-them.html Science and philosophy may seem like two completely different worlds—one working in abstract psychological thought and the other in concrete physical action—but Janna Levin recently joined a team of the top experts in each field to discuss what they each can learn from each other. The three day conference and workshop was called Moving Naturalism Forward and asked whether the natural world is all that exists. Levin chaired a discussion in which a group of scientists and philosophers debated... 2012-12-17 13:01:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-blake-mycoskie-doing-good-doesnt-just-make-dollars-it-makes-sense.html "I feel like I'm living my dream right now," social change speaker and TOMS shoes founder Blake Mycoskie said in a recent speech at The University at Buffalo, "which is a great, great feeling that I feel very blessed to have every day." Mycoskie gave the keynote speech at the UB Distinguished Speakers Series (where Steven Pinker will also speak in the spring) this month and shared the story of how he started his company—and how others can incorporate the power of giving into their own ventures.... 2012-12-17 14:38:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alexandra-samuel-how-totalk-about-tragedy-online.html "Sadly, we are all too practiced in the experience of witnessing horrific, preventable tragedy. But we are newcomers to the experience of processing our grief and horror online," Alexandra Samuel writes in a recent blog post, "so we are in very real danger of exacerbating the trauma and sorrow many of us are feeling, and intensifying the conflicts and enmities that keep us from effecting the policy and cultural changes that could reduce the risk of future tragedy." As Samuel has said many times,... 2012-12-17 15:15:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-top-10-pictures-lavin-agency-ted-fellows-party.html Last week in New York, we threw a big party for the TED Fellows—an extraordinary group of men and women who are doing incredible work in science, design, technology, the arts, and social justice. One Fellow, Nina Tandon, is growing artificial hearts. Another, Mitchell Joachim, is helping conceptualize the city of the future. And those are just two examples, randomly chosen! Multiply that by a few dozen, and you get a good idea of the breadth of the program. Oh, we represent the TED Fellows... 2012-12-17 15:55:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-telling-good-stories-stuart-mclean-on-what-inspires-him-to-keep-writing.html "If I got bored I would stop [writing]," Stuart McLean says in a new interview, "it would be awful to work at something that you hated." For almost twenty years, he has been the voice behind the CBC variety show The Vinyl Cafe; crafting a host of relatable characters that have kept audiences tuned in for years. In the George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight interview, the radio personality explains that he has become very attached to the characters he plays in The Vinyl Cafe. While he could easily... 2012-12-17 16:13:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jared-diamond-new-book-keynote-event.html The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?, the first book from Jared Diamond in more than five years, is due out on December 31. In a joint venture between The Lavin Agency and The New School, the Pulitzer-Prize winning author will unpack the powerful themes explored in his new book in a free keynote event on January 7th. In his talk, Diamond will expand on the theories he provides in The World Until Yesterday; comparing life in modern, industrialized societies with... 2012-12-14 13:06:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ask-ta-nehisi-coates-anything-daily-beast-interview.html Ta-Nehisi Coates has made his mark in the blogging world by promoting the importance of community and collaborative interaction. In fact, it is his lively and relatable writing style that made his Atlantic blog so popular and earned him a place on TIME's list of the 25 Best Blogs in the World. It is no surprise then, that Coates would participate in The Daily Beast's running series: "Ask Me Anything." Readers sent in a myriad of questions ranging from heavy-hitters (Coates' opinion on whether the... 2012-12-14 15:55:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-roger-martin-increase-product-value-to-increase-productivity.html Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and renowned business speaker, recently presented his insights on how Canada can make a bigger splash in the global market. As one of the keynote speakers at the Canadian Business Leadership Forum, Martin provided evidence gathered in his newest book, Canada: What It Is, What It Can Be (co-authored by Jim Milway) to support his opinion that the nation must be more aggressive in their innovation tactics to... 2012-12-14 10:09:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-jeffrey-simpson-medicare-isnt-as-great-as-we-think.html In a new talk, Chronic Condition author and health speaker Jeffrey Simpson provides a compelling mix of statistical reports and patient testimonials to call for a massive overhaul of the current Canadian medicare system. In the speech, Simpson provides the audience with an alarming array of facts on the ineffectiveness of Canada's current system of health care. While it can be easy to overwhelm audiences when presenting numbers and figures, Simpson had the crowd hanging on his every word—with... 2012-12-14 10:52:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-suzuki-protecting-our-planet-improves-the-economy.html “You can’t grow anything forever," David Suzuki says pointedly in a recent keynote at the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation. Drawing from material in his recent book, The Legacy, the environmental advocate focused much of his speech on how we arrived at this tipping point in our relationship with the natural environment—and what we need to do now in order to maintain the planet's limited resources for future generations. We as a society have become obsessed with measuring growth... 2012-12-14 11:49:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tonya-surman-celebrate-entrepreneurs.html Tonya Surman knows a lot about the power of community to jump-start innovation and foster a culture of creativity. The co-founder of the Centre for Social Innovation was chosen to host a Canada-wide event aimed at compiling a strategy to create a more entrepreneurial economy in the country. At her organization, she provides a shared workspace that houses nearly 350 non-profits and social enterprises—allowing them to save on overhead costs as well as collaborate and learn from each other. As... 2012-12-14 13:57:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-nathan-wolfe-in-national-geographic-stop-pandemics-before-they-start.html "I’ve come to think of air as the medium for the next pandemic rather than the means to sustain life," Nathan Wolfe decrees in a new article in National Geographic. "But breathe easy: Most of the microbes in the air do us little or no harm, and some almost certainly do us good. The truth is, we still understand precious little about them." This has become the focus of Wolfe's recent work. Over the past 15 years he has spent his time "poking cotton swabs up human noses, pig snouts, bird beaks,... 2012-12-14 13:00:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-subconscious-mind-science-speaker-david-eaglemans-keynote.html The mind is a very mysterious thing.  Even though we have learned a great deal about how it operates, neuroscientists like David Eagleman are seeking to delve further into the functions of the brain and the potential that it holds. At a new, upcoming keynote, Eagleman will discuss one of the most perplexing areas of the brain: the subconscious mind. Presented by the OHSU Brain Institute, the keynote is a part of the Brain Awareness Series. Eagleman will speak on Monday, March 4—tickets... 2012-12-14 14:54:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-shannon-brownlee-give-patients-a-voice-in-treatment-options.html Health care speaker Shannon Brownlee and a group of her peers at Dartmouth University just released a new report documenting the differences in medical treatment across the United States. The study, released this week, found that health care practices varied dramatically from city to city and state to state, and that the number of elective surgeries being performed were not uniform across the country. According to the report, "patients' chances of having elective surgery for breast cancer, gallbladder... 2012-12-13 9:45:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mashable-big-datas-a-big-deal-luckily-jer-thorp.html "More and more and more, data is becoming a part of our everyday lives," Jer Thorp says in a new interview in Mashable. "We're producing so much data, we're consuming so much data, but we haven't really, I think, as a culture thought about that transition and what it actually means and what some of the implications are." How does the Data Artist in Residence at the New York Times suggest we do that? By making data look good, and finding a way to design and visualize all the data out there. It comes... 2012-12-13 10:44:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mitchell-joachims-one-lab.html "The most important thing is to dream," Mitchell Joachim tells Brooklyn-based designer Vito Acconci in a discussion at the Design Miami conference. While that advice may seem a bit cliché, he says that it is important to keep the creative spark alive throughout the entire design process. This can become especially hard when you move from the concept to construction phase, aso real world constraints can take the romanticism away from design. Joachim says it's important to try to maintain that... 2012-12-13 11:57:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sam-arbesman-the-atlantic-changing-facts-bring-us-the-truth.html "The path of science is one of getting ever closer to the truth," Samuel Arbesman tells The Atlantic. "So in general, as knowledge changes, and even becomes overturned, we are approaching a better understanding of the world around us." The Half-Life Of Facts author was recently interviewed by the publication, and shared some of the theories proposed in his new book, and why he thinks that his new model of looking at scientific discovery is a truly positive thing. Arbesman's work in scientometrics... 2012-12-13 11:16:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alex-steffen-in-carbon-zero-please-dont-just-read-reimagine.html "I hope you will take my sketch, use what makes sense to you, discard what doesn’t, and begin your own drawings of what the future’s possibilities can be," Alex Steffen writes in his new book, Carbon Zero. "They are bound to be better than mine, and the world needs every well-grounded, well-crafted vision it can get. Please, don’t just read: reimagine." This is what Steffen wants you to get from his new e-book Carbon Zero: that the world is warming, we've started to make changes,... 2012-12-13 14:23:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-hakeem-oluseyi-in-new-scientist-put-people-first-democratize-science.html Hakeem Oluseyi is an astrophysicist with a focus on people. As he tells New Scientist in a recent interview, science needs to become a more democratic discipline where people are at the forefront of the research and there are no limits to who can learn from new discoveries. Doing "good science" can change lives, he explains. He knows this, because that was exactly what science did for him. Oluseyi grew up in a tough neighborhood—several tough neighborhoods, to be precise. Neither of his parents... 2012-12-13 13:29:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gayle-tzemach-lemmon-wil-lamerica-go-over-the-fiscal-cliff.html What does Gayle Tzemach Lemmon think it will take to get the American government to reach a decision on how to handle the fiscal cliff debacle? In a blog post on Reuters, she says congress will most likely go over the cliff before they pull back and decide on how to handle the ramifications. "In a Washington where lawmakers rarely move unless an impending locomotive is about to run them over," she writes, "it is hard to see how the mere possibility of a crisis can lead to action." This fiscal cliff... 2012-12-13 15:13:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-raising-cubby-john-elder-robisons-new-book.html John Elder Robison, author of the bestselling memoir Look Me In the Eye, will be adding another book to his impressive bibliography early next year. In March, the new book Raising Cubby: A Father and Son's Adventures with Asperger's, Trains, Tractors, and High Explosives will hit bookshelves. Growing up with Asberger's Syndrome during a time when no one knew what to make of it, Robison may have seemed a bit unusual—but still succeeded in living an incredible life. Today, he is an author, adjunct... 2012-12-13 16:14:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-nature-vs-nurture-paul-tough-on-the-early-determinants-of-character.html Paul Tough's interdisciplinary approach to education and childhood development argues for the importance of character as a determinant for success. In a recent interview with L.A. Times columnist Patt Morrison, the author of How Children Succeed explains not just why character building matters—but how we can determine early on whether those traits are developing. He helps lay the groundwork for how we can then overcome the obstacles that prevent children from acquiring these vital character... 2012-12-12 9:45:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alex-samuel-improve-your-productivity.html While quickly passing information to and from employees and clients is vital to a organization's success, Alex Samuel argues that many companies are not doing so effectively. In a new article in the Harvard Business Review, the social media expert at Vancouver-based research and technology solutions company Vision Critical provides six tips for using social media tools to save time and energy on daily tasks and increase productivity:1) Get Over The Inbox: Since email provides the ability for constant... 2012-12-12 10:36:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-the-kauffman-sketchbook-draws-on-samuel-arbesmans-half-life-of-facts.html If you liked Samuel Arbesman's breakthrough new book The Half-Life Of Facts, or if you've been meaning to read it, a new digital illustrated short from the Kauffman Institute really brings the content to life. Part of the Kauffman Sketchbook series, the video provides an animated synopsis of the revolutionary research that Arbesman conducted about the way knowledge evolves and changes over time. As Arbesman, Senior Scholar at the Kauffman Foundation, says in the short video: "science is constantly... 2012-12-12 11:35:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-be-an-entrepreneur-ask-kevin-oleary.html Do you think you've got what it takes to make it as the next big entrepreneur? Before you go to visit Kevin O'Leary in the Dragons' Den or the Shark Tank to present your business plan, you may want to consider taking the quiz on the business mogul's website first. The ten-question quiz asks basic questions about the way you would run a business and respond to challenges involving fluctuating markets and employee concerns. It also asks you to evaluate the way you operate in a non-ownership role and... 2012-12-12 15:10:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-adam-alter-why-do-we-ignore-the-lingering-threat-of-global-warming.html "Ninety-eight percent of experts agree that the globe is warming, that humans are contributing to the effect, and that our failure to act now will contribute to death, disease, injury, heat waves, fires, storms, and floods," Adam Alter writes in the Huffington Post. "Despite these dire forecasts, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney—both of whom believe in human-driven climate change—conspicuously omitted global warming from this year's menu of election issues." He adds: "If global warming were... 2012-12-12 13:04:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-evacuate-earth-hakeem-olusey-national-geographics-new-show.html If we suddenly had to evacuate the entire planet in order to ensure the survival of the human race—would we be capable of doing it? This a question that TED Fellow Hakeem Oluseyi seeks to answer in National Geographic's new special, Evacuate Earth (video above). The physicist, along with several of his peers, discusses the very real possibility that one day, we may be faced with the need to make a plan to find another home for the human race. He doesn't suggest that this is going to happen... 2012-12-12 14:04:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dont-miss-out-rahaf-harfous-on-embracing-opportunity.html Rahaf Harfoush, co-founder of the innovative consulting firm Red Thread Inc, recently presented a workshop at the Undergraduate Awards where she provided post-secondary students with the opportunity to discover what they really want to accomplish in life. The foresight and innovation strategist conducted an exercise that she calls "presencing" with the students. In the exercise, students are asked a series of 20 questions in fairly rapid succession with little time in-between to help identify opportunities... 2012-12-12 15:35:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-human-rights-speaker-stephen-lewis-turning-the-tides-of-aids.html Stephen Lewis, one of the world's most influential speakers on human rights, recently gave a rousing keynote speech at the Hope Rising! 2012 fundraiser. Lewis explained that despite the fact that women in Africa make up a staggering proportion of the individuals who are HIV-Positive, they are the least responded-to group on the planet. Although he says it is important to attend to the high-risk groups first, he argues that women are only pushed to the front-of-the-line to get treatment when they... 2012-12-12 16:12:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-the-do-it-yourself-life-molly-crabapples-creative-approach-to-the-world.html Molly Crabapple—a new Lavin exclusive speaker—is an artist whose work has appeared on CNN, in Vice magazine (for whom she covered the Spanish General Strike), and in the collections of esteemed museums worldwide. The New York Times calls her a “downtown phenomenon,” and she was one of the main artistic voices at Occupy Wall Street. (She even famously wrote about her arrest for CNN). Crabapple learned how to draw in a Parisian bookstore, and at age 22, she founded Dr. Sketchy’s... 2012-12-11 9:22:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-end-of-life-care-bioethicist-arthur-caplan.html Currently, there is a case before the Supreme Court of Canada that has the potential to redefine the guidelines for end-of-life care in the country. Arthur Caplan, director of medical ethics at the NYU Langone Medical Cente, is one of the most prolific and requested commentators on bioethical issues. In this case, there is disagreement between the wife of patient Hassan Rasouli (who was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state) and the doctors providing his care about whether to keep him... 2012-12-11 10:24:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-roy-baumeister-recipient-of-the-aps-2013-lifetime-achievement-award.html Roy Baumeister, the Francis Eppes Professor of Psychology at Florida State University, has been awarded a 2013 lifetime achievement award from the Association for Psychological Science. The 2013 William James Fellow Award, which was awarded to Baumeister for his prolific contributions to the field of psychology, is the highest honor given by the association. Author of the book Willpower (one of his 30 books), and a prominent and highly requested speaker on personal motivation, Baumeister's work has... 2012-12-11 11:20:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-bill-strickland-people-are-assets-not-liabilities.html "People matter," says leadership speaker Bill Strickland in a recent keynote. "People are assets, not liabilities...[and] it is all in the way that you treat people that drives performance and drives behavior." In the speech, Strickland explained that improving productivity begins with improving working environments. "Environment drives behavior," he says, "beautiful environments create beautiful people, beautiful environments create productivity [and] by creating nurturing environments—you... 2012-12-11 13:30:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-hakeem-oluseyi-from-gangsta-nerd-to-ted-fellow.html In a new TED blog entry, Hakeem Oluseyi—astrophysicist, educator, humanitarian, inventor, and TED Fellow—talks about how he moved from fighting to get by in the inner-city ghetto to sharing his groundbreaking discoveries with the inner circle of the world's top scientists. He explains how he grew up in a tough neighborhood that required him to be equally as tough if he wanted to survive. Despite all of the violence and turmoil surrounding him, he still made time for his favorite hobby:... 2012-12-11 12:07:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-making-it-in-america-james-fallows-charles-fishman-on-the-insourcing-trend.html James Fallows and Charles Fishman both recently posed the theory that insourcing is poised to be the next big trend in the manufacturing sector. And, according to kottke.org, they're right on point. The popular online content aggregator recently published a post exploring the rising popularity of the "Made In The USA" movement in the major media. Both Fishman and Fallows have recently written articles for The Atlantic exploring the shift back to making products in America rather than outsourcing... 2012-12-11 14:20:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cnns-next-big-thing-neri-oxmans-world-as-organism-design-model.html "I don't want to design a building as I have learned," Neri Oxman tells CNN, "I want to question what it means to design a building." By envisioning a future where we can literally print a building, the award-winning designer is doing just that: disrupting traditional models of creation and innovating for the future. Recently featured on CNN's "The Next List", Oxman explains how her design paradigm takes a "World-as-Organism" approach where the design process, and the products that come out of it,... 2012-12-11 15:38:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-chilton-live-modestly-and-live-happier.html "Spending's fun, spending is instant gratification," David Chilton says, "[but] people who live within their means are happier, they truly are." In a new video interview, the author of The Wealthy Barber series explains that studies have shown that people who live more modestly live less stressful and more rewarding lives. He says that he practices what he preaches and he enjoys living a frugal and modest lifestyle. Despite his financial success, the author and newest judge on CBC's hit investment... 2012-12-10 9:53:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-paul-tough-moderate-amounts-of-adversitys-good-for-kids.html "I think what we have in our culture," education speaker Paul Tough says in a new keynote, "is an adversity gap." Some children face too much adversity in their life, while other children don't face as many challenges—if any at all. What he says in the speech is that neither option is beneficial to the successful development of a child. "In trying to protect our kids from adversity," he explains, "we are sometimes doing more harm than good." Even though he says that he wants to shield his children... 2012-12-10 11:20:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kenji-yoshino-the-perry-case-prop-8-is-a-sleeper-winner.html Next year, the Supreme Court will hear two cases involving same-sex marriage. Human rights speaker Kenji Yoshino (who is also the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at the NYU School of Law) recently appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show to discuss the possible implications of the court hearing the cases challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), as well as California’s Prop 8. Nine states in America have recently voted to recognize same-sex marriage—crystallizing... 2012-12-10 12:45:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-profile-of-a-changing-nation-laurence-c-smith-in-discover.html In a new article in Discover, Laurence C. Smith, 
author of The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping 
Civilization’s Northern Future, shared his insights on how the world has changed over the past 50 years—and what changes still lie ahead. The article focused on five of the biggest trends that are having a dramatic impact on the world today. Smith, a well-known climate specialist, was cited in the article's profile on Canada on how the melting ice in the Arctic has dramatically changed... 2012-12-10 12:07:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jessica-jackley-helping-people-achieve-superhero-potential-with-kiva.html "Every woman in this room is powerful and every man in this room is powerful too," Jessica Jackley says in a keynote at the One Young World Summit 2012, "[and] we have to be careful because sometimes that power goes unused." This is especially true, she says, if you don't believe in yourself and don't believe in the potential of others. As the co-founder of the micro-loaning website KIVA explains, you can have the best ideas and tools at your disposal—but none of that matters in you don't... 2012-12-10 14:44:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-charles-montgomery-cities-as-engines-of-happiness.html Recently Lavin staffers had the opportunity to have a chat with our new urban experimentalist speaker Charles Montgomery. His forthcoming book, Happy City, gathers unconventional wisdom from a medley of global cities which have decided to make their citizens' happiness a priority. With examples as diverse as Bogota, Columbia and Vancouver, Canada, Montgomery explains that the concept of a "Happy City" isn't a place, but a method. By choosing to view the city as a creative space full of potential,... 2012-12-10 15:52:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-charles-wheelan-the-centrist-manifesto.html As best-selling author and public policy expert Charles Wheelan writes in his new book, The Centrist Manifesto, the time has come for a pragmatic Centrist party to identify and embrace the best ideas from both the left and the right to solve the most pressing issues in the United States. As he explains, a Centrist party could hold the power to not only deny a red or blue majority, but would also give power to the nation's most rational voting bloc: the center. In the book—which is forthcoming... 2012-12-10 15:55:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ben-rattray-is-the-keynote-speaker-at-the-social-enterprise-conference.html Ben Rattray has been selected to give the keynote address at the Social Enterprise Conference this February. And with the success that Change.org has seen in the five years since its inception—he's a perfect fit to share his insights with the social entrepreneurs of the future. A joint venture between the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, the event is focused on exploring the intersection between business and social impact. Change.org, which recently earned... 2012-12-10 16:33:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-amber-macs-7-steps-to-perfect-your-digital-brand.html New media speaker Amber Mac's success is a testament to the important role that having a strong personal brand can play in developing your career. As one of the most prominent—and most respected—social media and web professionals today, MacArthur is an expert in navigating the online landscape. She not only knows what is popular now, but also forecasts upcoming trends to help companies innovate, adapt, and excel in their industries by using new media to its full potential. The key to... 2012-12-07 10:30:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-jeffrey-simpson-a-new-future-for-pharmaceuticals.html Health speaker Jeffrey Simpson has a lot to say about the state of the nation's health care—and his provocative and eye-opening ideas for how to improve the system are causing quite a stir. In his new book, Chronic Condition, he provides new research that exposes the shortcomings in the Canadian health care system, and argues that we need to make drastic reforms if we hope to secure a successful system in the future. The topics in his book have sparked a national discussion, and he was recently... 2012-12-07 9:56:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-before-i-die-candy-changs-project-recreated-denver.html What do you want to do before you die? It's a question that TED Fellow Candy Chang has brilliantly brought to life in her interactive "Before I Die" installation. The project was so popular, in fact, that people across the nation have been recreating it—most recently, in Denver, Colorado. The team who brought the installation to Colorado even filmed the process to document how the project brings community members together in a unique and deeply personal way. Making communities more comfortable... 2012-12-07 13:33:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-i-dabble-in-modernity-margaret-atwood-on-staying-ahead-of-the-curve.html In a new interview on CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, the always candid Margaret Atwood shares her thoughts on everything from post-modernism, zombies, and the problem with the literature taught in schools today. With over 40 years of experience in the literary world, Atwood shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, and is always thinking ahead to produce innovative new work. "I dabble in modernity," she says. Perhaps it is that dabbling that gives her an edge—and inspires her to... 2012-12-07 11:12:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-small-changes-can-make-a-profound-difference-ninive-calegari-in-good.html What do pirates, superheros and time travel have to do with learning? Education speaker Ninive Calegari and partner Dave Eggers have made products that cater to those with an interest in the imagination as a way to fund their after-school writing program, 826 National. For every jar of mermaid bait and photon shooter purchased, the hands-on writing program gets a bit more funding to help students hone their writing skills and, eventually, publish their own books. The stores also sell the books created... 2012-12-07 14:07:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-salman-rushdies-presentation-a-high-point-in-canadian-public-life-hazlitt.html When Salman Rushdie made a surprise appearance at the Winter Garden Theatre stage in Toronto twenty years ago, it was a "high point in Canadian public life." At the time, the critically acclaimed author was living in hiding, forced underground because of an infamous fatwa that was issued in response to his book, The Satanic Verses. As reported in the latest edition of Hazlitt, Rushdie's appearance was historic not so much for the "opportunity for the embattled author of The Satanic Verses to enjoy... 2012-12-07 14:45:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-an-american-in-china-james-fallows-speaks-at-mit.html Fresh off the publication of a new Atlantic article on the return of manufacturing to America from China, James Fallows traveled to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology to present a talk on the rapid changes taking place in China. An expert on both the events occurring in the country, and the relationship that North America has with the Asian giant, Fallows has been living and writing in the country until recently. He spoke to students at MIT's Center For International Studies about... 2012-12-07 16:25:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environmentalism-through-the-lens-camille-seaman.html "At the age of 32, this little switch came on inside me and I knew I wanted to be a photographer," Camille Seaman says in an interview on the TED blog. "That was what I was going to use to make a statement about life on this Earth and the importance of appreciating what we have here. With that intention, a lot of opportunities opened themselves to me." Today, her work has been featured in major news outlets such as National Geographic, TIME and The New York Times, but in the early days of her career,... 2012-12-07 15:19:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jian-ghomeshi-our-culture-of-acceleration.html "What is the nature of friendship and relationships now," Q radio host Jian Ghomeshi asks in a new keynote, "if they are based on pressing a button on Facebook and getting to know each other through 140 characters on Twitter?" In the speech, he uses themes from his new book, 1982, to show just how different our relationships with media and pop culture—and with each other—have become since the advent of digital communication. "Young people have a different conception—or less of an... 2012-12-06 9:59:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-siddhartha-deb-the-power-of-participatory-journalism.html Siddhartha Deb, author of the The Beautiful and the Damned: Life in the New India, recently traveled to Pakistan to speak at a literary festival, and spoke about some of the themes contained in his critically acclaimed book. The host describes Deb as a "writer's writer,"—a serious author whose unique literary form exposes readers to new worlds and new people. The book, which was shortlisted for The Orwell Prize, delves into the effects of globalization on a rapidly-modernizing world. As Deb... 2012-12-06 11:00:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-designing-for-the-new-normal-anab-jain-at-the-global-design-forum.html Anab Jain, TED Fellow and Founder & Director of Superflux, recently spoke at the Global Design Forum.  She shared her views on how she sees the design industry changing, and spoke about the impact that the digital revolution has had on the world of design. She focused her presentation on a specific part of her work: something that Jain calls "designing for the new normal." In a blog entry on her site, Jain explains how she decided to cover the ambitious topic to explain "[her] perspective... 2012-12-06 12:03:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-making-history-how-documentary-filmmaker-ken-burns-got-his-big-break.html Before Ken Burns earned his place as one of America's greatest filmmakers—before the Central Park Five and The Dust Bowl; before Baseball, Jazz and The Civil War; and certainly before the advent of what is now commonly known as the Ken Burns effect—he was a young man trying to bring history to life in a way that had never been done before.In a candid new interview on Mediabistro TV, the prominent documentary filmmaker describes the events that inspired him to get into the industry and... 2012-12-06 14:54:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-colum-mccann-make-travel-and-adventure-seeking-a-priority-in-life.html What does Colum McCann—the bestselling author of Let the Great World Spin, Zoli and Dancer—see as one of the most important tools that a writer can possess? Having a plethora of personal adventures under their belt, he says. As he tells an audience in a recent lecture, observing as much about life on Earth as possible will help you to be more creative and make you a better writer. He advises that you shouldn't be too quick to jump into a career that restricts you from traveling... 2012-12-06 13:09:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-life-at-the-iphone-factory-james-fallows-goes-behind-the-scenes-at-foxconn.html If you've ever wondered what life is like in the factory complex where iPhones are manufactured, then the new Atlantic article by James Fallows will certainly pique your interest. Fallows, who has lived in and reported from China until recently, took an investigative look into the inner workings of the controversial Foxconn factory. In an extended version of a previously released article, Fallows delves deep into both the conditions of the factory complex and the lives that the employees lead. As... 2012-12-06 14:23:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neri-oxman-community-and-collaboration-turns-information-into-knowledge.html "Communication with people was the way to generate knowledge," says Neri Oxman in a recent interview. "We are all exposed to certain information in the environment, but coming together and expressing that information is what turns that information into knowledge." At a recent speech at the Conneticut Forum, Oxman did just that—providing her insights on science, innovation and new models of design, as well as sharing her revolutionary work with the audience. Recently featured as the cover... 2012-12-06 15:46:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-made-in-america-charles-fishman-discusses-the-insourcing-boom-on-cnbc.html Fresh off the success of his highly touted Atlantic cover story, Charles Fishman was recently interviewed by CNBC on the return of industry to America. In the interview, he explains how General Electric—the major appliance company—has begun to see the benefits of bringing manufacturing back to U.S. soil because outsouring their labor isn't saving them the money they thought it would. The company's decision to move much of its appliance manufacturing operations out of China is starting... 2012-12-06 16:28:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tzeporah-berman-we-can-fix-the-oil-sands-globe-and-mail.html In the past year, several hundred million dollars worth of advertising has been broadcast in Canada to assure us that the oil sands have been "fixed." According to Tzeporah Berman, however, these ads have been all sleight of hand. "We all want to believe it’s possible to just 'fix it,'" she writes in The Globe and Mail. "Unfortunately, slick ads claiming a cure for the environment offer nothing but a false sense of security for Canadians. In reality, little has changed on the ground." In her... 2012-12-05 9:30:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jane-chen-bringing-a-good-idea-to-fruition.html In a moving Google Talk, Jane Chen asks the audience to close their eyes and imagine what they could fit into their two hands. Perhaps an apple or a set of keys, she suggests. Then she asks them to open their eyes and to imagine being able to fit a human life into their two hands—and informs them that millions of babies are born that small every year. Her company, Embrace, is trying to help those premature babies survive. And she's doing it at 1% of the cost of traditional methods. What started... 2012-12-05 11:22:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-ben-rattay-ordinary-people-can-do-extraordinary-things.html Social change speaker Ben Rattray—who was just named one of TIME's most influential people of the year—says that no matter who you are, you have the power to make a difference. "Everyday people can do extraordinary things," he said in a recent video interview. "We didn't think a 22-year-old nanny without a full time job could actually help to change the policy of one of the biggest companies in the country. But this happens all the time." The woman he is referring to was responsible for... 2012-12-05 10:20:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-john-maeda-in-wired-video-games-belong-in-the-museum-of-modern-art.html Do the video games Pac-Man, Tetris, SimCity, and Myst belong in the Museum of Modern Art? Some critics say no.  John Maeda, President of Rhode Island School of Design however, says yes. While you can make the argument about whether or not these games are actually art or not, the MoMA acquired these games as "outstanding examples of interaction design.” And as Maeda explains in a new Wired article—there's no question that videogames certainly fit that description. "Videogames... 2012-12-05 15:39:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-janna-levin-infinite-universe.html "Albert Einstein famously said, only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity," cosmologist, author, and science speaker Janna Levin says in a new talk on The Moth, "and then he added: and I'm not so sure about the universe." As one of her biggest inspirations, Levin agrees with Einstein's theory. Well, in terms of the possibility that the universe may indeed not be as infinite as once believed, anyway. "I was fixated on the implications that you could leave the Earth, and travel... 2012-12-05 12:10:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ray-boisvert-new-era-new-risks-and-how-to-manage-them.html The Lavin Agency would like to welcome Ray Boisvert as our new exclusive speaker. For years, as the former Assistant Director at the Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS), Boisvert studied the many critical threats to our nation to improve safety measures and risk management. He assessed worldwide foreign, cyber, espionage and terrorism threats for clues on how to better ensure the security and well-being of individuals in—or connected to—complex operating environments such as... 2012-12-05 15:32:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-poverty-vs-plenty-gayle-tzemach-lemmon-at-tedx-women-2012.html "Some say this is a lousy time to be a woman," Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says in a new TEDx Talk. "On the other hand, some people say it is the best of times to be a woman." So who's right? According to Lemmon, they both are. At the TEDxWomen 2012 event, Lemmon explained that there is a growing gap between the positive advances being made by women who are succeeding in life, and those in disadvantaged areas who are struggling to get by. The difference between these two groups of people, she explains,... 2012-12-05 13:32:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-douglas-merrill-why-big-data-is-better-than-traditional-math.html Traditional models used in assessing conditions for loans just don't work, innovation speaker Douglas Merrill argues. Not only do they not work, he says, but the rates that people without access to credit are charged to take out payday loans simply aren't fair. In an article in American Banker, Merrill explains how the underwriting software he uses with his company ZestFinance (formerly ZestCash) fills in the gaps that his competitors have missed to give people a fair assessment and a reasonably... 2012-12-05 14:30:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-why-good-ideas-take-so-long-to-take-hold-sam-arbesman.html Facts are changing all the time, says Samuel Arbesman. But just because we know that things change doesn't mean that we accept these changes right away. In fact, as he explains in a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, new ideas don't trickle into popular belief for quite some time. Why? "The short answer is we're intellectually stubborn," says Arbesman. Even things that seem obvious to us now were at one point highly-contested and went through a long and messy process before they... 2012-12-04 9:27:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jer-thorp-big-data-isnt-the-new-big-oil.html Although many marketers believe big data may be the next big oil (read: enormous profits), Jer Thorp argues that "finding value from data is much more a process of cultivation than it is one of extraction or refinement." As he writes in the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times' Data Artist doesn't believe that data and oil, despite both being valuable resources, exist in the same vein. However, he does say that perhaps the comparison between the two is beneficial in what it can teach us about... 2012-12-04 10:28:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cains-quiet-is-the-goodreads-2012-nonfiction-book-of-the-year.html The people have spoken—and they voted Susan Cain's Quiet as the Best Non-Fiction Book of 2012 in the Goodreads Choice Awards. The introvert expert has had a whirlwind year. Her TED Talk amassed millions of views (and earned a recommendation from Bill Gates) and Quiet has become a New York Times bestseller and received numerous awards. "This extraordinary book has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how introverts see themselves," Goodreads says of the... 2012-12-04 11:30:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jack-bensimon-consumer-confidence-on-the-rise-for-holidays.html Retailers can rest easy—this holiday shopping season should be a prosperous one. According to the latest Consumerology report from Jack Bensimon's company Bensimon Byrne (conducted with The Gandalf Group), Canadians' confidence in both the economy and their own personal finances is on the rise. Released last week, the report showed that 59% of respondents felt that the country was in a period of strong economic growth—the highest consumer confidence has been since 2011. “These new... 2012-12-04 14:59:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jobs-are-coming-back-to-america-charles-fishmans-atlantic-cover-story.html In a sweeping Atlantic cover story, Charles Fishman says that General Electric's return to insourcing may be indicative of a more widespread trend to bring manufacturing back onto U.S. soil. In what the magazine calls "an exploration of the startling, sustainable, just-getting-started return of industry to the United States," Fishman gives us a history of the appliance manufacturer's decision to first move the bulk of its manufacturing overseas, and now to bring it back. "Something curious and hopeful... 2012-12-04 13:28:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gayle-tzemach-lemmon-allowing-women-in-combat.html In a new article in The Daily Beast, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon reports on the current lawsuit between the Pentagon and the American Civil Liberties Union. The battle is between four military veterans who are suing for the right to be formally recognized for their accomplishments in military service, and to allow others like them the right to formally be enlisted into combat missions. These four veterans are women. Despite the fact that females have been deployed in both Afghanistan and Iraq for the past... 2012-12-04 15:47:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-daron-acemoglu-james-robinson-foreign-policy-global-thinkers.html Foreign Policy has just released their list of 2012's Top 100 Global Thinkers—and four of our speakers have made the list! Salman Rushdie, Jonathan Haidt, and Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson have landed in this year's group. Acemoglu and Robinson's selection is due to their monumental co-authored Why Nations Fail—the bestselling economics book that has created monstrous buzz in academic circles and the popular consciousness alike. The book explores why some countries are prosperous,... 2012-12-04 15:48:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-reza-aslans-middle-east-class-is-exhilarating.html Reza Aslan's Religion and Politics in the Middle East class is "exciting and, admittedly, a bit exhilarating," says a student at New York's Drew University.  As he writes in a glowing review in the school's newspaper, the experience of being taught by the bestselling author fulfilled much more than just a degree requirement. One of the books on the syllabus was Aslan's No God But God, in which the internationally acclaimed scholar of religions describes the history of the Islamic faith.... 2012-12-03 11:45:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-is-your-country-disaster-proof-erwann-michel-kerjan-in-nature.html In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, catastrophe risk management expert Erwann Michel-Kerjan argues that for a country to be truly resilient to extreme events, they "need to develop national risk-management strategies." In a recent article in Nature, he explains that although we have come a long way in using science to improve decision-making during catastrophic events, there is still more to be done and risk reduction needs to be made a priority. "Sandy was not an outlier," he warns. "It could even... 2012-12-03 14:09:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dove-women-who-should-be-famous-ted-fellow-nina-tandon.html "Not only does Nina Tandon grow living hearts, she makes it sound easy." That's what Katie Couric and Dove, partners in the Women Who Should Be Famous Initiative, wrote about the TED Fellow and Tissue Engineer; and it is one of the reasons they nominated her to be featured in the campaign. It is also her relentless pursuit of scientific discovery and her dedication to showing others that women can be successful in the sciences that earned Tandon the designation. The campaign features a list... 2012-12-03 12:17:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-isabel-allende-day-honors-internationally-acclaimed-speaker-author.html On November 27, San Jose State University hosted Isabel Allende Day—an event commemorating four-decades worth of accomplishments from one of the most celebrated writers of our time. The event began with a tour of several sketches completed by students at the university, which were inspired by her first novel for young adults, City of Beasts. Next came a stage adaptation of Allende's short story, Tosca. Allende also took to the stage and shared stories of both her inspiration and her hardship,... 2012-12-03 11:25:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-jake-harriman-nuru-international-opportunity-not-handouts.html Social change speaker Jake Harriman started Nuru International with the goal of "ending extreme poverty in our lifetimes." While that objective is certainly a tall order, he believes that the organization's unique working model will help to accomplish it by teaching those in need to sustain themselves—rather than spending a lifetime relying on assistance from others. "We don't give handouts," Harriman explains in a recent video. "Instead, we equip people with the tools and the knowledge that... 2012-12-03 10:43:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-the-guardian-three-lavin-speakers-three-best-psychology-books-of-2012.html There's no doubt that the research presented in Quiet, the bestselling book on introversion by Lavin speaker Susan Cain, has extremely versatile and wide-ranging implications applicable to a number of disciplines.  The book, and its author, has garnered a great deal of well-deserved recognition as of late, and was just honored as one of The Guardian's picks for the best psychology books of 2012. While the material lends itself well to the realm of psychology and other fields specializing... 2012-12-03 10:01:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dan-lyons-being-an-entrepreneur-isnt-for-everyone.html "Not everyone should be an entrepreneur," Dan Lyons boldly argues in a new post at ReadWrite. Perhaps that's why he wasn't shocked by the fact that many new startups are in grave danger of failing in the near future. A large group of angel investor-funded startup companies are facing their ends because, simply put, their ideas just weren't going to become the "next big thing" and no venture capitalists wanted to back them, he explains. Despite many people being surprised by this, Lyons believes we... 2012-12-03 13:01:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonathan-haidt-foreign-policy-top-100.html Foreign Policy has just released their list of 2012's Top 100 Global Thinkers—and four of our speakers have made the list! Salman Rushdie, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, and Jonathan Haidt, have landed in this year's group. For Jonathan Haidt, the honour tops off quite the year for the moral psychologist. His book, The Righteous Mind, was a breath of objective fresh air in a year dominated by a divisive election and bitter partisan politics. The book explores the moral motivations behind... 2012-12-03 9:57:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-start-saving-early-live-within-your-means-david-chilton.html "Beyond pay yourself first, I still say 'start young' is the most important personal finance advice, by far," says Dragons' Den host David Chilton. "It's getting young kids to save, whether they're in their 20s or 30s." The personal finance expert and author of the smash-hit books The Wealthy Barber and The Wealthy Barber Returns shared his basic building blocks of good financial health in a recent interview. His personal success story has made him well-respected in the realm of financial planning,... 2012-11-30 10:15:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-andrew-coyne-forget-the-one-per-cent.html "Surely if there is a problem that merits our concern, it is not that we have too many rich people, but too many poor," Andrew Coyne proposes in a recent column. "For much of the past two years, much of the media has been obsessed with a tiny number of very rich people—'the one per cent.'" The 'Occupy' movements have helped bring public attention to concerns over wealth distribution in much of the developed world. However, Coyne argues that perhaps we have been shifting our attention to... 2012-11-30 11:24:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-foreign-policy-100-global-thinkers-salman-rushdie.html Foreign Policy has just released their list of 2012's Top 100 Global Thinkers—and four of our speakers have made the list! Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, Jonathan Haidt, and Salman Rushdie have landed in this year's group. It's no surprise Rushdie was selected. One of the most influential authors in the world, Rushdie's memoir, Joseph Anton, was released this year to wide critical acclaim. Here's Foreign Policy on Rushdie: More than two decades before U.S. embassies throughout the Middle... 2012-11-30 13:05:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-adria-vasil-when-good-chemicals-go-bad.html Adria Vasil, a prominent speaker on health and environmental issues, passionately argues for the need to pay closer attention to the potentially life-threatening chemicals lurking in our everyday household products. In her popular Ecoholic book series, she explains that making a conscious effort to buy "green" products not only helps our planet's health—but our own as well. Eliminating products that contain a dangerous level of toxic chemicals seems like a common sense approach to healthier... 2012-11-30 11:47:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-chuck-klosterman-real-deal-sports-speaker.html While pop-culture satire is perhaps what Chuck Klosterman is most well-known for, he is certainly no one-trick pony. He has proven successful in his ability to both write fiction and non-fiction, covering a wide array of topics from music and society to sports and morality. Most recently, he has even expanded into the realm of advice giving, so-to-speak, with his new-found role as the Ethicist at The New York Times Magazine. "Here’s the thing, though," Dan Kozikowski writes about Klosterman... 2012-11-30 13:15:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-twitter-fiction-festival-teju-coles-small-fates-inspires-new-narrative.html Recently named as one of New York's 100 Most Important Living Writers by Flavorwire, Teju Cole's aptitude for using innovative and provocative literary techniques has now also piqued the interest of the Twittersphere. This year's inaugural Twitter Fiction Festival, an online event celebrating the use of the social media site as a vessel for storytelling, was partially inspired by the creative work Cole did with his project “small fates.” Presented as a collection of Tweets used to... 2012-11-30 15:33:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-aliens-talking-through-the-stars-ted-fellow-lucianne-walkowicz-in-time.html Are we really alone in the universe? It is a question that has been asked for centuries, and one that TED Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz is seeking to answer. As she recently explains in TIME Magazine, she and her research team are examining the night sky for proof of the existence of extraterrestrial life. While the idea of life on other planets is fascinating enough, the way that Walkowicz and her team are trying to discover it is even more interesting. They are looking to the stars to determine... 2012-11-30 13:54:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-nathan-wolfe-biological-dark-matter-changing-science.html "I think there's a sense that many of us have that the great age of exploration on Earth is over," Nathan Wolfe says in a recent TED Talk. He then questions whether this is indeed the case, and whether the generations of the future will have to travel to the depths of our oceans and the furthest regions of space to discover something new and exciting. His answer? If Martinus Beijerinck only discovered the existence of viruses a little over a hundred years ago, and those life forms make up the majority... 2012-11-30 16:26:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-ninive-calegari-books-of-826-valencia.html Within the confines of the traditional classroom, education speaker Ninive Calegari didn't feel that students were getting enough time to spread their wings and delve deep into learning. In conjunction with Dave Eggers, Calegari founded 826 National to help students aged six to eighteen with their writing skills through free, one-on-one teacher-aided tutoring. One of the ways that the organization promotes the formation of good writing skills is by helping students to have a hand... 2012-11-29 10:20:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-yorks-100-most-important-writers-are-lavin-speakers.html Long known for being a hub for creativity, New York boasts some of the world's best writers. In a Flavorwire roundup, the media outlet compiled a list of the 100 Most Important Living Writers in the Big Apple, with seven Lavin speakers rounding out the selections! According to the article, the writers chosen have "serious literary merit," and  "their legacy, their publishing history, and their cultural relevance across the board," were determining factors regarding who made the cut—and... 2012-11-29 11:21:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-winning-the-climate-fight-alex-steffen-carbon-zero.html Carbon Zero: Imagining Cities That Can Save the Planet, the newest project from Alex Steffen, "redefines what being a successful city means in a rapidly warming and increasingly urbanized world," reads an article in TreeHugger. They describe Steffen's work on environmentalism and the future as being a "source of inspiration." In the article, Steffen sits down with the outlet to share his inspiration for the project that began on kickstarter and is now being released as an ebook. While... 2012-11-29 12:07:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-cora-tsoufildous-recipe-for-success.html “We need to reinvent ourselves all the time,” Cora Tsouflidou, business speaker and founder of the successful Cora restaurant chain said in a recent article. Staying relevant and achieving long-lasting success comes from waking up every morning prepared to do something different and creative, she explains. Not only only that, she also says you shouldn't fear the competition or be threatened by them, but rather, you should use that competition as fuel to drive your company forward and... 2012-11-29 13:13:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-suzuki-new-economic-paradigm.html "If our recently devised economic system endangers the air, water, land and biodiversity that we rely on for our health and survival," David Suzuki writes in a post on his website, "[then] we must come up with something better." The world renowned environmentalist and scientist has recently teamed up with prominent economist Jeff Rubin to do just that—create a new economic paradigm. While the partnership seems mismatched, and economics and the environment might not seem to have... 2012-11-29 13:44:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rick-mercer-a-good-rant-comes-from-your-gut.html "A good rant comes from your gut," celebrity speaker Rick Mercer explains in an interview with Jian Ghomeshi. A rant doesn't always have to be political, he says in the interview on CBC's Q radio show (although a great deal of the popular rants that he does generally are) but it should be honest and raw and be something you are passionate about. On his Gemini-Award winning show The Rick Mercer Report, and in his new book, A Nation Worth Ranting About, Mercer shares his trademark rants that cover... 2012-11-29 14:20:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-paul-tough-how-children-succeed-one-of-slates-best-books-of-2012.html It's been a good year for education speaker Paul Tough, to say the least. His breakthrough book, How Children Succeed, has sparked a conversation about what we currently value in the school system—and why these values need to change. Character, not just intelligence, is vital to a child's development. The latest big-name media outlet to list his book as a vital read is Slate, which included the book on its list of the Best Books of 2012. Slate's staff (many of whom are accomplished... 2012-11-29 15:21:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-james-fallows-chinese-jobs-america.html In his latest Atlantic feature story, James Fallows looks at how a myriad of political and economic changes could bring some of America's lost manufacturing jobs back from China. Fallows is one of the world's foremost experts on Chinese politics, economics, and culture. He lived and reported from the superpower for many years, and has penned two books—China Airborne and Postcards from Tomorrow Square—about the influential and often misunderstood country and its ties to America. In the... 2012-11-29 15:43:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-corruption-in-academic-economics-charles-ferguson-on-ethics.html According to Charles Ferguson, there is evidence to support the theory that the financial services sector has directly corrupted the very study of economics itself. In an interview with the Institute For New Economic Thinking, Ferguson explains how he discovered that the corruption that led to the financial crisis in 2007 extends beyond just the leaders on Wall Street, and into the lessons learned in economics and finance classrooms all over the country. While filming his Oscar-winning documentary... 2012-11-28 9:40:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-be-open-to-change-samuel-arbesman-in-the-economist.html "We are coming a lot closer to a true understanding of the world; we know a lot more about the universe than we did even just a few decades ago," Samuel Arbesman tells The Economist. "It is not the case that just because knowledge is constantly being overturned we do not know anything. But too often, we fail to acknowledge change." Acknowledging these changes is something that he explains in his highly talked-about book, The Half-Life of Facts. Arbesman explains that facts are constantly changing,... 2012-11-28 10:42:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-paul-tough-e-o-wilson-listed-on-new-york-times-notable-books-of-2012.html The New York Times has announced its choices for their 100 Notable Books of 2012 list, and contributions by Paul Tough and Edward O. Wilson made the cut! Every year, the editors of The New York Times Book Review compile a list of books that have captured their attention, and the subject matter tackled in Tough's How Children Succeed and Wilson's The Social Conquest of Earth has certainly created a buzz. Tough's book has been changing the conversation about the way we teach our children now, so that... 2012-11-28 11:24:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eric-klinenberg-gives-savage-loves-dan-savage-advice-on-singlehood.html Relationships can be tricky, and sometimes even the most sought-after love gurus need some advice from time-to-time. Eric Klinenberg, author of the popular book Going Solo recently shared his insights with well-known relationship advice columnist Dan Savage (of Savage Love). In the column, a reader wrote in inquiring as to why his friends and family couldn't accept that he had no interest in settling into a long-term relationship and preferred his own company to that of a romantic partner. Klinenberg... 2012-11-28 12:26:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ta-nehisi-coates-beliefs-impede-republican-success.html "At the end of the day, the Republican Party's problem extends far beyond packaging," Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in a new article. In light of President Obama's decisive—but not spectacular—victory over Mitt Romney's Republicans, Coates assesses where he believes the losing party went wrong this past election. "The Republican Party," he argues,"doesn't have a 'tone problem.' It has a 'problem problem.'" As he explains, it wasn't the way that the party addressed their beliefs that was the... 2012-11-28 14:41:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-atlantic-says-ken-burns-film-is-why-documentaries-are-made.html "The Central Park Five is a riveting documentary," The Atlantic writes of Ken Burns' latest film. The review continues: "The filmmaking is simple and seamless, the facts copious but not overwhelming, the contributing on-screen voices...eloquent and informative." The documentary is a joint venture between Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon that chronicles the highly publicized case of the central park jogger. Despite the fact that many people heard about the 1989 attack on the 28-year-old white... 2012-11-28 13:54:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-pat-quinn-order-of-canada.html Pat Quinn, beloved hockey coach and accomplished motivational speaker, recently received one of the nation's highest honours this week—The Order of Canada. Quinn was one of 44 recipients added to the prestigious list of Canadians that have made a lifelong contribution to their community, and the country as a whole. Quinn was named as An Officer of the Order for his contributions to the nation. Quinn has had a tremendous career in sports, coaching five National Hockey League teams (most notably... 2012-11-27 10:36:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-angela-davis-noam-chomsky-new-lecture-series.html "It is not a simple call to abolish prisons," Angela Davis argues, in reference to her work, "but rather, it is also a call to create the conditions of life." Davis, the legendary human rights activist and gifted public speaker, will join renowned linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky to discuss the prison industrial complex. Together, they challenge the belief that putting people behind bars keeps society safe. The two social leaders will speak on the same stage for the first time in Boston... 2012-11-27 9:37:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rob-walker-joshua-glenn-significant-objects-inspires-a-class.html Kate Bernheimer, one of the contributors to Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn's Significant Objects, was so moved by the project that she decided to teach her students about it. Called, “one of the living masters of the fairy tale,” Bernheimer teaches a class at the University of Arizona, where she instructed her students to read Walker and Glenn's book on the power that meaning can bestow to the value of an otherwise everyday object. After reading the book, the students were asked to recreate... 2012-11-27 11:06:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-john-ibbitson-ontarios-western-shift.html In a recent interview with Lavin, politics speaker John Iibbitson explains how Ontario, the most densley populated province in Canada and home to both the nation's capital and the biggest city in the country, is changing its ideals. "You're seeing Ontario shift its axis away from the Atlantic cutlure," he explains, "[away from] the Atlantic economy, the Atlantic way of doing things, and [is] embracing the Pacific way of doing things." While the giant province had once been more closely affiliated... 2012-11-27 12:20:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-charles-wheelan-new-book-naked-statistics.html Charles Wheelan will do for statistics what he did for economics in his newest book, Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data, which hits shelves in January. Wheelan uses his signature style to bring the science to the masses, arguing that it should not only be experts that are able to comprehend, relate to, and enjoy the field of statistics. Wheelan's flair for making numbers come alive was evident when he published Naked Economics. He explained that the most prominent principles... 2012-11-27 13:06:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kenji-yoshino-outside-of-the-mainstream-covering-and-civil-rights.html As human rights speaker Kenji Yoshino argues in a moving keynote, minority groups living in the United States are being forced to "cover" a specific part of their personality in order to fit in and get ahead. This idea of "covering", which Yoshino explains in detail in his book, Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights, refers to the toning down of a specific—and often stigmatized—element of one's personality or heritage in order to be more successful. This practice is especially... 2012-11-27 13:37:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ben-rattray-better-business-tip-its-ok-to-take-a-break.html Change.org founder and social change speaker Ben Rattray has a lot on his plate. On top of running the world's fastest-growing website for social action, he also presents numerous keynote speeches and appears on a plethora of media outlets discussing the intersection of technology and social change. With all that to do, and so few hours in the day, Rattray has undoubtedly had his fair share of sleepless nights. As he tells Fast Company, being busy is great. However, being so busy that you forgo a... 2012-11-27 16:06:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neil-pasricha-staying-positive-balancing-work-life-pressures.html “My perspective on traffic now is that I like it,” Neil Pasricha insists in a recent interview. “I enjoy the physical and mental separation I get from home and work. I like the thinking time." It's Pasricha's ability to turn these everyday occurrences into surprising and positive mantras that has made him one of our most-requested speakers. Most of us are so busy bustling around between work and other commitments that we don't have time to enjoy the simple things in life—things... 2012-11-26 10:17:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-douglas-stephens-customer-service-showrooming.html "We live in a very, very hyper-connected world," retail speaker Douglas Stephens explains. "The consumer has as much computing power at the end of their fingertips right now than we did in the first space shuttle." What is the biggest change that this access to technology has brought to the retail sector? The founder of Retail Prophet tells CBC Radio that more and more consumers are now relying on "brick and mortar" retail stores to test-drive products before they turn to an online retailer to make... 2012-11-26 10:38:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-jeffrey-simpson-medicare-middle-of-the-pack-at-best.html "The myth about Canadian medicare is just that, a myth," health speaker Jeffrey Simpson writes in The Globe and Mail. As Simpson explains, "The results [of a new U.S.-based Commonwealth Fund report] show, not surprisingly for those familiar with other international comparisons, how far behind Canadian medicare is in the modern age." This is something that the respected writer has argued extensively in recent articles and in his newest book, Chronic Condition. The report includes a survey of "general... 2012-11-26 11:24:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-michael-pinball-clemons-teamwork-wins-games.html "Every time [Michael Pinball Clemons] comes to practice, we win," Toronto Argonaut coach Scott Milanovich said in a recent interview. Perhaps then, the CFL team can attribute a part of their Grey Cup win against the Calgary Stampeders to the rousing pep-talk that Clemons, a former superstar player, coach, CEO and Vice-Chair of the team, gave before the 100th annual game this past weekend. As he has said in his powerful speeches in the past, winning is all about teamwork and working together to achieve... 2012-11-26 13:38:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-erwan-nmichel-kerjan-insurance-reduces-the-costs-of-future-catastrophes.html "Hurricane Sandy could cost the nation a staggering $50 billion," Erwann Michel-Kerjan and Howard Kunreuther  write in the New York Times. They add: "to date [it is] the most costly disaster in United States history...but Hurricane Sandy was not an isolated event." As Michel-Kerjan, a risk management expert, explains in the article, the incidence of major disasters has been increasing rapidly. 30 of the world's most expensive insured catastrophes occurred between 1970 and 2011 with 20 of... 2012-11-26 12:20:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cains-quiet-fast-company-business-book-of-the-year.html Fast Company just released a list of their top-rated Business Books of 2012, and Quiet by Susan Cain topped the list! The 12 books they chose "shaped not only the way we work this year, but how we think and the conversations we're having," the article reads. They call Cain a "luminary," and write that her book (which was an instant New York Times bestseller) is "delightful-to-read." Shining a light on the hidden, and often overlooked, talents of the introverted part of the population, Cain's work... 2012-11-26 14:42:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jared-diamond-the-world-until-yesterday-coming-out-this-december.html Jared Diamond, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, will be releasing his first new book in almost 8 years this coming Decemeber. Titled The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?, the book takes a probing look into our past. In his books and his spell-binding keynotes, the scientist doesn’t shy away from examining the big questions about human civilization. He offers us intriguing insights into the world around us while opening... 2012-11-26 12:56:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeff-chang-kendrick-lamar.html In Buzzfeed recently, social historian Jeff Chang reviewed Kendrick Lamar's new album, good kid, m. A. A. d. city, and expanded on what it means both for the state of hip-hop in 2012, and for the "post hip-hop generation" as a whole. The album could be a turning point in the history of hip-hop, writes Chang, who literally wrote the history of the hip-hop generation in his award-winning first book, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop. Lamar was born in the middle of the ‘90s hip-hop explosion,... 2012-11-26 14:07:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-teju-cole-inspiration-behind-open-city-cbcs-writers-and-company.html "New York wants to convince you that it was born yesterday—and it wasn't," says Teju Cole in a recent interview on CBC Radio's Writers & Company. The notion of New York City being a, "historical site with many layers," was part of the inspiration behind his award-winning book, Open City. He explains in the interview that New York City has had a large population for a long time, and with that, a huge number of people have lived and died in the city throughout the course of its history. Some... 2012-11-23 10:05:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-andrew-bailey-social-brands-matter-to-the-bottom-line.html Andrew Bailey is a revolutionary of the digital marketing world. A new Lavin speaker, Bailey is the Chairman of Proximity North America—an agency that combines digital and direct expertise with extensive knowledge of consumer data. It's part of a global agency network of more that 60 offices and 2,000 employees worldwide. In an interview with Ad Fed, Bailey talked about his views on advertising in the digital medium, and the marketers he admires most. “I really respect Proctor & Gamble.... 2012-11-23 12:20:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Mike-Rowe-bids-farwell-to-dirty-jobs.html "We worked hard. And we had a hell of a good time. It was as they say, a very good run," Mike Rowe writes in the Huffington Post. After eight years of "exploding toilets, venomous snakes, misadventures in animal husbandry, and feces from every species," Rowe won't be taking on any new apprenticeships as the host of The Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs. After eight successful seasons, the show has come to an end. In the article, Rowe extends a humbled thank you (which, as he notes, is perfectly timed... 2012-11-23 10:59:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alan-lightman-harpers-finding-place-universe.html In Harper's this month, theoretical physicist and novelist Alan Lightman asks: What exactly is humanity's place in the universe? His essay takes the reader on a journey through humanity's rapid acceleration of scientific discovery. He begins with early Babylonian writings circa 1500 B.C.—where "the oceans, the continents, and the heavens were considered finite”—and ends at our newfound ability to map the universe through technological breakthroughs like the Hubble, and the Kepler... 2012-11-23 14:19:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-be-the-change-tzeporah-berman-sustainability.html "We don't just need better light bulbs," Tzeporah Berman says of the environmental movement, "we need better laws." In a keynote event titled "Be The Change," Berman spoke about the current state of our environmental practices and how saving the planet will require collective action at the policy level—not just at the personal level. Part of The Writer's Festival, the event also saw Berman reading passages from her book, This Crazy Time: Living Our Environmental Challenge. As Berman explains... 2012-11-23 13:45:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-douglas-merrill-making-meetings-more-productive.html In a new article in Forbes, innovation speaker Douglas Merrill asks you to question whether the next meeting you call is truly necessary. While he notes that there are many instances when employees need to meet and discuss a certain strategy or issue, a great deal of time and productivity can be saved by only calling a meeting when no other method of communication will suffice. Make sure that every person in a meeting really needs to be there, he stresses. In the article, he writes that in the best... 2012-11-23 15:44:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-improve-the-system-dont-demolish-it.html "I'm a big believer in more organic change," education speaker Salman Khan said in a keynote speech at Cal Poly Pomona this past week. Despite being a leader in the education sector thanks to his work with The Khan Academy and his book The One World Schoolhouse, Khan says he doesn't want to be seen as a "Czar" for education. Rather, he'd like to revamp the system from within and improve it rather than completely demolish it. "If you removed lectures from the classroom, is there a more valuable... 2012-11-23 14:48:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tonya-surman-collaborative-economy-meeting-planner.html Last week, Tonya Surman—co-founder of the Centre for Social Innovation—gave a fantastic talk to Meeting Professionals International. “After the talk, she had a long line of people waiting to speak with her,” said Lavin’s Meghan Elenbaas, who was on hand. “She brought up a lot of ideas about ways to create engagement and to achieve better networking at events.” During her keynote—which covered everything from the new collaboration economy to shared workspaces—Surman... 2012-11-23 16:25:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-srdja-popovic-civil-resistance-syria.html Srdja Popović has spent his life championing nonviolence as the most effective method for revolutionary change. Which is why when it comes to Syria's current instability, he's rightfully concerned. In a recent interview with Vice, Popović discussed Syria's plight, and argued that civil resistance not only saves lives—it works. "You'll find only 26 percent of guerrilla movements were successful compared to 53 percent of nonviolent struggles," says Popović. "Even if you add foreign military... 2012-11-22 12:37:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rob-walker-surveillance-culture.html In a recent article for Design Observer, Rob Walker explores our society's reaction to surveillance through the lens of an internet prankster. A Seattle man who calls himself the "Surveillance Camera Man" has created a series of videos where he films people on the street—right in front of them. The reactions of those being filmed are overwhelmingly negative, with several claiming that the anonymous camera man has no right to film someone against their will. However, Walker sees the videos as... 2012-11-22 14:28:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alex-steffen-sandy-wake-up-call.html Alex Steffen was recently interviewed by The Atlantic Cities to talk about the future of our cities, and what impact Superstorm Sandy will have on America's political desire to become more sustainable. In his latest book, Carbon Zero: Imagining Cities That Can Save the Planet, Steffen argues that remaking our urban environments to be more sustainable—and more prepared for weather events in a warmer climate—may be the only way of preventing a planetary catastrophe. In the case of Superstorm... 2012-11-22 16:05:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rahaf-harfoush-improving-digital-literacy.html "Everything is changing," Rahaf Harfoush writes in a new blog entry. "Is your business ready?" New technologies can make a tremendous impact on the effectiveness of an organization—something Harfoush discussed at a recent keynote about how to effectively leverage crowdsourcing and new media in the health care industry. "It’s not enough to digitize old processes, and slap an “e” on whatever legacy system has been in place for the past few years and declare [that] your... 2012-11-21 10:29:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-blake-mycoskie-giving-feels-good-is-good-for-business.html When Blake Mycoskie scheduled a one-month vacation from his online driver’s ed company, the 30-year-old didn't know his trip to Argentina would extend into nearly two-months and become the catalyst for a new social business. In a recent keynote address at the Distinguished Speaker Series at the University at Buffalo, Mycoskie shared the story of how TOMS, his one-for-one business, came to fruition. (Steven Pinker will also be giving a talk in the same series later this month.) He told the audience... 2012-11-21 11:30:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ben-rattray-ted-talks-that-inspire-him-to-action.html “In college, I was always disappointed by lectures that covered social problems but failed to identify what I could do to change them," Ben Rattray tells Mashable. "Part of the problem was that many professors simply didn’t believe they had a role in converting awareness to action." The Change.org founder and social change speaker believes that a lecture can do more than just convey knowledge, it can inspire people to get off the couch and act. That, he explains, is why he is drawn to... 2012-11-21 11:08:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-david-eagleman-novelty-slow-down-time.html "Why does time speed up as you grow older?" science speaker David Eagleman asks in a new talk. "It's because when you're a kid you're trying to figure out the rules of the world," he explains, "and everything is novel to you." However, as you grow up and get older, you have already figured out a lot of the patterns and practices of the world. While Eagleman explains that this knowledge is advantageous for operating in the world, it seems to make time move by faster. When you look back on a time period... 2012-11-21 12:13:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonathan-haidt-more-partisan-than-ever-now-what.html "Now, for the first time, the two parties are really different sorts of people with different personalities and different values," Jonathan Haidt says in a new, post-election interview. "It’s not just collections of interest groups, it’s really much more of a clear moral split than it ever was before." The author of the bestselling book The Righteous Mind is an expert on moral psychology and uses his work on morality and the human condition to explain why the Republican and... 2012-11-21 12:55:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-joshua-goldstein-winning-the-war-on-war.html "I don't think people are innately peaceful," Joshua Goldstein said in a recent interview with the PCDN (Peace and Collaborative Development Network), "[in fact] I think that war is pretty deeply rooted in us." However, the International Relations scholar and author also believes that humans posses the ability to control and contain their inherent propensity toward conflict appropriately. His goal, he said in the interview, is to one day live in a world where there is no war. While this may seem... 2012-11-21 14:11:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-adam-alter-new-speaker.html The Lavin Agency is pleased to welcome our new exclusive speaker, Adam Alter. At NYU’s Psychology Department and Stern School of Business, Alter researches how external influences—such as the weather, geography, colors and location—have a deep impact on our consciousness. His forthcoming book, Drunk Tank Pink, focuses on the intersection between the psychology of judgement and decision making, and our marketing techniques and behavioural economics. In fascinating talks, Alter describes... 2012-11-21 14:32:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-west-point.html Recently, bestselling author Susan Cain told an appreciative audience at historic West Point Military Academy all about the power of introverts. Cain was a perfect fit. "Command presence is the polish....but it shouldn't be the start," declared Cain. "There is zero correlation between consistently speaking up and consistently having the best ideas." She touched on key points that the academy might use in their daily operations—from leadership to curriculum to enrollment. Introverts make up... 2012-11-21 15:48:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-jeff-rubin-price-of-energy-independence.html "Move over OPEC, North America is about to become a net exporter of oil," says economics speaker Jeff Rubin. In a recent article at The Huffington Post, the author of The End of Growth discussed the future of oil production—and what it means for the global economy. "According to the [International Energy Agency], the drilling boom for shale oil is putting US production on track to pass Saudi Arabia," writes Rubin. "North of the border, output from Alberta's oil sands is expected to notch a... 2012-11-20 13:46:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-gina-kolata-america-get-moving.html Americans know how important exercise is to living a happy, healthy life, says The New York Times' senior health and science writer Gina Kolata. The problem is—most people just don't do it. In her latest Times article, Kolata outlines just how poor the nation's exercise habit has become. "About 40 percent of Americans report that they never exercise," says Kolata, "a figure that has remained steady for decades." What's worse? "Only 3.5 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 59 do the... 2012-11-20 15:09:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-open-data-movement-david-eaves.html 21st century problems are best combated using 21st century technology, according to David Eaves, a Vancouver-based public policy expert. The open data movement—where information is transparent and shared openly—can help stop problems before they start by increasing credibility and promoting trust between the world's leading organizations and the wider population. As Eaves tells CTV News, Canada has been increasing the number of public records available in recent years, but the nation... 2012-11-20 15:34:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jane-chen-embrace-campus.html Jane Chen, TED Fellow and co-founder and CEO of Embrace, was recently interviewed by Scarlet & Black, the student newspaper of Grinnell College. Chen's Embrace is a revolutionary social enterprise—a baby incubator that sells for 1% of the traditional cost, and could help reduce infant mortality rates in some of the world's poorest areas. While on campus, Chen received Grinnell's 2012 Social Justice Prize, and gave a candid Q+A, found below. Chen's work is as inspiring as it is innovative,... 2012-11-20 15:35:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dr-richard-heinzl-technology.html We recently had the pleasure of talking to Dr. Richard Heinzl, founder of the first North American chapter of Doctors Without Borders, about innovation, technology, and how the two make for better philanthropy. The digitization of medical information helps to provide far more accurate diagnosis in remote regions where, before technology was as ubiquitous as it is today, Dr. Heinzl reminds us that volunteer doctors were forced to rely upon the textbooks they could carry in their backpacks. Back then,... 2012-11-20 16:24:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-amber-mac-technology-easier-harder.html In a recent edition of Fast Company's "Generation Flux" series, Amber MacArthur chatted with fellow technology leaders and Fast Company readers alike to discuss technology's impact on business leadership. When faced with the question of whether digital technology has made it easier or harder to lead, MacArthur argued that while the positives outweigh the negatives, digital technology has leveled the playing field—making it even more important to stay ahead of the game. "Technology, especially... 2012-11-20 16:39:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-pinker-book-shortlisted-for-royal-society-winton-prize-for-science-books.html The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker's New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year, has been shortlisted for another prestigious award: The Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. The book is one of six nominated for the award. When asked why they picked Pinker's book, the judges said that it, "pushes the boundaries of the science book in a refreshing way," and that "it is a bold intellectual endeavour and at the same time a great read.” The winner of the award will... 2012-11-19 9:48:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-samuel-arbesman-the-halflife-of-facts-review-in-wall-street-journal.html While Samuel Arbesman has taught us that empirical facts are in a constant state of flux, one fact that seems to be unwavering is the positive response to his book, The Half-Life of Facts. A recent Wall Street Journal review describes Facts as, "delightfully nerdy" and the reviewer writes that it "shows us convincingly that knowledge changes." The book covers a great deal of ground in its 200 pages; it teaches us that what we know to be true may not remain that way forever, and that... 2012-11-19 10:26:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ryan-knighton-thick-as-thieves-film-adaptation.html Lavin speaker Ryan Knighton has never been on a heist, but that isn't stopping the successful memoir writer from tackling the script for Thick as Thieves, a film adaptation of Peter Spiegelman's latest thriller. Following the success of his two memoirs Cockeyed and C'Mon Papa—the first on going blind and the second about becoming a blind father—Knighton dove into film adaptations such as Paul Hoffman's Wings of Madness and 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers. The move to film is... 2012-11-19 16:44:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jessica-jackley-entrepreneurial-opportunity-not-handouts-ends-poverty.html Jessica Jackley, who recently spoke at the University of Saint Thomas Symposium of Social Entrepreneurship, says that one of the secrets to KIVA.org's success is that it provides people with opportunities—not handouts. As she explained at the seminar, her life dramatically changed when she began to see the poor as people with a wide skill set and much to give, rather than as helpless victims. Although they had talents and were willing to work, they were often hindered by the cycle of poverty... 2012-11-19 11:54:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neri-oxman-future-of-3d-printing.html "Within ten years, we'll see completely different construction technologies," Neri Oxman tells Wired magazine. Oxman, an award-winning designer and Research Group Director at the MIT Media Lab recently showed some of these breakthrough construction technologies at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Oxman designs projects that harness the techniques used in biological systems and applies them to human needs. One of the projects she showcased in Paris was a robot arm that builds architectural structures... 2012-11-19 11:09:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-pedro-noguera-reframing-the-achievement-gap.html "I would say that the most pressing issue today facing the country is inequality," education speaker Pedro Noguera explains in a recent Q&A, "and the achievement gap is an educational manifestation of inequality." One of the leading experts on public education, Noguera was recently interviewed in Context magazine (a publication through the American Sociological Association) where he explained that social and economic disadvantages are major factors affecting the success of students. While most... 2012-11-19 13:47:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-erwann-michel-kerjan-fortune-magazine-post-sandy-stimulus-not-likely.html "Sandy is different," Erwann Michel-Kerjan told Fortune magazine, "because it has shut down several major population centers for an extended period of time and, unlike Hurricane Irene, it hit during the workweek." In the article, Michel-Kerjan, a catastrophic risk management expert, assesses the economic impact that superstorm Sandy will have on the regions hit the hardest by its wrath. The long-term implications of the storm are still up for debate and as the article explains: "Some analysts are... 2012-11-19 14:55:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-washington-posts-best-nonfiction-of-2012.html The Washington Post has hand-picked 50 of the best non-fiction books from 2012—and three of them are written by Lavin speakers! If you're looking for a few new page-turners to add to your collection, look no further. The first on the list is 500 Days by Kurt Eichenwald. Described by The Post staff as, "an anecdote-rich, page-turning account of President George W. Bush’s war on terrorism," his book chronicles the 18 months that followed 9/11 and the effects that the decisions made during... 2012-11-19 16:03:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-douglas-stephens-the-end-of-marketing.html "Imagine a world without marketing," retail speaker Douglas Stephens writes in a blog entry on his Retail Prophet site. "No really…imagine a world where no one tries to sell you anything." As Stephens predicts, this marketing-free world is closer to reality than we might think. Marketing, in the traditional sense, may soon become completely ineffective thanks to the advent of digital technologies that allow consumers to evaluate products and services solely on their merit. Projects like GoogleNow... 2012-11-16 9:56:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-military-speaker-andrew-bacevich-on-pbs.html Retired Col. Andrew Bacevich recently took part in a discussion on PBS about the way the American people view military professionals and the standards to which they are held. In light of the recent scandal involving former CIA Director David Petraeus, Bacevich discussed the relationship between civilians and the military and the how people react when military leaders do not live up to their lofty standard. When someone that the public holds in high regard slips up in some way, Bacevich explains that... 2012-11-16 11:07:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-uncoupled-new-talk-from-kate-bolick.html Although Kate Bolick's "All The Single Ladies" article is reminiscent of the popular Beyoncé song—the only thing they have in common is the title. While Beyonce's Single Ladies want men to "put a ring on it," Bolick argues that being single's not all that bad and she doesn't necessarily think there's any rush to get married. In fact, in her new, upcoming talk at The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Bolick and fellow author Michael Cobb will argue that there are actually benefits... 2012-11-16 11:49:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mitchell-joachim-sustainable-isnt-good-enough.html "In many cases, design is only concerned with the narrow focus of human-made demands," TED Fellow Mitchell Joachim explains, "not the holistic composition of the planet." And in an interview with the Huffington Post, Mitchell said that his company, Terreform ONE, is working to change that idea. The non-profit design organization is based in Brooklyn, and creates innovative and disruptive new technologies that work with nature—rather than against it. While technically the work he's doing is... 2012-11-16 12:44:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-richard-florida-disadvantaged-areas-hit-hardest-by-recession.html "The residents of our most disadvantaged communities are made even more vulnerable by harsh downturns in the economy," Richard Florida said in a National Journal article. In the journal, which carries the tag line "How Demography Shapes the National Agenda," Florida uses new research from Pew’s Economic Mobility Project to highlight the important effects that our increasingly segmented society is having on the people in the highest-poverty neighborhoods in the nation. While the recession affected... 2012-11-16 14:12:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jian-ghomeshi-gives-students-advice-in-macleans.html "I definitely did not know this in the early ’90s but I know it now: there is no job security," Jian Ghomeshi said in a Maclean's article. "The skill sets are changing in every sector, and you can’t handicap what you are going to need in 20 or 30 years’ time." In the interview, the host of CBC Radio's Q and author of the new book 1982 was asked what he wishes he would have known when he was still in university. His answers, along with those of a host of other well-known writers,... 2012-11-16 15:21:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steve-wozniak-microsoft-more-innovative-than-apple.html Fresh off the stage after giving a keynote at TEDx Brussels (video shown above), Steve Wozniak shared his views about the future of innovation in the technology industry in a TechCrunch video segment. Wozniak—known for never being afraid to voice an opinion—said that he "worried" Microsoft was becoming more innovate than Apple. "I fear that Microsoft might have been sitting in their labs trying to innovate, with a formula," the co-founder of Apple said. "They may have been doing that... 2012-11-16 16:21:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-camille-seaman-in-o-the-oprah-magazine.html Camille Seaman didn't have a "plan", per se, when she started shooting the breathtaking photos in her series "The Last Iceberg." In an interview in December's edition of O, The Oprah Magazine, Seaman tells the story of a spontaneous trip to Kotzebue, Alaska that changed her life. When a flight she was on was overbooked, Seaman was offered a free trip to anywhere in the world in exchange for giving up her seat. When she chose to fly to Alaska, the city-sized icebergs floating in the frigid waters... 2012-11-15 9:33:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-doctors-as-teachers-salman-khan-flips-the-classroom-and-hospital.html The revolutionary work that Salman Khan has been doing in the education sector, which recently landed him a spot on the cover of Forbes, was also featured in the online version of the magazine this week. Khan's method of "flipping the classroom" has earned him the respect and attention of educators and policy makers nationwide. But his influential ideas aren't confined to the classroom. Rather, the article suggests that doctors and other health care practitioners are finding that video technology... 2012-11-15 10:24:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-quiet-susan-cain-on-amazons-best-books-of-2012.html Susan Cain and her breakthrough book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, have been shattering records—with no sign of slowing down any time soon. The book just landed in the top three of Amazon's "Best Books Of 2012" list, alongside titles by Nate Silver and Charles Duhigg. She was third only to contributions from Nate Silver and Charles Duhigg. Her book joins the ranks of some other powerful non-fiction works this year thanks to its conversation-starting subject... 2012-11-15 11:17:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-general-rick-hillier-focus-on-people-not-process.html General Rick Hillier (Ret.) "knows a thing or two about leadership," a review of his recent keynote declares. As the former chief of defence, General Hillier (Ret.) was responsible for leading troops through the grueling war in Afghanistan. His charismatic and outgoing personality made him a favourite not only with his troops, but with the media and the nation at large. It's no surprise then, that in his keynotes he explains that good leadership comes from focusing on the people first—rather... 2012-11-15 11:42:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-robert-kuttner-jobs-and-growth-will-save-the-economy.html Economist Robert Kuttner, and over 300 of his peers recently signed a letter rejecting a call to action by a group of CEO's that propose enacting widespread budget cuts to reduce the national deficit. In the letter, Kuttner and his colleagues warn that the austerity measures being proposed will do more harm than good. Rather than helping to pull the nation out of a slump, budget cuts will only exacerbate one of America's biggest problems—unemployment."The budget hawks have the sequence backwards....Budget... 2012-11-15 13:58:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-pinker-blake-mycoskie-distinguished-speakers-series.html What do Lavin speakers Steven Pinker and Blake Mycoskie have in common with the likes of the Dalai Lama, Al Gore, and Jane Goodall? Similar to what their prestigious counterparts, they will both be presenting at the University at Buffalo's Distinguished Speakers Series. Mycoskie will be speaking on Nov. 15, and Pinker on Mar. 27. Now in its 26th installment, the series has lent the stage to speakers of both national and international renown since it began in 1987. It features experts in a variety... 2012-11-15 14:49:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-angela-davis-meaning-of-freedom.html "One out of every 100 adults is behind bars [in the United States]" Angela Davis cites in a recent keynote address. Even more shocking? "25 per cent of the world's incarcerated population lives in jails and prisons in The United States of America." The human rights activist questioned why it is that the United States has the highest incarcerated population in the world in her speech about race, the justice system, and the consequences of mass incarceration at the University of Arkansas at Little... 2012-11-15 16:06:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-brilliant-misfits-lavin-agency-hiring.html The Lavin Agency is hiring agents for our Toronto and New York offices, and we do our hiring a little differently. We don't just want to know what you've done. We want to know who you are. In other words—we're looking for brilliant misfits. Or, as President David Lavin describes, "the people who stayed up all night talking about politics, economics, art, culture, movies. People who have something to say and want a place to say it." Our employees—much like our speakers—come from... 2012-11-15 16:09:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alexandra-samuel-spontaneity-trumps-spell-check-on-social-media.html "Learning to live with erratic spelling, incorrect grammar and even the occasional profanity," Alexandra Samuel writes, "is an extension of the trust principle you have to adopt in order to generate a lively, engaging and reflective social media presence." That's right, grammar police—content published across social media channels does not, nor does it need to, exercise perfect use of the English language. Even though reading an online post with misplaced punctuation marks and repeated use... 2012-11-14 9:25:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-conspiracy-theory-chuck-klosterman-cia-scandal.html "It's weird to be inside the news," Chuck Klosterman writes in Grantland. The title of his article, "I Lived a CIA Conspiracy Theory," perfectly sums up the whirlwind of a weekend he had after the Twittersphere exploded with rumors that the author had inadvertently played a part in David Petraeus' decision to resign from his post as head of the CIA. After news of Petraeus' extra-marital affair (and resignation) went public, speculations began to mount that a letter Klosterman responded to in his... 2012-11-14 10:29:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cesar-harada-says-we-need-to-protect-our-water.html "The ocean is the future of our food, our energy, of our shelter, of our transport, of our information system and of our security," Cesar Harada concludes in a new TEDx Talk. "The future of our species depends greatly on the quality of the relationship between cities and water." Harada, a French-Japanese entrepreneur and TED Fellow, has created a device that will help to preserve our oceans—and in the process, preserve our species. Protei, the unmanned shape-shifting robot, was created to help... 2012-11-14 11:31:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-reggie-love-four-more-years-of-obama.html "It's a great night for the American people," Reggie Love said in a short post-election interview posted on PBS. "I look forward to another four years." Love, who worked closely with President Obama for many years before returning to school to pursue his MBA, was understandably pleased when he was re-elected for another term last week. Love was hired to work on Obama's team back in 2007 and impressed the leader so much that within a year he was chosen as the top personal aide, or "body man" to the... 2012-11-14 12:16:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ecoholic-adria-vasil-didnt-grow-up-green.html Adria Vasil, a leading environmental columnist and author of the Ecoholic book series, says she didn't grow up "green." Her father owned a McDonald's when she was growing up, she reminisces in a Lavin interview, and she was "a hard core carnivore until [her] dad was told, when [she] was ten, that he was going to die within 5 years if he didn't change his ways." From then on, Vasil remembers a swift overhaul of her family's eating habits that favoured healthier meals. "It was steamed vegetables and... 2012-11-14 12:38:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-care-speaker-jeffrey-simpson-aging-population.html "Canadians are aging," health care speaker Jeffrey Simspon notes in a recent Globe and Mail article, "and their health-care system – how it runs and how it is financed – is not prepared." A noted writer and speaker on health care, Simpson explains that the next two decades will bring a major strain to the system due to the increasing number of seniors retiring who require more intensive medical care. "Today, 14 per cent of the population is over 65 years of age," he writes, "[and] that... 2012-11-14 14:40:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-afghanistan-tech-boom-innovation-speaker-gayle-lemmon.html "The development of private enterprise is an important stabilizing force, particularly in postconflict countries plagued by political instability and civil unrest," writes Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. "Despite the bleak news often reported from [Afghanistan]—from insurgency to rampant corruption—a number of Afghans are choosing to fight for peace and stabilization by creating jobs and generating growth." Entrepreneurship, she explains, has become a major driving force behind economic growth... 2012-11-14 13:55:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-environment-speaker-laurence-c-smith-arctic-threats-opportunities.html Laurence C. Smith, renowned climate scientist and popular environment speaker, is among a group of diverse voices who have come together to participate in the World Economic Forum's new Global Agenda Council on the Arctic. Smith has a great deal of experience with changes happening in the Arctic region—making him a prime candidate to work toward addressing the international challenges posed by our rapidly changing northern landscape. A major theme in his debut book, The World in 2050: Four... 2012-11-14 15:28:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-media-conferences-misha-glouberman.html "I think, there's already a problem with people on stage and an audience," Misha Glouberman says, "where there's kind of a basic alienation between them." In an interview here at Lavin, the negotiations speaker and communications expert shared his opinions on how to break down the natural barriers that exist between presenter and audience at conferences. "I don't like things that distract people from what's happening in the room," he adds, noting that sometimes props and social media can be... 2012-11-13 9:41:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bill-gates-favorite-ted-talks-lavin-keynote-speakers.html Looking for a few great TED Talks to check out? Why not refer to Bill Gates' top picks—which includes Susan Cain's must-see talk on introverts! The Microsoft mogul recent compiled a list of his 13 favorite talks, with three Lavin keynote speakers rounding out the coveted collection. Cain's record-breaking talk on introversion, and the undervalued talents they posess, recently passed 3 million views—pretty impressive considering Cain had no formal speaking experience before she translated... 2012-11-13 10:57:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-good-residencies-dont-make-good-doctors-shannon-brownlee.html "What kind of doctors do we want?" Shannon Brownlee asks in a new Atlantic article. Do we want intensive care where doctors push for more—and longer—hospitalizations, more treatments and more tests? Brownlee, author of Overtreated, argues that, "more intense care doesn't necessarily help patients live longer." Safer, gentler care is typically preferred by patients, she explains, citing supporting evidence provided in a study in the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. If those are the doctors... 2012-11-13 12:38:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-on-forbes-cover.html "The numbers get really crazy when you look at the impact per dollar," education speaker Salman Khan says of the work he's doing with the Khan Academy. "If you put any reasonable value on it, say $10 a year—and keep in mind we serve most students better than tutoring—and you are looking at, what, a 1,000% return?" This return, of course, refers to the impact that his work has educating millions of people across the planet. An accomplishment that, rightfully so, has landed him on the cover... 2012-11-13 11:19:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-catching-up-social-change-speaker-dan-austin-88bikes.html It's been a busy few months for 88bikes founder and social change speaker Dan Austin. Not that that's any different from usual, though! Austin recently appeared on Travel with Rick Steves on NPR and had his company featured in Outside Magazine Brazil as one of the ‘10 Icons Changing the World’. His simple strategy, turning 88 dollars into a bicycle for a child, not only provides those in need with viable transit, but also helps to stimulate local economies. His services, therefore,... 2012-11-13 11:55:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-chilton-dont-keep-up-with-the-joneses.html "[David] Chilton offered good advice last week," Lesley Scorgie, author of the column Fun and Frugal writes in The Metro. "Stop complaining about what you don’t have." In other words, stop succumbing to "adult peer-pressure" and stop buying expensive material possessions that you can't afford thinking it will make you happy. In honour of financial literacy month, both Scorgie and Chilton gave speeches at a recent event on the theme of "Keeping Up With The Joneses." Many of us are over-extending... 2012-11-13 13:20:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ken-burns-dust-bowl-interview.html The Dust Bowl, the newest documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns, portrays a series of man-made storms so severe that residents of The Great Plains region thought that they were witnessing the end of the world. In an interview with 9News, the award-winning director talks about making the film and paints a terrifying picture of what it was like living with the decade-long dust storms of the 1930s. "We just can't imagine 10 years of apocalyptic storms," Burns said, "not just a handful of storms,... 2012-11-13 14:24:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eaves-high-calibre-keynote-on-open-data.html David Eaves recently spoke at the Government of Alberta's 2012 Policy Matters Conference, where his insightful and informative keynote was very well-received. As an expert on the open data movement, Eaves spoke about how open data can change both processes and policy, and how open innovation is essential to expansion. The new digital generation has afforded us with access to more data than ever before. In his talk, Eaves explained how this shift is dramatically altering the way that organizations... 2012-11-13 14:15:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-man-vs-machine-dan-lyons-big-data.html As Daniel Lyons argues, the impact of using big data and computers to determine the outcome of a major event (a la Nate Silver and the presidential election, for example) extends far beyond the event outcome itself. "This is about the triumph of machines and software over gut instinct," he explains. "One by one, computers and the people who know how to use them are knocking off these crazy notions about gut instinct and intuition."Admitting that a machine can do the same job as a human—and,... 2012-11-12 10:42:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-we-the-data-eric-berlow-digital-information.html Complex problems don't scare Eric Berlow. In fact, as a complexity scientist, he thrives on making connections within large-scale systems, including the burgeoning big data movement and how it is altering society. The TED Fellow had a hand in creating the We The Data collective (an offshoot of Vibrant Data Labs' "think and do tank," which he co-founded) to help navigate, understand, and make use of the abundance of invaluable data now accessible to us via new technology and the Internet. "In this... 2012-11-12 11:46:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-naomi-natale-socially-crafted-art.html Naomi Natale is on a mission to bring awareness to the atrocities—genocide, war, poverty—occurring at this very moment all over the world. A photographer, installation artist and TED Senior Fellow, Natale wants to spark change, ignite the humanitarian spirit, and create “visible petitions” through her large-scale, socially crafted art. As a new Lavin exclusive speaker, she talks about the marriage of art and activism, and the importance of tangible experience for charitable... 2012-11-12 12:33:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-carbon-zero-by-alex-steffen-reimagining-cities-of-the-future.html Many world leaders have started talking seriously about the importance of shifting to carbon neutral cities. However, as Alex Steffen explains in his new book Carbon Zero: Imagining Cities That Can Save The Planet, there's still a gap between identifying what has to be done—and knowing how to do it. Launched as a Kickstarter project, the idea for the book was so popular that it received nearly double the funding needed to get it off the ground. Already out in limited release for the donors... 2012-11-12 13:27:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-curiosity-essential-for-innovation-science-speaker-janna-levin.html When you think of the study of cosmology, generally notions of high-tech telescopes and complex lab equipment come to mind. Science speaker Janna Levin, however, likes to do things a little bit differently. "I really like to work in pen and paper in math," she explains in an interview with the BBC. What is she working out, exactly? Chaos theory, black holes and the early origins of our universe, naturally. This is not to say, however, that the Guggenheim Fellow and TED speaker never goes to the lab.... 2012-11-12 13:56:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-florida-too-close-to-call-again-carl-hiaasen-cbs-morning.html "We specialize in prolonging everything," Carl Hiaasen tells CBS Morning of his native Sunshine State. "We can't seem to figure out how to count a ballot—it could be years before we know how Florida went in this election." Not surprisingly, Florida still has yet to tabulate their election results—even though the election was two days ago and we already know that President Obama has been re-elected for a second term. It's almost a repeat of the 2000 election all over again, except... 2012-11-09 10:07:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-healthcare-reform-allan-gregg-jeffrey-simpson.html When you criticize health care, "people say you're criticizing what it is to be Canadian," Jeffrey Simpson tells research professional and political analyst Allan Gregg in a recent interview on TVO's Allan Gregg In Conversation With. In the interview, Simpson discusses points from his breakthrough new book on national health care, Chronic Condition. One of the problems he addresses is that Canadians see their health care system as part of their national identity. "When you begin to have a conversation... 2012-11-09 11:08:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-liespotting-pamela-meyer-on-dishonesty.html "I don't want to alarm anyone in this room," Pamela Meyer begins in her popular TED Talk, "but it's just come to my attention that the person to your right is a liar." In a new Huffington Post series, they expand upon the ideas in Meyer's "How To Spot A Liar" talk on deception and fraud, which has already passed a million views. While it's true that we all lie, Meyer—author of the bestselling book Liespotting—says high-stakes lying is running rampant in society today. This lying... 2012-11-09 14:12:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-regrouping-after-sandy-chuck-klosterman-literary-benefit.html Chuck Klosterman, Philip Gourevitch, and Kurt Andersen are among the pop culture heavyweights involved in an upcoming benefit to support the residents and businesses of Red Hook, Brooklyn that were hit the hardest by Superstorm Sandy. The event, Defiance: A Literary Benefit to Rebuild Red Hook, will feature Klosterman, The Ethicist at The New York Times, and a group of his peers performing literary readings that celebrate the past and future of the New York community. 100 per cent of the proceeds... 2012-11-09 12:16:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-matt-taibbi-self-awareness-lost-republicans-minority-vote.html When it comes down to it, politics speaker Matt Taibbi says that Rush Limbaugh just doesn't get why the Republican party earned so little of the minority vote this past election. While the Republicans fared well with white males at the polls, they were far off from earning themselves the support of minority voters. Limbaugh questioned why the GOP wasn't able to connect with these constituents on his radio show. While he is by no means the resounding voice for the Republican party, his brash comments... 2012-11-09 12:59:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-douglas-merrill-using-big-data-to-win-in-business.html "Big data isn't new," innovation speaker Douglas Merrill writes in the Harvard Business Review, "A wealth of database information has been lying dormant in companies for years — only now we have the technology to understand it." Further, he explains that: "you can use that information to make better predictions (and decisions) about your business."Big data, he writes in the article, is made up of cases and signals. Cases refer to an interaction of some kind, generally a sale. However, Merrill... 2012-11-09 14:56:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kal-penn-gives-a-rousing-keynote-on-media-monopoly.html According to Tom Gagnon, an Executive Vice President here at Lavin, Kal Penn's most recent keynote was "one of the most compelling ten minutes of lecture [he's] ever seen." And Tom's seen a lot of college keynotes! Penn, an actor-turned-political-advocate (not that he's given up on acting) traveled to The University of Pennsylvania to give a rousing lecture two days before the presidential election. With his signature mix of sharp wit, intelligence and charisma, Penn riled up the crowd with his discussion... 2012-11-09 15:35:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sanjay-gupta-cnn-loved-one-doctor.html Men are far less likely than women to see their doctors for regular check-ups, Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently said on his show, Sanjay Gupta MD. In a segment with Tom Joyner, the founder of the Take a Loved One to the Doctor Health Festival, the two spoke, with some urgency, about why many people do not visit a doctor as often as they should. Many of today's most ubiquitous illnesses, after all, such as cancer and heart disease, can be caught and treated early with regular checkups. Men, Gupta says, are... 2012-11-08 16:58:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-change-speaker-ben-rattray-big-plans-for-the-future.html When Ben Rattray was in college at Stanford he discovered a sobering fact: his generation wasn't apathetic or lazy. It was simply lacking access to an outlet that would allow them to make a difference. When Rattray—the founder of Change.org and a popular social change speaker—learned that his younger brother was gay, he realized that not speaking out against injustices was almost as bad as actively perpetuating them. “[My brother] told me about the pain he experienced as a closeted... 2012-11-08 9:54:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-james-fallows-deborah-fallows-on-china-as-a-superpower.html Until recently, James Fallows and Deborah Fallows spent several years living and reporting from China. The duo have experienced the monumental changes taking place in the country first hand, and they are quite adept at explaining how these changes have put China on the path to achieving superpower status on the global stage. Both James and Deborah will share these findings in an upcoming keynote presentation at the University of Alaska. The event is a collaboration between the university and... 2012-11-08 11:15:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-jessica-green-world-microbes.html New Lavin speaker and TED Senior Fellow Jessica Green is showing us the amazing and important role microbes play in our everyday lives—in our bodies, our forests, and even our buildings—and she's doing it in visually stunning ways. A Professor at both the University of Oregon and the Santa Fe Institute, Green uses art, animation, and film to help people visualize the invisible world of microbes, and to better understand the profound ways that they affect and control our lives. Her talks... 2012-11-08 11:38:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonathan-haidt-shared-fear-and-ideological-differences.html "America faces many serious threats, but each side sees some and denies others," Jonathan Haidt writes in The New York Times. "Partisanship is not a bad thing. But when so many of our leaders can’t even occasionally place national interest before party interest, we’ve crossed over into hyperpartisanship. And that’s a very bad thing." Even after the two-year long electoral battle for President has come to a close, Haidt—a moral psychologist and author of The Righteous Mind—said... 2012-11-08 11:51:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-h2o-reimagined-charles-fishman-at-2012-water-and-health-conference.html "If there are places where there is inadequate water or inadequate water service, then we should swoop in there and insist on knowing why and insist on fixing the problem," Charles Fishman said in a recent interview. Encouraging people to get involved was one of the takeaways Fishman drove home in a keynote speech at the 2012 Water and Health Conference late last month. The conference brought together a team of professionals to address issues with sanitation, access to drinking water now and in the... 2012-11-08 14:33:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-equity-in-schools-education-speaker-pedro-noguera-noguera.html "Schools are set up to be the equalizer of opportunity," says education speaker Pedro Noguera in a recent video interview with NYU Steinhardt. However, more schools should be focused not only on accessibility to education, but also on "academic excellence and equity." As the author of several groundbreaking books on educational reform, and as the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, Noguera is a trusted voice on the education system. In the video, he explains why... 2012-11-08 15:07:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-conference-speaker-eric-klinenberg-digital-innovation-conference.html Eric Klinenberg's Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone is a fascinating look at our changing way of life—and it's innovative thinking like this that has landed Klinenberg as a conference speaker at the L2 Think Tank for Digital Innovation. Klinenberg has worked extensively on the rise of solo living, and argues that it's one of the largest societal changes in decades that no one seems to be talking about. The implications of Klinenberg's research are far... 2012-11-07 12:38:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-page-tedx-human-voice.html Last week, Steven Page ended his keynote at TEDx Toronto by leading the audience in a rousing sing-along. 1,200 voices—one of them was mine!—joined his, and achieved an impromptu harmony. “I believe in you,” he yelled out jokingly to those who hadn’t yet started singing. With that, the whole crowd bloomed to life. The talk ended, the day was over, and the audience rose to its feet. Page’s impressive feat of audience participation—always a gamble in a live... 2012-11-07 14:19:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-candy-chang-confessions-project.html Candy Chang's latest project, Confessions, is taking the mantra "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" to a whole new level. As the artist in residence at The Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas this past summer, the TED Senior Fellow transformed the hotel's gallery space into a living, breathing confessional—inviting guests to write their deepest and darkest secrets on tags and hang them on display. A recent article on the project provided some great photos of people's heartfelt confessions.... 2012-11-07 15:24:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neuroscience-speaker-david-eagleman-tickle.html David Eagleman is a renowned neuroscience speaker who delves into the secrets of the brain to help explain our motivations, and to answer pressing scientific questions. Like...why we can't tickle ourselves? While it may seem like a silly question, Eagleman's answer, quoted in a recent blog post, reveals a great deal about the inner workings of the mind. "Because your brain is always predicting your own actions, and how your body will feel as a result," Eagleman says, "you cannot tickle yourself."... 2012-11-07 16:09:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-why-nations-fail-economics-speaker-daron-acemoglu.html Fresh off the heels of a Goodread's Choice Award nomination, Why Nations Fail by James Robinson and economics speaker Daron Acemoglu just received a glowing review in the Huffington Post. “This is a great read,” the reviewer writes, “it is provocative and fun...go and get it.” Further, the reviewer compares Acemoglu and Robinson's book to the work of another Lavin speaker, saying it “is grand history in the style of Jared Diamond.” Diamond is the author of... 2012-11-06 9:54:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-tips-on-productivity-with-forbes.html Most of today's schools and workplaces seem to favor the learning style of the extrovert, opting for the collaborative over the individual. What then, does Susan Cain—an expert on introversion—propose that the quieter part of the population do when they want to be productive? “The writing environment that has suited me best, and that I think works for a lot of introverts, is a library or a cafe,” Cain writes in an interview with Forbes. “The kind of place where you feel... 2012-11-06 10:07:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-psychology-speaker-roy-baumeister-long-lists.html "Ask yourself whether you are where you want to be, what could be better and what you could do about it," psychology speaker Roy Baumeister advises in a recent interview. "Aim for a broad five-year plan along with specific, manageable goals." In the article, the expert on self-control and willpower shared this tip, and a few others, on achieving your goals without overburdening yourself or burning out your supply of willpower. The Professor of Psychology has conducted in-depth research that shows... 2012-11-06 11:09:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-salman-khan-coolest-person-in-america.html Who is "the coolest person in America today," according to Walter Isaacson? Why it's education speaker Salman Khan, of course. One of TIME's Most Influential People, Isaacson is the author of the record-breaking biography of Steve Jobs, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, the former CEO of CNN and the former Managing Editor of TIME. As part of the Fall 2012 Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Series, Isaacson sat down with Khan to discuss his new book, The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined and... 2012-11-06 10:19:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-conference-speaker-john-maeda-leadership-connected-culture.html As part of the GigaOM RoadMap: Design in the Age of Connectedness event, conference speaker John Maeda gave a keynote about the "important vectors of design, leadership and connected culture." Maeda is the President of the Rhode Island School of Design and works to humanize technology. Currently, Maeda is focusing on the intersection of design and technology and how the two disciplines can be used in conjunction with social media to better organize leadership in an organization. At the conference,... 2012-11-06 14:19:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-justin-fox-percentage-forecasting-elections.html "What [Nate] Silver's 80.9% forecast technically means," Justin Fox explains in a recent blog post for the Harvard Business Review, "is that, if the Obama-Romney 2012 election were contested 1000 times, he thinks Obama would win 809 of them. This is a way of thinking derived from games of chance, which is where modern ideas about probability originated." For anyone closely following the polling numbers, Silver—the New York Times' polling blogger and psephologist—has been posting predictions... 2012-11-06 11:58:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-samuel-arbesman-out-of-date-facts.html "We need to constantly reeducate ourselves, avoid memorization, and start looking up facts to make sure that we have the most updated knowledge," science speaker Samuel Arbesman advises in a blog post for the Harvard Business Review. "We need to incorporate an informational humility into our lives. Otherwise, we'll be stuck selling buggy whips to car owners. Or making maps that show the wrong number of planets."Thanks to Arbesman's new book, The Half-Life of Facts, we now know that everything we... 2012-11-06 12:59:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-media-speaker-amber-macarthur-constant-contact.html In the newest edition of Generation Flux, a special running serial on Fast Company, new media speaker Amber MacArthur shared her insights on the way technology is affecting leadership. The topic of the salon-style post was whether technology makes it easier or harder to be a leader, or whether it does both. According to MacArthur, technology can both help and hinder, and being cognizant of both its pitfalls and benefits will help you utilize it to its full potential. "Technology, especially within... 2012-11-06 15:06:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-diane-francis-new-website.html Diane Francis, Editor-at-Large for The National Post and The Financial Post, is known for "making sense of the headlines," about both national and international topics—providing insider explanations on the most pressing issues of the day. On her newly launched website, Francis provides a landing page for her most recent articles and the content shared across her social media channels. Here are some of our favorite articles that the bold, highly respected writer and speaker has posted lately:"Which... 2012-11-05 10:14:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-juliette-lamontagne-joins-forces-with-TED.html "I've always felt passionately about transforming or activating TED's 'Ideas Worth Spreading,'"Juliette LaMontagne, founder of Breaker, said recently. "So I've engineered for that." Collaboration plays a huge role in the projects that Breaker, her social entrepreneurship program, undertakes. While the organization has always paired students with mentors, LaMontagne has now added TED speakers to the mix— using their ideas as a jumping-off point to kick start innovative projects and find new... 2012-11-05 11:41:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-psychology-speaker-jonathan-haidt-shared-sacrifice-and-the-economy.html In this year's presidential race, while the number one issue has unequivocally been the economy, the deficit and national debt usually comes right behind. While most discussions around balancing the books equate to talk of either cutting services or raising taxes, psychology speaker Jonathan Haidt suggests that perhaps the issue isn't as black and white as it may seem. Perhaps, the winning strategy lies in a compromise, where a little is taken from each side. "The one thing that [Obama] has never... 2012-11-05 12:40:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alex-steffen-climate-patriotism-and-civic-duty.html In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, environmental speakers like Alex Steffen are making impassioned calls to action for us to start thinking about the future—and to start thinking about it today. In one of his most recent blog posts, appropriately titled "Climate Patriotism," Steffen writes an open letter to the American people about the connection between environmental activism and patriotism. "To be patriots," he writes, "we have to want to be good ancestors to those who are coming after us.... 2012-11-02 10:04:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-jonathan-kozol-stop-scaring-teachers.html Fresh off the release of his most recent book, Fire in the Ashes, education speaker Jonathan Kozol gave an interview with The Huffington Post about what his time embedded in the public school system has taught him—and what the presidential candidates need to do to preserve education in America. In his book, Kozol revisits the lives of students he wrote about in previous books. These students lived in some of the poorest communities in America—specifically Mott Haven in the South Bronx—and... 2012-11-02 10:32:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gayle-tzemach-lemmon-presidential-candidates-agree-to-agree-on-middle-east.html With the 2012 presidential election race coming to a close, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, the deputy director of the Council on Foreign Relations' Women and Foreign Policy, weighed in on one of the last debates between Governor Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. "They agreed to agree," she says of the two candidates' positions on the Middle East in a Bloomberg TV interview. She added that there wasn't a, "tremendous amount of difference in what the two candidates would actually do," in terms of foreign... 2012-11-02 11:22:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ted-fellow-candy-change-before-i-die-doane-college.html TED Fellow Candy Chang, the international public spaces artist, is bringing her popular 'Before I Die' installation to Nebraska. Candy will help Doane College students recreate the interactive exhibit—which The Atlantic called "one of the most creative community projects ever,”—and will give a free, public lecture on campus on November 12. Arranged like a giant chalkboard, participants use the board to relay their hopes, dreams and aspirations about what they want to accomplish... 2012-11-02 11:56:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-justice-power-of-community-human-rights-speaker-stephen-lewis.html After delivering a moving hour-long speech at New College’s 50th Anniversary celebration, human rights speaker Stephen Lews quipped that he could, "understand if [the audience] would want to stand up," to stretch their legs. And they did—in the form of a standing ovation. In his speech, Lewis—the renowned humanitarian and Co-Founder and Co-Director of AIDS-Free World—shared stories of the people and places he has seen during his career. Focusing on the power of community,... 2012-11-02 12:44:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-healthcare-speaker-jeffrey-simpson-bring-entrepreneurship-to-hospitals.html Rather than having Canadian patients go to the States to get surgeries, healthcare speaker Jeffrey Simpson wants to turn the whole system "on its head" and have American patients come North of the border for care. In his new book, Chronic Condition, Simpson has some revolutionary reforms in mind for the nation's healthcare system. In a Lavin interview, he shares some examples of how to get creative with hospital funding; turning a profit while still providing quality care at a reasonable rate. "If... 2012-11-02 13:17:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-google-plus-hangout-education-speaker-salman-khan.html Considering education speaker Salman Khan made a name for himself using digital technology and video, it seems only fitting that he would participate in a Google Hangout (a live video chat, run through social media site Google+) on the future of education. The video discussion focused on his newest book, The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined, and what Khan sees as the future for education. In the hour-long discussion, people from across the world asked Khan questions about his book, his... 2012-11-02 16:07:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-this-week-lavin-mercer-pasricha-hiring.html This week at The Lavin speakers bureau, David and Nikki and some friends of the agency took a stroll down the street to the CBC for a taping of the top-rated Rick Mercer Report. Rick’s a real pro, and anyone who’s been to an RMR shoot knows that he’s super professional yet highly personable, even when the cameras aren’t rolling. David also took a trip to see speaker Neil Pasricha talk about how to be awesome at work. It’s a new keynote that Neil’s put together,... 2012-11-02 16:44:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-four-lavin-speakers-up-for-goodreads-award.html Goodreads has announced the contenders for this year's Choice Awards—and four of the non-fiction nominees are Lavin speakers!  Here's a quick round-up of each of their bestselling, conversation-starting, good reads:Jonathan Haidt - The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion Why can't our political leaders ever seem to work together and why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist... 2012-11-01 10:10:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-work-life-balance-linda-duxbury-talks-to-the-globe-and-mail.html While it may be good for their pocketbooks, Linda Duxbury tells The Globe and Mail that "organizations are fooling themselves if they think they’re getting increased productivity" by piling more responsibilities onto the plates of fewer workers. In Duxbury's major 2012 National Study on Balancing Work and Caregiving in Canada, released earlier this month, it was revealed that more people are struggling to strike a work-life balance than ever before. Not only that, but their performance in both... 2012-11-01 11:20:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lewis-lapham-versus-buzzfeed.html If the Internet has made a world of information available at the click of a mouse, why then, Lewis Lapham laments, are people not seeking it out? And if they are, why are there layers and layers of near useless results popping up in our Google search results ahead of the great texts of our time? When Lapham left Harper's in 2006, (where he was the Editor for 30 years), he wanted to do something that harnessed the power of digital technology for the purpose of learning, and create a collection... 2012-11-01 11:50:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-the-ethicist-nyt-pieces-by-chuck-klosterman.html Sometimes we can all use a little moral guidance. And that is exactly what Chuck Klosterman, author of the bestselling books Killing Yourself to Live, Fargo Rock City, and The Visible Man, provides in his New York Times column, The Ethicist. As one of the wittiest and most compelling cultural analysts of our generation, Klosterman has an intimate and in-depth relationship with society and how it functions. In The Ethicist, he responds to questions involving personal moral judgments and provides snippets... 2012-11-01 14:32:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-reggie-love-wants-you-to-vote.html "My personal preference is for people to go out and vote for Barack Obama," Reggie Love said in a recent radio interview, "but this political process is very important...and even if you aren't going to vote for Barack Obama—go vote for someone." As the long time body man—or top aide—to the President, Love has developed a close relationship with Obama, so it's no surprise that he has Love's glowing endorsement. However, his passion for the importance of the political engagement extends... 2012-11-01 13:39:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ken-burns-dust-bowl-pbs.html “They used to say no one will watch [documentaries about serious subjects], no one has the attention span,” Ken Burns said in a recent interview. “[But Dust Bowl] is an American story, about how there are no ordinary people, and how some of the anonymous among us lead incredible lives.” And if it's anything like the previous work of the talented filmmaker (winning him dozens of awards and two Oscar nods), his newest venture will once more again prove the naysayers wrong. On... 2012-11-01 14:55:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kurt-eichenwald-500-days-texas-book-fair.html When Kurt Eichenwald was asked why he decided to write his newest book, 500 Days, after so much time had passed since 9/11, he began his response by saying simply: "I'm drawn to controversial topics."  In his time as a journalist, the Pulitzer Prize nominee and two-time George Polk Award-winner has written an array of investigative reports and several books that have uncovered or explored corruption at its very deepest level. When it came to the events of 9/11, and what took place thereafter,... 2012-11-01 15:26:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-matt-taibbi-media-hype.html Matt Taibbi, never one to be shy about voicing his opinion, wishes that, sometimes, we could "turn down the volume" when watching coverage of the presidential race. "It's perfectly valid for us media types to advocate for the candidate we think is more qualified, based on our reporting," writes the politics speaker in a recent Rolling Stone article. "But the hype has gotten so out of control, it's become bigger than the presidency itself." For Taibbi, author of the bestselling book Griftopia, there... 2012-11-01 16:36:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-politics-speaker-andrew-coyne-ama-on-reddit.html "I am Andrew Coyne, Ask Me Anything," the National Post columnist declared to Reddit's online community.  The writer and political speaker recently participated in the social media site's popular AMA (Ask Me Anything) feature, where a live forum is held and anyone online can—quite literally—ask the participant anything. Over 300 comments have been posted in the thread to date and Coyne—in his traditional witty, balanced and outspoken manner—replied to nearly every single... 2012-10-31 9:57:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-robert-kuttner-austerity-wont-promote-growth.html "Why would you vote for Romney based on the economy?" economics speaker Robert Kuttner asks in a column in the Huffington Post. The answer? "Because he's not Obama. Not enough voters, male or female, look at Romney's blarney in any detail; they just know that Obama hasn't solved a prolonged slump," he writes. After a major recession, the American economy has only bounced back by 7.2 per cent in the past four years, Kuttner explains in the article. This, he argues, has contributed to the presidential... 2012-10-31 10:49:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-media-expert-alexandra-samuel-moves-to-vision-critical.html Social media expert Alexandra Samuel is adding another position to her powerhouse resume: working with Vision Critical. In a recent post on her blog, she announced that she would regrettably be leaving her position at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design in order to take on a more prominent role with the Vancouver-based research and technology solutions company. The company, which Samuel first worked with back in 2005, just completed the largest study on social media usage to date.In Samuel's... 2012-10-31 12:26:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-w-brett-wilson-stick-to-your-principles.html The Lavin Agency would like to welcome another new speaker, W. Brett Wilson! Before leaving the hit CBC show Dragons' Den in 2011, the wildly popular and successful philanthropic businessman was the Den's lead deal-maker, with over 30 investments made. Now on Slice TV's Risky Business, Wilson is still going strong, offering audiences everywhere tips on how to build sustainable, entrepreneurial, and profitable companies—while still sticking to your principles.Wilson is a firm believer in using... 2012-10-31 11:13:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-libraries-are-machines-for-learning-culture-speaker-lev-grossman.html In an age where the eBook is king and digital is overtaking print, will libraries survive? Culture speaker Lev Grossman says the institution is indeed threatened—but he also presents a compelling argument as to why we should all be fighting for its preservation. As a writer himself (Grossman is a journalist and the author of The Magicians series), Grossman has an affinity for the tranquil and almost romantic ambiance that a library full of tangible, paper books exudes."Libraries are these huge... 2012-10-31 13:51:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cbc-radios-jian-ghomeshi-1982.html For some Gen Xers, the 1980s are a distant memory that they probably want to forget. CBC Radio's Jian Ghomeshi, however, chose to embrace his time as an awkward, 14-year-old Iranian-Canadian growing up in 1980's Toronto in his new book, 1982. As he explains on CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, the book is about a formative year when he sought to find acceptance and secure his place in a country that was much different than that of his heritage. "I wanted to tell a couple of stories and maybe... 2012-10-31 15:21:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-google-to-zestcash-innovation-speaker-douglas-merrill.html After spending years, "having a lot of fun" working as the Chief Information Officer at Google, innovation speaker Douglas Merrill decided to shift gears and use his technical know-how to help hard-working families that need a little extra cash. After leaving his post at Google, Merrill founded his financial company ZestCash. "We're trying to use really advanced technology to give people who don't have access to traditional credit...fair, transparent and lower-cost credit [alternatives]," Merrill... 2012-10-31 16:15:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-douglas-stephens-stores-of-the-future.html "Rather than us seeking products, it's products that are seeking us," retail speaker Douglas Stephens said in an exclusive interview with Lavin. Where we once had to physically enter a store to make a purchase (whether it be in person or online), Stephens says, "we're [now] running into opportunities to buy throughout our day." We are becoming increasingly inundated with the opportunity to make purchases on-the-fly; from targeted ads popping up while we scan Facebook, to receiving... 2012-10-30 13:09:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-general-rick-hillier.html Gen.Tom Lawson, Canada's new chief of defence staff, has big shoes to fill. In writing about the news, CNEWS also recounted the formidable leadership and accomplishments of Gen. Rick Hillier, the former chief of defence. Gen. Hillier, the country's most recent top general, made tough but effective decisions during his time in the role and his outgoing and charismatic personality earned him the respect of not only his troops—but of the nation, CNEWS writes. Holding the position between... 2012-10-30 10:28:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-creativity-innovation-speaker-josh-linkner.html A New York Times bestselling author and entrepreneur, Josh Linkner is a master at harnessing and re-energizing creativity in companies and individuals worldwide. The innovation speaker's background speaks for itself: he's the Founder, Chairman and CEO of of ePrize—the largest interactive promotion agency in the world which provides digital marketing services for 74 of the top 100 brands—and was founder and CEO of three other successful technology companies. He's also the CEO and Managing... 2012-10-30 12:27:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eagleman-jer-thorp-poptech-2012.html “Good science and good art are the same,” David Eagleman said in a recent interview. "Science and art are both creative processes where you make leaps and have some way of filtering them, [and] a good creative person, scientist, or artist generates lots of ideas and has the capacity to throw a lot of them out.” The neuroscience speaker was joined by big data speaker Jer Thorp at this year's PopTech 2012 Conference in Maine. (Check out photos of the event, captured by Thatcher... 2012-10-30 12:31:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-nina-tandon-fast-companys-100-most-creative-people.html Nina Tandon, one of Lavin's newest exclusive speakers, was recently named as one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business. The TED Fellow is doing extraordinary things with bodily tissues and has been researching and experimenting with electrical signaling, with the ultimate end goal of creating artificial hearts and bones. One day, she hopes to be able to use her artificially constructed tissues for transplants in humans. When Fast Company (known for featuring the work of some of the... 2012-10-30 13:55:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mental-health-speaker-michael-landsberg.html When most people hear the name Michael Landsberg, they don't immediately associate him with the mental health movement. However, the host of TSN's Off The Record and the former host of SportsCentre was one of the big-name guests and keynote speakers at the Bell Kaleidoscope of Hope Gala in support of mental health awareness. After battling a tough bout with depression, which he still fights today, Landsberg has become a prominent mental health speaker—when he's not dishing with the sports... 2012-10-30 14:10:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-hurricane-sandy-risk-management-speaker-erwann-michel-kerjan.html If you were among the victims hit hard when Hurricane Sandy made landfall this week, risk-management speaker Erwann Michel-Kerjan has some suggestions on how you can start to put your life back together. The massive precipitation and gale-force winds that accompanied the recent storm flooded a large portion of New York and New Jersey (and some cities in southern Canada) after it headed inland and wreaked havoc on the bustling metropolis. Unfortunately for the many residents whose homes and cars... 2012-10-30 15:27:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeff-rubin-david-suzuki-renewable-energy.html Fresh off a cross-country lecture series, Jeff Rubin and David Suzuki stopped off at Western University to discuss the current sociopolitical landscape and the vital connection that exists between the environment and economics. "Triple digit hydrocarbon prices are going to lead us to some very green places," Rubin said in the discussion, adding that this shift is going to happen, "whether we want to go there or not." Rubin, former chief economist and strategist for CIBC World Markets and the author... 2012-10-29 10:11:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-conference-speaker-charles-fishman-value-of-water.html Charles Fishman wants us to start thinking more seriously about our water consumption. At the Smart Water Solutions for Atlanta conference, the speaker shared some staggering metrics that could bring a new-found respect for the value of water to even the most skeptical citizens. He told the audience at the conference that: "The United States consumes more gallons of water in a day than the gallons of oil we consume in a year, and the U.S. population consumes more gallons of water in four days than... 2012-10-29 12:32:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-pinker-nyt-politial-polarity.html "Regardless of who wins the presidential election," Steven Pinker writes in his New York Times opinion piece,  "we already know now how most of the electoral map will be colored, which will be close to the way it has been colored for decades."  If you look back on elections past, the electoral map shows little change between which states voted Republican and which voted for Democrat over the past five elections. In the article, Pinker breaks down several theories that attempt to explain... 2012-10-29 11:44:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-care-speaker-Jeffrey-Simpson-medicine.html Most people don't think of a hospital as a business. As health care speaker Jeffrey Simpson explains, the number of people who are treated in our hospitals and the quality of care they receive is largely impacted by budgetary constraints, just like any other business. Each year, Canadian hospitals receive a budget that's determined by how much money was allocated to them in years past, and adjusted to amend any shortfalls. "It's a top-down, command-and-control kind of system based on a global budget,"... 2012-10-29 14:01:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-linda-duxbury-work-life-balance.html Finding a work-life balance is a common concern for most—if not all—employed individuals. Linda Duxbury, an expert in the field of workplace health, recently released a major new study that examined the work-life experiences of 25,000 Canadians who were employed full time between June 2011 and June 2012. "Stress levels have gone up and life satisfaction has gone down,’’ the health speaker says in her study. "The bottom line is that many of the employees in our sample... 2012-10-29 12:58:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rob-walker-significant-objects-changing-ecommerce.html Rob Walker says that the things we own aren't valuable intrinsically—it's the narrative that we attach to those objects that gives them value and meaning. As part of the Future of Storytelling conference, a group of contributors from Walker's Significant Objects eBay project put together a video to document the power that the subjective meaning of an object can have on its monetary value. For the project, Walker and his co-founder compiled a collection of ordinary objects, had a writer craft... 2012-10-29 16:24:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-how-steve-jobs-saved-apple-dan-lyons.html If you've ever wanted to ask Steve Jobs something, your best bet might just be to ask Daniel Lyons. As the hilarious and insightful writer of The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs blog, Lyons has a deep knowledge of the late Apple CEO's life. So much so, in fact, that he has been lovingly referred to as the "Fake Steve Jobs." In this keynote (which can also be viewed in the video above), Lyons uses his trademark quick wit to give an informed synopsis of the early days at Apple. Jobs had little to no... 2012-10-29 14:53:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-global-design-nyu-mitchell-joachim-traveling-city.html At Global Design NYU, Mitchell Joachim and a selection of his peers came together to rethink the future of urban architecture. As one of the directors of the event, Joachim not only contributed a working model created by his non-profit organization Terreform ONE, but also helped bring a collection of exciting new technologies to the public. His model was crafted to be a traveling exhibition, where local urban issues facing one particular city were built into a scaled model that moves from place... 2012-10-26 9:31:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-adria-vasil-effective-consumer-complaints.html When Adria Vasil goes to her local grocery store with a hankering for a certain food, only to find that her craving can't be satisfied because the store doesn't carry it, she says something about it. Chances are, you have experienced the same thing. You trek to the store to purchase a certain item but have to settle for something else because the grocer hasn't stocked the shelves with what you wanted. When Vasil, an environmental columnist and author of the popular Ecoholic book series, stopped by... 2012-10-26 10:28:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neri-oxman-3d-printing.html As part of her recent exhibition, "Imaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not Yet," and in her other work, Neri Oxman has been collaborating with a team of design experts to—quite literally—breathe life into typically static design. Making extensive use of 3D printing technology, Oxman is attempting to bring technology and design together with nature. Rather than creating tools and technologies that "subtract materials," she instead focuses on "growing materials." Using this 3D printing... 2012-10-26 11:04:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sam-arbesman-half-life-of-facts-reviews.html Samuel Arbesman's The Half-Life of Facts has been sending the scientific community into a frenzy—in a good way. His breakthrough book challenges the preconceived notions of knowledge and says that everything you learn has as expiration date. Never fear, however, as this applied mathematician and network scientist has found patterns in the way that knowledge shifts and transforms. He uses equations and research to chart the course of facts, making sense of the often chaotic rate of scientific... 2012-10-26 11:52:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bees-to-silicon-valley-edward-o-wilson.html What does the work of Edward O. Wilson, one of the world's most distinguished biologists, have to do with startup business culture? "On the surface, biology and technological innovation seem distinctly different," Victor W. Hwang writes in Forbes. "But if we adjust our perspective slightly, it’s remarkable how useful Wilson’s ideas are to understanding Silicon Valley and America’s startup economy." "E. O. Wilson has spent a lifetime trying to explain the inexplicable, but he... 2012-10-26 13:08:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-honor-in-line-with-morality-kwame-anthony-appiah.html "Honor is very important in bringing about change in the world," Kwame Anthony Appiah says in a video from the Focus Forward Films series. "In a generation we can make great progress." Shot by some of the world's most celebrated filmmakers, the videos are each three minutes in length and tell the stories of "innovative people who are reshaping the world through act or invention." In Appiah's segment, his live interview snippets are combined with stunning animations that help to visualize his enlightened... 2012-10-26 12:25:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-paul-tough-poverty-as-a-barrier-to-success.html "Let’s give credit where credit is due," Diane Ravitch writes in a blog post about Paul Tough's How Children Succeed. "Tough is smart. He knows what is going on." The ideas that Tough presents in his book about character development, stress and education have sparked a national conversation about the way we teach our children. One part of his book, in particular, stood out to Ravitch, the Research Professor of Education at New York University. "What he reports about the physiological effects... 2012-10-26 15:32:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-virginia-heffernan-digital-media-in-schools.html Virginia Heffernan says that we need to seriously rethink the way that we view accomplishment in the classroom. While there are undoubtedly benefits to following a syllabus and being disciplined enough to complete assigned work, the national correspondent for Yahoo! News argues that there is more to learning than simply doing what is being taught. Just because a student may not want to do the work assigned doesn't necessarily mean that they are poor students or have Attention Deficit Disorder, says... 2012-10-26 14:33:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-james-fallows-talks-to-productivity-guru-david-allen.html Do you feel like you're being bombarded with what seems like an overwhelming number of tasks 24/7? James Fallows, National Correspondent for The Atlantic, talks with productivity expert David Allen in a recent article about what it takes to "get things done" in a time when emails and digital communication make it difficult—if not impossible—to disconnect. With the advent of digital technology, many theorists have proposed that we are now living in a state of information overload where... 2012-10-25 9:48:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-climate-scientist-laurence-c-smith-greenland.html Environmental speaker Laurence C. Smith isn't just studying climate change for the benefit of niche researchers interested in learning about the Arctic. Rather, he says that the work he is doing with UCLA on Greenland's melting ice sheets is "important to the world as a whole." This past July, Smith was in Greenland studying the massive melting taking place and documented the extraordinary changes happening to the landscape. For the first time since 1859, Smith has found that 97 per cent of the massive... 2012-10-25 10:37:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-doing-design-differently-anab-jain-collaboration.html When clients come to Anab Jain, she offers them more than the traditional brand of design consultancy. At Superflux, where Jain is the Founder and Director, she combines consulting services with cutting-edge lab study. She takes on a myriad of diverse projects in an effort to keep her insights sharp—and to create unexpected collisions of ideas. In a video interview series called "4 Questions 4," put on the Smithsonian National Design Museum, Jain explains what makes her design practice Superflux... 2012-10-25 14:48:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-adversity-and-character-education-speaker-paul-tough.html In his keynote speech at the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) Conference, education speaker Paul Tough posed a provocative theory: "what if by protecting our kids, we are doing them more harm than good?" The author of How Children Succeed argues that the development of character traits such as grit and self-control are more important for success than cognitive intelligence. Bearing this in mind, he argues that adversity builds and strengthens these character traits, and that failure helps children... 2012-10-25 11:42:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-page-tedx-toronto.html “Can you remember the first time you heard a recording of your own voice played back to you,” speaker Steven Page asks in a new video. “That can’t be what I sound like!” In the trailer, made for his keynote at TEDxToronto this Friday, the Barenaked Ladies co-founder and singer songwriter reminds us that “there’s no more personal communication tool than the human voice.” As he speaks, images of people talking—ripped from our collective memory—flicker... 2012-10-25 12:31:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jane-chen-at-wired-2012.html Jane Chen, a TED India Fellow, TED Senior Fellow, Echoing Green Fellow, and Rainer Arnhold Fellow, has been chosen among a group of top innovators to speak at the Wired 2012 Conference. Taking place in London, England, the two-day event will feature the "ideas, innovations and people reshaping our world."  Chen is the co-founder of Embrace, a social enterprise responsible for creating low-cost baby incubators called the Embrace Infant Warmer. According to their website (and data from... 2012-10-25 12:48:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-after-rotman-roger-martin-steps-down-as-face-of-business-school.html After 14 years as dean of The Rotman School of Management, Roger Martin has decided to step down next June. "Mr. [Roger] Martin’s shoes will be a challenge to fill," Janet McFarland writes in the Globe and Mail. “I like writing, and this [dean’s role] is a full-time job,” Martin said of his decision. “It’s hard to get done as much thinking, research and writing as I would like.” As the high-profile face of the University of Toronto's business... 2012-10-25 16:10:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alexandra-samuel-social-media-policy.html You are what you tweet, comment, like or share. And, like it or not, Alexandra Samuel says that your online persona is directly linked to who you are—even when you aren't wired to the Internet. As she writes in a Harvard Business Review article, that's usually a good thing. "Many of us thrive on the holistic perspectives and relationships that can develop when people tweet, blog or Facebook as their own true selves, 24/7," she points out. The problem, however, is that, "in the course of that... 2012-10-24 10:13:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-andrew-bacevich-not-to-be-missed.html "There are certain qualities that make the United States of America a special place, a wonderful place — a place worthy of a patriot's love," foreign policy speaker Andrew Bacevich says, "but it does not follow that other countries, other cultures somehow have to exist in a subordinate position relative to the United States." In a talk at the University of Missouri that the Vietnam veteran gave earlier this month, he stressed how important it is to question the aims of war. A proud retired... 2012-10-24 11:22:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-margaret-atwood-writes-ebook-serial.html Judging by her massive Twitter following (over 350,000 followers) and her newly released serial book series (which is only being released in E-book form), it's safe to say that Margaret Atwood has a penchant for anything cutting edge. It's no surprise, then, that the L.A.Times says that she is "ahead of the curve."  As she describes in the Times video interview (or, more accurately, the Google+ hangout between Atwood and the Times writer, which, is another testament to Atwood's digital... 2012-10-24 12:16:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-media-speaker-amber-mac-on-gamification.html Amber Mac, a highly requested speaker on all things technology and new media, stopped by our offices recently to talk about a new trend that's turning daily mundane tasks into entertaining challenges. "Gamification", a buzz term floating around the technology sector, transforms your day-to-day tasks into fun games. "It's about powering through your day with smarter tools," she said in the interview, "that involves the social stuff [and] the technology for being smarter and more organized and more... 2012-10-24 13:10:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-juliette-lamontagne-project-breaker.html Juliette LaMontagne is one of today's leading educational trailblazers. She champions the power of engagement and encourages first-hand learning to get young people today involved in solving the problems of tomorrow. Her Project Breaker looks to reinvent the traditional education system, and help aspiring youth better use their talents to create projects with real-world impacts.  "Young people are seeking out and in some cases creating their own alternative learning experiences," she says, "they're... 2012-10-24 13:42:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-best-of-rob-walker-design-observer.html Rob Walker is one of the most original, observant, and certainly prolific, authors writing about our relationship to consumer products and new digital experiences. In his recently co-authored book, Significant Objects, he gathered dozens of cutting edge writers (Sheila Heti, Jonathan Lethem) and asked them to write stories about objects he'd bought at thrift stores. He then used these fictional pieces as eBay descriptions and sold the products—for a hefty mark up—on the popular online... 2012-10-24 14:26:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-richard-florida-on-what-toronto-and-creative-cities-need.html "The success of cities is powered by clustering and concentration," Richard Florida writes in Toronto Life, " [due to] their ability to attract people, push them together in new combinations and spur productivity, creativity and economic growth. They are the places where ideas come to mate, and people and firms generate inventions and new industries." With more people gravitating toward urban centers than ever before, it would stand to reason that major cities would be prospering and attracting talented,... 2012-10-24 16:02:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-olympic-doctor-welcoming-julia-alleyne.html The Lavin Agency is pleased to welcome our newest speaker, Dr. Julia Alleyne, the Chief Medical Officer for the 2012 Canadian Olympic team and for the 2012 Pan Am Games. With almost three decades working with high-performing athletes and a decade of experience at the Olympics under her belt, Dr. Alleyne offers her audiences tips on applying Olympic lessons, strategies and attitudes to their everyday lives. With emotional storytelling and moving anecdotes, Dr. Alleyne guides us through seminal Olympic... 2012-10-24 17:13:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-drawing-on-introverts-susan-cain-rsa.html If you enjoyed Susan Cain's TED talk on introverts, you're going to love this new video from the RSA Shorts collection. Drawing on points from Cain's RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) speech, the animated short was drawn by Molly Crabapple. The video breathes new life into Cain's popular material on introversion, and uses quirky animated drawings to explain the roles that both introverts and extroverts play in society. It even features a animal-themed reenactment... 2012-10-23 11:33:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ta-nehisi-coates-online-community-mit.html Ta-Nehisi Coates recently spoke about online commenting communities at MIT's Media Lab—something he is more than qualified to discuss. Coates' blog at The Atlantic was recently named by TIME as one of the 25 Best in the World, and it's not hard to see why: He's prolific, provocative, and timely, and every day he draws an impassioned community of commenters to the site. Coates, ever the able host, can often be found weaving in and out of the threads, adding his thoughts, clarifying ideas, and... 2012-10-23 12:37:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-james-fallows-visits-iphone-factories-in-china.html James Fallows—the author of two highly regarded books on China, Postcards from Tomorrow Square and the new China Airborne—recently visited the the infamous Foxconn factory complex where iPhones and other consumer products are manufactured in Shenzhen. Despite spending a great deal of time in China himself (Fallows lived in and reported from the country until recently), the overall reaction Fallows depicted in his Atlantic article about his visit was that of surprise. "What I... 2012-10-23 12:03:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gawker-spike-lee-bad-25-rock-doc-to-art.html The website Gawker, not generally known for glowing reviews, calls Spike Lee's new Michael Jackson documentary, Bad 25, "the greatest Behind the Music episode of all time," adding that the film "elevates the rock doc to an art form." Encapsulating the life of one of the music industry's most prolific, and also most scandalized, icons is certainly a daunting task. But Lee's firm grasp of cinema and near unrivaled ability to weave a complex story into an easy-to-manage pop culture manifesto shows viewers... 2012-10-23 14:31:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-this-week-lavin-oxman-jackley-aslan.html It’s been another busy week at The Lavin Agency speakers bureau. In the second of our ongoing series of rooftop catch-up videos, David Lavin talks about getting a personal tour of the MIT Media Lab from design speaker Neri Oxman, who’s doing some incredible work with biomimicry and materials science. (Her carpel tunnel syndrome gloves are a site for sore wrists!) David also threw a few parties. The first was for our friend Rupinder Gill, who was celebrating the US launch of her memoir,... 2012-10-23 13:00:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-race-2012-randall-kennedy-pbs-film.html Randall Kennedy, one of America's foremost commentators on race, will appear in PBS's election special. Called RACE 2012: A Conversation About Race and Politics in America, the film uses the current presidential election as a backdrop to explain the dramatically changing social and racial landscape in the United States. In 1980, the population of the U.S. was 80 per cent white. Now, according to a 2010 census, the non-white population in the country is up to 35 per cent, giving immigrant and minority... 2012-10-23 13:05:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-moral-psychology-speaker-jonathan-haidt-libertarian.html Jonathan Haidt's bestselling book The Righteous Mind offered a fascinating look into the psychology, and the morals, of liberals and conservatives, among other things. In a recent study, Haidt studies the motivations behind another group: the often-misunderstood libertarians. Recapping the study, The American Conservative writes: "Self-identified libertarians have a distinct moral code based on the priority of freedom, are inclined toward abstract reasoning rather than emotional response, and value... 2012-10-23 14:58:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tedx-keynote-speaker.html How much preparation, exactly, goes into giving a TED talk? A new Toronto Star story takes us behind the scenes of the “meticulous preparation” involved in this Friday’s TEDxToronto, which will be hosted by Lavin’s Drew Dudley. Dudley tells the Star that he doesn’t remember exactly what he said during his rousing 2010 talk, and he likens stepping out onto the stage as feeling “like a punch to the stomach.” He obviously did something right though, as his talk... 2012-10-23 15:09:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-creativity-speaker-lyn-heward-cirque-du-soleil-owns-the-stage.html Creativity speaker Lyn Heward is the Director of Creation for Cirque du Soleil and has been inspiring audiences to stretch their imaginations for years. The mesmerizing feats of Cirque shows can be attributed in no small part to the creative spark that Heward ignites within the performers, designers, and technicians of the circus. When she recently spoke at a keynote presentation in Singapore, Heward's insights on creativity and innovation were received in the same way as the Cirque events she oversees—leaving... 2012-10-22 10:43:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eagleman-thorp-poptech-2012.html Neuroscience speaker David Eagleman and big data speaker Jer Thorp delivered talks at PopTech 2012 last week, and we have some great photos of the event. You can check out more photos on PopTech's official FlickR account. Here are a few of our favourite shots: 2012-10-22 11:30:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-are-you-mobile-compatible-technology-speaker-dan-lyons.html Earlier this month, technology speaker Daniel Lyons (also known in cyberspace as the "Fake" Steve Jobs) shared some intriguing predictions about the future of mobile technology and the traditional TV show. As one of the speakers at the Business of Software 2012 conference, Lyons said that the rising popularity of mobile technology requires that companies make major shifts both in how they craft a message to online audiences and how they advertise to those users. As PC technology and... 2012-10-22 11:41:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-reggie-love-lead-no-one-follow.html Last month, leadership speaker Reggie Love—President Obama’s former personal aide—stopped by Lavin’s Toronto offices to talk about his new keynote on leading when no one wants to follow, a topic near to his heart. (He was in town, in fact, to give that very talk). Drawing on the years he spent with Obama during his historic first term, as well as his own time as a college sports star, Love offers his proven five P’s of leadership. Together, the five P’s amount... 2012-10-22 12:25:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-nic-kristoff-education-speaker-paul-toughs-important-new-book.html In his latest New York Times Op-Ed, Nicholas Kristoff calls education speaker Paul Tough's How Children Succeed "an important new book," adding: "Long may this book dwell on the best-seller lists!" Tough's book brings together "decades of fascinating research" on the long-standing "nature vs nurture" debate and its effect on childhood development, Kristoff explains in his piece. While the debate still rages on, Tough has produced some convincing arguments in favor of nurture being a more determining... 2012-10-22 12:46:13 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-be-open-to-unseen-solutions-negotiation-speaker-misha-glouberman.html Negotiations speaker Misha Glouberman is an expert in conflict resolution. In one of his most recent keynotes (which often function more like collaborative Q&A sessions than stiff, rigid speeches) he explains that there is usually more than one way to solve a disagreement and get what you want. "There are really great solutions that are not obvious," says Glouberman, "the tricky part is that being open to these unseen solutions isn't what our brains are naturally wired to do."Rather, people... 2012-10-22 13:18:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-religion-speaker-reza-aslan-understanding-islam-today.html When religion speaker Reza Aslan talks about the Middle East, he doesn't pull any punches. In a video interview with Stand Alone Media, he combats current misconceptions about Muslims and Islam head on—offering a blunt, but valid and thoroughly researched, rebuttal on some of the most commonly held beliefs about Islam as a religion. As he has argued in his books, the global Islamic population is not a homogeneous group of fundamentalists. That belief, he argues, is as "ridiculous," as saying... 2012-10-22 15:22:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-coming-home-teju-cole-returning-to-america.html Memory is a strange and powerful thing, says Teju Cole in this short video over at the New Yorker. (The video, above, is from a few months back, sure, but it's still amazing!). Cole may be best known as the author of the white-hot debut novel Open City, but he's also a serious photographer. His connection to photographs, to stories, and to his past, form the basis of the video.When Cole was five months old, his mother took him from his home in America to his other home in Nigeria, a place where he... 2012-10-22 16:26:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-douglas-stephens-going-first-winning.html "Brands that go first are brands that are winning," retail speaker Douglas Stephens said in a recent keynote. "The only way any of us are going to avoid the disruption, ultimately, in the marketplace, is if we are the ones that are causing it." As one of the leading—and one of the only—retail prophets on the planet, Stephens has been forecasting retail trends for the past twenty years. In this keynote, he takes us through a short history of the shopping experience, saying that between... 2012-10-19 15:56:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-culture-moves-before-politics-diversity-speaker-jeff-chang-colorlines.html When culture leads, politics will follow. Eventually. So says diversity speaker Jeff Chang, who is currently Stanford University's Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts. In a Q&A in ColorLines, where he is a founding editor, Chang explains the significant role that the arts and cultural collaboration play in enacting change in government and policy."Culture is still bubbling and culture still has a very strong role to play in this very polarized, very divided political... 2012-10-19 10:12:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tedx-toronto-drew-dudley-hosts-steven-page-speaks.html On October 26, the fourth annual TEDx Toronto will be celebrating "ideas worth spreading." Two of Lavin's speakers, Drew Dudley and Steven Page, are on the docket this year: Dudley as the host, and Page as the closing keynote speaker. TEDx always delivers a powerhouse lineup of today's best and brightest speakers. Several of our speakers have been featured at the event, including Neil Pasricha and his talk, "The Three A's of Awesome." To date, the talk has become one of the top 20 TEDx talks... 2012-10-19 11:06:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-a-revolution-has-begun-humanitarian-speaker-jake-harriman-nyt-op-ed.html Jake Harriman's latest New York Times Opinion Piece is both artfully written and deeply moving. "While gazing into the eyes of a Kurian farmer who is pleading with me to help her children who haven’t eaten in three days," writes the humanitarian speaker, "my vision blurs and I’m looking into the eyes of a screaming Iraqi farmer who just had his family shot to pieces right in front of him."These heartbreakingly horrific words, and this harrowing experience, paint a picture of the... 2012-10-19 11:26:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-in-review-high-praise-salman-rushdies-memoir-joseph-anton.html A month after its release, Joseph Anton, the memoir from literary legend Salman Rushdie, has been getting rave reviews. Akash Kapur of Bloomberg Businessweek writes that: "In an age of rising intolerance and diminished literary confidence, Joseph Anton—like Salman Rushdie’s own life—strikes a blow for the continued relevance of literature." Margaret Drabble, from The Guardian, calls the book, "brutally honest and profound....[and] more gripping than any... 2012-10-19 12:06:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-paul-tough-this-american-life.html Children are our future—and thanks to the work of education speaker Paul Tough, and his unique perspective on how to help more children succeed, that future is beginning to look a little brighter. Tough recently appeared on NPR's This American Life to discuss the theories presented in his bestselling book How Children Succeed. Test results and natural intelligence aren't the only, nor even the most important, indicators of a child's academic—and longterm—success. "Leadership principles... 2012-10-19 14:12:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dave-eggers-ninive-calegari-screen-american-teacher.html The documentary American Teacher—co-produced by education speaker Ninive Calegari—is still screening and still having an impact, almost a year after its initial release. Narrated by Matt Damon, Teacher is “a film about education that gets it exactly right” (The Washington Post). In California this week, Calegari held a special viewing for the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation, followed by a lively Q&A. Joining her was Jonathan Dearman and Dave Eggers, the author with... 2012-10-19 16:26:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-hooman-majd-the-future-of-iranian-western-relations.html As a leading voice on Iranian life and foreign relations, Hooman Majd offers a fresh perspective on Middle Eastern and Iranian issues. When he visited Lavin's New York office last week, he shared points from his two new talks where he gives insight into how Western sanctions on the country have affected day-to-day life in Iran and why it's important to have a greater understanding of what is happening overseas. With military conflict becoming an increasingly real threat, Majd told us that seeing... 2012-10-19 15:21:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-googles-eric-schmidt-education-speaker-salman-khan.html When Eric Schmidt is praising your accomplishments, you're doing something right. Education speaker Salman Khan recently sat down with the Executive Chairman of Google to discuss his newly-released book, The One World Schoolhouse, and the growth of the Khan Academy. "It may very well be that Salman Khan becomes the most important educator in the entire world," said Schmidt. The recognition is well-deserved given that Khan's breakthrough video-based education program now teaches over 4.2 million... 2012-10-18 15:28:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-november-27-is-isabel-allende-day.html On November 27, San Jose State University will host Isabel Allende Day—a day of free events, a keynote speech by the acclaimed author, and a commendation from San Jose City Hall. Students at the university will share testimonials, a live theater performance and sketches commemorating the four decade-strong career of one of the most celebrated writers of our time. Allende has written over 17 books, drawing on the harrowing experiences and lessons learned following her exile after the assassination... 2012-10-18 9:26:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ted-fellow-cesar-harada-joins-the-ranks-of-the-unreasonable-at-sea-mentorship-program.html TED Fellow Cesar Harada is used to working on the open water. The Lavin exclusive speaker is the inventor of the revolutionary ocean technology Protei—shape-shifting, wind-powered and open-source sailing robots used to sense and clean the oceans. But come January, Harada will embark on a oceanic learning experience unlike any other, with Unreasonable at Sea. It's a mentorship program that takes young tech ventures—specifically, those working to solve today's biggest environmental and... 2012-10-18 9:56:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-insider-members-of-the-board-business-speaker-justin-fox.html "Corporate governance is all about balancing diverse, sometimes conflicting priorities and interests," business speaker Justin Fox writes in The Harvard Business Review, "which is why seemingly simple, straightforward attempts to improve it so often backfire." Aptly titled "Throwing Out Insiders Won't Fix Corporate Boards," Fox argues that simply forcing insiders out of their spots on corporate boards of directors won't ensure good-governance of a corporation. Seemingly, it would make sense not to... 2012-10-18 10:22:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-after-theaftershow-celebrity-speaker-jessi-cruickshank-reminisces-about-the-early-days.html When celebrity speaker Jessi Cruickshank was asked what she thought of the show that would eventually help jump-start her career in television, the new university grad told her bosses at MTV that she thought it was both "awful" and "horrible for society." That show was Laguna Beach, an American reality TV show that later spawned the popular spin-off The Hills—and Cruickshank's hilarious and witty dissections of these two shows on MTV's The After Show made her a household name. When... 2012-10-18 11:02:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jessica-jackley-makes-an-impact-at-the-women-on-wall-street-conference.html Jessica Jackley, social entrepreneur and co-founder of the micro-lending website Kiva.org, shared her insights on making it in the business world at the Women on Wall Street Conference this week in New York. The theme of the 18th annual event was "Making Your Impact: Advancing the Economic Power of Women"—something that Jackley knows a fair bit about given her success with Kiva. The event has grown exponentially in the past few years, and now brings in thousands of business and financial... 2012-10-18 12:20:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-the-polarization-of-canadian-politics-end-of-the-liberals-john-ibbitson.html John Ibbitson predicts a bleak outcome for future of the Canadian Liberal party. "Everything is going to polarize between the left and the right," The Globe and Mail's Ottawa Bureau Chief said in an interview with Lavin. "The center isn't there anymore."The Big Shift author has argued that this is true of all Canadian life; that despite the country's reputation for being consensual, enormous power shifts are causing a massive polarization on all levels. There's no longer... 2012-10-17 11:21:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-care-speaker-jeffrey-simpson-chronic-condition.html Health care is a vital part of every country's agenda. But in Chronic Condition, the new book by health care speaker Jeffrey Simpson, The Globe and Mail's National Affairs columnist explains that unless current conditions change, health care in Canada will flounder.  Despite being focused on the shortcomings of the Canadian Medicare system, Simpson's book offers critiques applicable to any flailing system—especially in North America, which suffers from high medical costs and ineffective... 2012-10-17 16:31:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-adam-scott-options-chuck-klostermans-downtown-owl-for-a-feature-film.html Cultural critic Chuck Klosterman and comedic actor Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) are a match made in pop culture geek heaven. Scott—who coined the phrase “Are we having fun yet?” on the underrated Party Down—has optioned Klosterman’s novel Downtown Owl for his first feature film. Scott says the book (think Friday Night Lights, but funnier) is a perfect fit for his newly-minted company, Gettin' Rad Productions. The story is "lovely and moving and funny,”... 2012-10-17 11:03:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-data-speaker-jer-thorp-numbers-lives.html "We think about data as numbers," big data speaker Jer Thorp says. "What we don't think about, really, is what those numbers represent." Regardless of how meaningless, or how confusing, data may seem, Thorp presents a very human way of looking at our digital footprints. "These are not numbers," he argues, "they are parts of our lives." In a recent keynote, Thorp, the Data Artist in Residence at The New York Times, explains that data and numbers are "recording our histories." New technologies... 2012-10-17 11:31:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-jeapordy.html Answer: This Lavin speaker was a Jeopardy question last night. Question: Who is Susan Cain, bestselling author of Quiet, an enormously popular manifesto for introverts? Cain’s book made the perennially popular quiz show just one week after her TED Talk passed three million views, less than a year after it hit the net. It’s been a good October for Susan! Here’s the actual question—umm, answer—that Alex Trebek read out:  “In ‘Quiet,’ Susan Cain reveals... 2012-10-17 12:01:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-listening-is-the-key-to-success-innovation-speaker-Douglas-Merrill.html “Innovation is entirely about watching your users and listening to what they want,” innovation speaker Douglas Merrill says in an exclusive interview with Lavin. “You can build great products simply by doing what your customers tell you." As the former Chief Information Officer at Google—where he was the head of innovation for a company that dominates the world with its truly innovative practices—Merrill knows a thing or two about helping businesses grow and adapt. While... 2012-10-17 12:15:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-big-cities-breed-big-ideas-science-speaker-sam-arbesman-in-the-atlantic.html In his book The Half-Life of Facts, science speaker Sam Arbesman taught us that knowledge is always changing and facts should never be taken as finite. However, in his recent interview with Richard Florida in The Atlantic, Arbesman argued that the speed at which knowledge spreads—and the way that innovation occurs—differs depending on location.  “Knowledge and ideas have to start somewhere,” he says in the article, “But just as knowledge arises somewhere, it... 2012-10-17 14:08:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-how-jake-harriman-our-newest-speaker-went-from-fighting-wars-to-fighting-poverty.html Jake Harriman, a new exclusive keynote speaker at Lavin, doesn't just want to eradicate extreme poverty—he also wants to lead a movement that will that put an end to terrorism, war, and insurgency. The former U.S. Marine spent over seven years in the Corps and was deployed to Southwest and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and did two tours in Iraq. During his time in the Marines he earned the Bronze Star, and was put face-to-face with those living in extreme poverty and desperation... 2012-10-16 16:31:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-exercising-selfcontrol-roy-baumeister-says-willpower-is-like-a-muscle.html "“[Willpower] is one of the most important traits for extending life,” renowned science speaker Roy Baumeister said in a recent lecture at Elmhurst College. It's not an easy characteristic to master, however. Baumeister says willpower is like a "muscle" that can only be strengthened through "exercise." Not only that, but humans are only capable of exerting so much willpower before it becomes fatigued. In Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, which he co-authored,... 2012-10-16 13:57:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-arlene-dickinson-is-the-newest-scotiabank-business-champion.html "The old way of doing business is literally that—the old way of doing business," Arlene Dickinson said in a Town Hall-style interview. Famous for her role on CBC's business show Dragon's Den, the successful entrepreneur and business mogul has just added Scotiabank Business Champion to her long-list of credentials. In the discussion with Toronto Star Publisher John Cruickshank, Dickinson talked about everything from her early days with Venture Communications and what it takes... 2012-10-16 10:28:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-function-and-fashion-kate-bolick-says-comfort-can-be-classy.html "We've long accepted that high style presumes a certain level of suffering," Kate Bolick says, "as if feeling good were the antithesis of fashion, something to be indulged in private, when nobody was looking (e.g., sweatpants)." Writing in a new Wall Street Journal article, Bolick, who also penned the Atlantic article, "All the Single Ladies," argues that the stigma is changing. Function and comfort no longer need be trumped by aesthetics and style. Instead, they can co-exist—and that shift... 2012-10-16 12:00:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gayle-lemmon-innovator-fast-company.html In a recent article for Fast Company, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon profiles the ambitious Afghan entrepreneurs who are innovating their way out of war and toward a better tomorrow. Lemmon's groundbreaking book, The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, told the story of a brave Afghan woman who created a hundred jobs during Taliban rule. In the article, Lemmon describes the next generation of Afghan innovation—a group of young, hopeful tech minds who see the untapped potential of a country ravaged by a decade... 2012-10-16 15:09:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-another-awesome-thing-neil-pasrichas-three-as-of-awesome-best-at-tedx.html Neil Pasricha can add another "awesome" thing to his Book of Awesome: having his TEDx talk ranked among the top 20 most popular of all time. His feel-good talk, called The Three A's of Awesome, comes in at number 11 on the list with a whopping 1,455,980 views. Pasricha is in good company, with the likes Jane Fonda and popular human interactions specialist Brené Brown rounding out the list.Using his trademark compilations of everyday things that bring extraordinary joy (like... 2012-10-16 15:16:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-your-brain-on-social-media-neuroscience-speaker-david-eagleman.html How much of an impact does social media have on our brains? According to neuroscience speaker David Eagleman,  interacting on social media can play a prominent factor in our decision-making processes and even alter the levels of oxytocin in our brains."It turns out that if you spend time with a community of your friends and so on...you have chemical changes that reflect that," he says in an interview at Lavin's Toronto office. "One of the apparent consequences of that is that people become more... 2012-10-15 12:45:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-shannon-brownlee-more-care-doesnt-make-us-healthier.html "The fee-for-service payment model that dominates how most physicians are paid in this country, and how hospitals are paid really, incentivizes everybody to deliver more care," health speaker Shannon Brownlee says in a recent short film with BMJ Media (shown above). She adds: "You get paid more to do more, you don't get paid more to do better." In the interview she says that despite America's healthcare spending being among the highest in the world, its citizens as a whole aren't... 2012-10-15 10:41:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-hazlitt-compares-celebrity-speaker-rick-mercers-rants-to-verbal-jazz.html Linda Besner, of Hazlitt Magazine, recently likened the art of ranting to "verbal jazz."  It's no surprise then that she quotes celebrity speaker Rick Mercer, a ranting aficionado and host of CBC's multiple Gemini Award-winning show The Rick Mercer Report, in her analysis about heated rhetoric. Similar to Mercer's opinion on ranting, Besner says there's something appealing and attention-grabbing about it. Much like dissonance and discord make jazz music much more... 2012-10-15 14:18:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lavins-ted-fellows-radically-transforming-the-world-today.html Lavin is pleased to represent some of the most fascinating TED fellows around—speakers who are, as David Lavin, president of The Lavin Agency, says "radically transforming the world today.""If you're looking for an inspirational speaker, rather than have someone that says 'Hey, you can do anything you want,' bring in three or four people who are actually doing anything they want," David Lavin says. TED Fellows do just that. Their inspirational speeches are based on the groundbreaking and... 2012-10-15 13:38:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ted-fellow-anab-jain-one-of-a-kind-design-studio.html A future-facing designer, TED Fellow, and a new Lavin exclusive speaker, Anab Jain is changing the way design studios operate—and therefore, expanding the possibilities of the entire design industry. As the Founder and Director of Superflux, Jain and her team are doing things a bit differently: the studio is part consultancy, part laboratory, with each section working separately while in tandem. The consultancy is client-facing, offering bespoke services to science labs, art galleries, and... 2012-10-15 11:06:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economics-speaker-jeff-rubin-a-recession-will-halt-oil-pipeline-construction.html Leading economics speaker Jeff Rubin proposes that the economy, rather than the environmentalists, may be the determining factor in halting the construction of the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines Project. In an interview at The Lavin Agency offices, he argues that the pipeline's development will not come down to Steven Harper or Barack Obama, but rather, to whether the world enters into another Global Recession. If the economy is not exhibiting growth, then construction... 2012-10-15 12:13:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sam-arbesman-written-easily-one-of-the-best-science-books-this-year.html The Half-Life of Facts by Samuel Arbesman encourages its readers to challenge what they know, or think they know, to be empirically true. Facts change all the time, the author says, but knowing how to navigate and adapt to those changes can make that realization a little less unsettling. Describing it as "easily one of the best books of the year on science," a recent review by Stephen L. Carter in Bloomberg gives praise to Arbesman's "lively" book. A law professor at Yale, Carter... 2012-10-15 15:14:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-marina-adshade-dollars-sex.html The Lavin Agency is pleased to welcome our newest speaker, economics professor Dr. Marina Adshade. In her hotly anticipated book, Dollars and Sex: How Economics Influences Sex and Love, due in 2013, Adshade redefines our understanding of human sexuality and relationships through an unexpected economic framework. We've read the galley, and it's a fun, informative book—a totally refreshing take on two classic subjects. A popular professor, Adshade explores dating and marriage, and everything... 2012-10-15 16:57:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ted-fellow-hakeem-oluseyi-simplifies-the-mysteries-of-the-universe.html If the universe itself is expanding, why can't knowledge also expand to reach people in the farthest regions of the world? TED Fellow Hakeem Oluseyi is an internationally renowned astrophysicist who has dedicated his career to solving that problem: bringing science to the masses and educating those who may not otherwise have access to higher education. In short, he's a scientist with humanitarian roots. Oluseyi's mission is to bring advanced scientific knowledge to underserved communities... 2012-10-12 15:55:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-chicago-ideas-week-shalini-kantayyas-water-scarcity-talk-makes-a-splash.html Chicago Ideas Week brings together some of the brightest speakers from across the world. Environmental speaker Shalini Kantayya joined the conference's prestigious ranks to speak about one of mankind's most valuable, and most vulnerable, resources at a talk called Water: The Ripple Effect. The talk took place on October 10 at the Owen Theater in Chicago. Joined by some of the leading players in the water industry, Kantayya, a renowned filmmaker and Director of the... 2012-10-11 11:08:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-people-dont-get-art-design-speaker-john-maeda.html People often strive to seek out the "meaning" behind art. In a talk at TEDGlobal 2012, however, design speaker John Maeda argued that the questions art stimulates are more important than "understanding" it. “When people say, ‘I don’t get art. I don’t get it all,’ that means art is working," he said in the talk. "Art is supposed to be enigmatic...art is about asking questions — questions that might not be answerable.”As the President of the Rhode Island... 2012-10-11 11:53:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-teach-students-to-design-solutions-ted-fellow-juliette-lamontagne.html "Why [aren't] we asking students to do more than learn about the problem? They need to be part of designing the solutions," says TED Fellow Juliette LaMontagne in her TEDx talk. After teaching for many years, LaMontagne discovered that the traditional style of learning practiced in most schools could be radically improved. She constantly questioned why the diverse insights of young minds were not being tapped to their full potential, and why the typical classroom environment didn't provide them... 2012-10-11 10:24:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-curt-carlson-keeps-sri-interational-competitive.html Fifty years after the inception of SRI International, the company's President and CEO—and noted innovation speaker—Curt Carlson still shepherds the California-based think tank toward great things. From the computer mouse and email, to HDTV and the iPhone companion Siri, the company has had no shortage of breakthrough ideas. In a recent Fast Company article, Rich Mahoney, the company's director of robotics, explains that SRI has no plans of slowing down any time soon. "The goal... 2012-10-10 15:33:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-atlantic-meets-pacific-social-change-speakers-discuss-power-of-technology.html Social change speakers Jessica Jackley and Ben Rattray were joined by a panel of top thinkers who spoke at The Atlantic Meets the Pacific event. It focused on globalization and the disruptive technologies that are making a huge impact on society—and how the next big technological advancements will change the world. This is the second event of its kind, hosted by The Atlantic Magazine. Jackley, the co-founder of the revolutionary micro-lending website Kiva, and Rattray,... 2012-10-10 10:18:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-introvert-speaker-susan-cains-ted-talk-breaks-3-million-views.html Introverts of the world have united around Susan Cain's TED talk. Extroverts, too. This week, Cain's touching and paradigm-shifting keynote passed three million views. Earlier this year, The New Yorker named it as one of the five key TED talks of all time. Despite having no formal keynote speaking experience, Cain earned a well-deserved standing ovation and was watched by a TED record one million views in its first week. Her success is proof that introverts do indeed possess characteristics which... 2012-10-10 13:54:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-ninive-calegaris-american-teacher-conversation-starter.html A year after being released in theaters, American Teacher (co-produced by education speaker Ninive Calegari and Dave Eggers, narrated by Matt Damon, and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth) is still gaining traction. Calegari will present the film three times this month alone: first at the AFI Silver Theatre in Maryland on October 12, then again at the Hanna Boys Center in Sonoma, California on October 18 and finally, at the Foreign Language Association of Northern... 2012-10-09 12:39:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-the-case-for-organic-food-speaker-mark-bittmans-nyt-piece.html In a recent New York Times Opinion piece, food speaker Mark Bittman warned readers about the dangers of accepting academic studies at face value. The study in question, conducted by the Stanford School of Medicine, "suggested that there is no strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods,” and, as Bittman argues, it "caused as great an uproar as anything that has happened, food-wise, this year." The problem with the study's conclusions,... 2012-10-09 14:19:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-trend-setting-rwco-feature-innovation-speaker-jeremy-gutsche.html When RW&Co. was looking for a face to represent their newest fall fashion trends, innovation speaker Jeremy Gutsche was an obvious choice. The entrepreneur has dedicated his career to seeking out the next big thing with his online trend-spotting magazine Trendhunter.com (which recently just surpassed one billion, yes, billion, views) and he has spoken to some of the world's biggest companies—providing cutting-edge ideas on innovation and breaking the mold. Aptly... 2012-10-05 9:36:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-conference-speakers-reggie-love-bill-strickland-ufsc-2012.html Reggie Love and Bill Strickland, two of Lavin's conference speakers, recently gave keynotes at the UFSC (Urban Financial Services Coalition) 2012 Conference in Toronto. Held on the last week of September, the conference was geared toward empowering and inspiring the community to pursue their business goals. The Coalition is a community outreach program for black and other visible minority individuals looking to enter or expand their role in the financial sector.Known for both their expertise in business... 2012-10-05 16:41:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dont-think-like-everybody-else-manjit-minhas-cover-story-darpan.html "If you stop learning or growing, so will your company," says entrepreneur and business speaker Manjit Minhas. Featured as the cover story in a recent edition of DARPAN Magainze, Minhas shares the story of how she paved the way for young, minority women to become a lucrative part of the beer and spirit industry. Minhas's business vision helped launch Minhas Craft Brewery (co-created with her brother Ravinder), which has risen to become the 10th largest brewery in the world.Named as one of the Top... 2012-10-05 11:18:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-spend-your-way-to-happiness-dr-elizabeth-dunn-dan-gilbert-rotman.html "If money can buy happiness, then why doesn't it?" According to Dr. Elizabeth Dunn, it's because "we don't spend it right."In an article in the Fall edition of Rotman (Rotman School of Management's Magazine), Dunn co-wrote a piece on how to spend your way to a happier life with Timothy Wilson and Daniel Gilbert. Both Gilbert (Professor of Psychology at Harvard and the author of the critically acclaimed Stumbling on Happiness) and Dunn (co-author of the upcoming Happy Money: The... 2012-10-05 11:49:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-speakers-bureau-news-david-lavin-paul-tough-reggie-love-ninive-calegari.html People make certain assumptions about what it must be like to run a speakers bureau. “It must be great to hang out with interesting people all the time,” they’ll say. And, who are we to disagree? For the most part, they’re right! Above is the first in a series of videos featuring David Lavin, president of The Lavin Agency, telling us what he’s been up to—and giving you a miniature snapshot of what’s hot on the speaking circuit. Real ear-to-the-ground stuff.In... 2012-10-05 13:38:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lavins-top-technology-speakers-digital-world.html With the way we navigate and utilize the online world changing by the minute, it can be hard to keep up. Luckily, Lavin has some of the top technology speakers around; all experts in their field who are constantly analyzing the most pressing questions about the digital space. Not sure if you're using social media to your advantage? Weary about online privacy (à la the recent alleged Facebook breach)? Don't fret—the answers to your questions are here. Today, new technology experts... 2012-10-04 11:45:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-obama-on-losing-his-bodyman-reggie-love.html When Reggie Love, leadership speaker and former "body man" to the President, told Obama he was leaving his post to pursue an MBA, the response he was given was that of heavyhearted encouragement. In fact, as The National Post writes, "Mr. Obama told him flatly: 'You better graduate.'"From 2008 until earlier this year, Love was President Obama's top personal aide. As Love told The Post, the job description intitially very loosly defined, as he was tasked with "taking care of stuff" to help "[Mr.... 2012-10-04 17:15:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-charles-fishman-keynote-on-water-ethics.html Environmental speaker Charles Fishman will deliver a keynote speech on October 11 on the ethics of water and the importance of its conservation. The symposium will be hosted at the Delaware Valley College in Doyleston Pennslyvannia. Fishman, and others in his peer group, will explore the vital role that water plays in all of our lives, the practices we must enact to preserve it, and the technologies emerging to better control our consumption.Fishman is an investigative journalist and the author of... 2012-10-03 9:35:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-the-one-world-schoolhouse-salman-khans-new-book-rethinks-education.html "The [Khan] Academy owned a PC, $20 worth of screen-capture software, and an $80 pen tablet," Salman Khan writes in his new book The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined. "The faculty, engineering team, support staff and administration consisted of exactly one person: me. The budget consisted of my savings." Salman Khan and his virtual school, The Khan Academy, now see approximately 4 million unique, online visitors a month. His innovative lessons (which he airs on his website and on YouTube)... 2012-10-03 11:40:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-misha-glouberman-david-lavin-dissect-political-discourse.html "The debates we see on TV are terrible," David Lavin, president of The Lavin Agency speakers bureau tells communications speaker Misha Glouberman. "They deliberately just try to get people to disagree with each other—that's not a debate, that's actually a disagreement." With the first round of the U.S. Presidential Debates kicking off tonight in Colorado, Lavin and Glouberman sat down and hashed out the good and the bad about today's debate formats. Despite being highly anticipated... 2012-10-03 13:35:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-take-social-media-seriously-lavin-new-technology-speakers.html "We’re way past the point where social media can be a little corner of your communications strategy," new technology speaker Alexandra Samuel tells The Globe and Mail.  "[It] is one of, if not the, main communication channel for most organizations.”As online marketing takes an increasingly vital role in promoting your brand, Samuel recommends listening to what "digital natives", or young net savvy employees, have to say—as long as they are well-trained about your business... 2012-10-02 12:24:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-shannon-brownlee-questions-the-doctors-orders.html If you've ever felt like your physician isn't giving you the whole story about your treatment options, health speaker Shannon Brownlee is in your corner. In a recent Atlantic article, Brownlee and her co-author Joe Colucci argue that the doctor might not always know best—and that patients should have more input which treatments they receive."Patients only hear about one treatment option, the one the doctor usually uses—and doctors routinely assume they know what their patients want without... 2012-10-02 15:27:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eric-klinenberg-solo-living-new-nuclear-family.html There's no question that the modern family is changing. Eric Klinenberg, author of Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, argues that more people are living alone (largely by choice) than ever before—and that this monumental shift is redefining our modern society. A recent CBC article, quoting Statistics Canada census data, gives even more weight and validity to Klinenberg's revolutionary research."Married couples are in a long-term decline, single parenting... 2012-10-02 12:36:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-isnt-a-done-deal-science-speaker-samuel-arbesman.html "You shouldn't view your education as a done deal," science speaker Samuel Arbesman advises in a short interview at the Kauffman Foundation. Rather, he says, the learning process is about "being given the tools to think and understand the world."  What we identity as fact, the network scientist says, often has an expiration date—but learning to understand how knowledge changes over time can make that realization less concerting. As he explains in his new book, The Half-Life of Facts,... 2012-10-01 15:46:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-brooks-calls-paul-toughs-how-children-succeed-essential.html Lavin's newest education speaker, Paul Tough, believes that test scores aren't the only benchmarks for success—and that social and psychological issues can hinder a child's learning experience. In his instant new bestseller, How Children Succeed, which New York Times columnist David Brooks descibes as "essential", Tough proposes that dealing with trauma from a young age can have long-lasting neural effects. His book explores not only the impact of material and physical stresses on children,... 2012-10-01 11:50:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lavins-political-speakers-assess-election-issues.html With the 2012 American presidential election a little over a month away, several of Lavin's top politcal speakers are analyzing the issues at stake. Whether they are directly involved in the election process, or are simply weighing in on the hot topics, they have a firm grasp on what is happening in the political space, and present insightful and accessible analysis on what counts this election.Jonathan Haidt - Social Psychologist, Expert on Human Nature and MoralityJonathan Haidt's analysis... 2012-09-28 13:15:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-spike-lee-do-what-you-love.html When it comes to making a choice about your future, filmmaker Spike Lee says that "the worst thing to do is to choose your major based solely on how much money you think you'll make when you graduate." In a recent video interview, the Academy Award-nominated director advises that finding fulfillment in life is about "[finding] something that you love. That's it."Though his name is now legendary in the film industry, Lee says that he didn't always envision himself being a director. However, in the... 2012-09-28 16:33:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-friday-reads-a-speakers-bureau-that-reads-together-stays-together.html One of the questions we ask during job interviews is "What are you reading?" (Another one is: "Who do you think is underrated?"). Reading, as you might guess, is pretty important to us here at the Lavin speakers bureau. With that in mind, we’re going to start sharing a #FridayReads of our staff about every month or so. Who's reading what, and why. This month, the list runs the gamut from presidential biographies to books on dogs, "beautiful souls," music, habits, and crime. Also: a book by... 2012-09-28 13:23:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-rick-mercer-rants-macleans.html "The danger in not ranting is dire," Rick Mercer warns in a recent Maclean's article. The celebrity speaker and star of CBC's The Rick Mercer Report said that Canadians don't rant enough, and cautions that "if we as a nation don’t rant then the powers that be will use that complacency against us."He tells Maclean's that he learned the importance of ranting from a young age. "I didn’t come out of the womb ranting but chances are I heard a few good ones while I was in there,"... 2012-09-27 10:44:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Science-Speaker-Steven-Pinker.html Dissent, political correctness and free speech were three of the hot-topic issues that Steven Pinker, widely respected science speaker and bestselling author, tackled in a recent interview. In the video, Pinker argues that restricting free speech (especially on post-secondary campuses where ideas are meant to be shared freely), can lead to widespread public delusion.In its worst form, censorship can result in the rise of reprehensible ideologies and movements (Nazi Germany, for example) that spread... 2012-09-27 9:51:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-drew-dudley-forbes-magazine.html According to Forbes Magazine, you don't have to be a billionaire to enact positive social change, something that leadership speaker Drew Dudley, who was featured in the magazine's most recent issue, has been teaching audiences for years. “There is one world, and 6 billion people who have a different understanding of it," he says in his popular TED Talk about everyday leadership. "And if you can change one person’s understanding of it, you shift the whole thing." Forbes' article... 2012-09-27 15:22:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-introverts-can-be-extroverts-susan-cain.html Susan Cain’s bestselling book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, sparked a national conversation about social interaction, and drew attention to the intrinsic talents of introverts. In a recent interview, the introvert speaker talked to Gretchen Rubin—the bestselling author and happiness expert—about some of the themes from Quiet.When Cain asked Rubin if she defined herself as an introvert or an extrovert, the author replied that she has a hard time... 2012-09-26 15:26:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-spark-innovation-speakers-tom-wujec-marshmallow-challenge.html Innovation speaker Tom Wujec encourages Fortune 100 companies to play with their food. Why? Because “The Marshmallow Challenge” (where teams compete to build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, tape, string and a single marshmallow) teaches simple, yet powerful, lessons on collaboration, creativity and generating fresh ideas. While stringing together a tower of edibles may not seem like a valuable team building exercise at first, the fun and fast-paced nature... 2012-09-26 14:56:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-technology-speakers-weigh-in-on-internet-privacy.html Imagine if everything that you did online—and believed to be private—was suddenly visible to everyone you know. New technology speakers Rahaf Harfoush and David Eaves have spoken extensively about how to balance your online and offline life—and the ramifications of living in a society where the lines between the two are becoming more and more blurred. A similar issue was addressed in a Huffington Post article which reported that: "Facebook appears to have a bug that is causing... 2012-09-26 16:37:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Salman-Rushdie-daily-show.html Despite having a typically serious demeanour, Salman Rushdie had no trouble keeping up with Jon Stewart's satirical brand of humor during his appearance on The Daily Show last week. (A recap of the appearance is shown above.) The Booker Prize-winning author, critic, and speaker discussed his new memoir, Joseph Anton, the fatwa against him, and the current Middle Eastern turmoil on the show.Following the release of his book The Satanic Verses, a fatwa was issued against Rushdie by Iran's Ayatollah... 2012-09-26 12:03:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-adria-vasil-not-so-environmentally-friendly-cbc-marketwatch.html Adria Vasil recently teamed up with the CBC Marketwatch team to sleuth out ten "lousy labels" on the market that are masquerading as being environementally friendly. Describing the process as "greenwashing", a term she uses in her popular advice column and bestselling Ecoholic books, Vasil says many products claiming to be "green" are actually not. "When a product or company is making itself look more environmentally friendly than it actually is," Vasil says of the greenwashing pandemic,... 2012-09-25 15:34:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-paul-tough-character-trumps-intelligence.html Lavin is thrilled to introduce our new education speaker, Paul Tough, author of the instant New York Times bestseller How Children Succeed. In his much-lauded book, Tough tackles the difficult and evergreen question of measuring success in school: how can we determine which students are on the way to setting the foundations for a good life? Traditionally, Tough says, intelligence and other cognitive skills were the benchmark. But no longer. It turns out that traits we usually associate with character... 2012-09-25 11:27:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-looking-up-astrophysicist-lucianne-walkowicz-searches-the-stars.html Lavin's new exclusive speaker is Lucianne Walkowicz, a TED Fellow and Astrophysicist working on NASA's Kepler mission. She studies the inscrutable faces of the stars for clues to their inner workings, with a particular interest in how their high energy radiation influences the habitability of planets around alien suns. With the Kepler mission, Walkowicz learns how the planetary systems grow, change, and interact, "to form their own ecosystem and make habitats that are amenable to life." In enlightening... 2012-09-25 16:35:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-laurence-c-smith-environment-speaker-arctic-melting.html If Dr. Laurence C. Smith happened to peruse through Scientic American this week, he would have read their prediction that "recent climate models suggest the Arctic could be free of ice before 2050." His response, however, would not have been one of shock or surprise.Rather, he might be thinking, with humble vindication: "I've been talking about this for some time now."In his debut book, The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilizations Northern Future (which won the Walter P. Kistler... 2012-09-24 14:06:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-lavin-why-some-top-speakers-shouldnt-be-giving-keynotes.html “There’s no shortage of people who want to make thousands of dollars an hour giving speeches,” David Lavin, the president of the Lavin Agency speakers bureau, told Post Media recently. However, he laments, “there’s a shortage of people who should.”As the forthright CEO of a top speakers bureau who has worked in the business for over 20 years, David Lavin discussed the troubling “oversatursation” of the keynote speakers market. “It’s a function... 2012-09-24 12:14:45 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-two-business-speakers-discuss-personal-wealth.html Let's talk about money! Wealthy Barber author David Chilton and Financial Post writer Diane Francis—two sought-after business speakers—will discuss various aspects of wealth building (and personal finance) at a fun, practical, and much-hyped event in Toronto, The Wealth Building 101 Conference, on October 13. It's open to the public—get tickets here.Hosted by The Young Wealth Academy, the event is geared toward motivating a younger demographic to improve their financial... 2012-09-22 15:08:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neuroscience-speaker-david-eagleman-criminal-minds.html “At some point there will be a crime committed...and we will find that the perpetrator had a brain tumor,” neuroscience speaker David Eagleman tells CNN. “Then, society is going to have to deal with [the] very difficult question about [the] relationship between brain and behavior and [the] question of culpability.” As the founder and director of the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law at the Baylor College of Medicine, Eagleman has been relentlessly researching the relationship... 2012-09-21 11:46:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-steven-pinker-times-not-so-tough.html "Violence, in many ways, has plunged over the course of history,” science speaker Steven Pinker tells Bill Gates in a recent interview. “Half a century without a great power war is unprecedented.” In a series of interviews with the former chief executive of Microsoft, Pinker discusses findings he presented in his groundbreaking book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined—which Gates described as “one of the most important books [he's] ever... 2012-09-21 14:38:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-suzuki-jeff-rubin-eco-tour-lecture-series.html Environmental activist David Suzuki and prominent economist Jeff Rubin may seem like an odd match to co-host a lecture series—but the two speakers have more in common than you might think. After meeting in Vancouver earlier this year, they agreed that new solutions to sustainability can be found at the intersection of ecology and economics. Thus, the Eco Tour was born. Suzuki and Rubin will be speaking in various cities (starting on September 23), exploring the vital connection that exists... 2012-09-20 13:01:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lavin-celebrity-speakers-on-cbc.html Colin Mochrie and Rick Mercer believe that Canada is A Nation Worth Ranting About. The two celebrity speakers stopped in to CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight on Sept. 18 to give their takes on national issues and popular cultural icons—in the irreverently intelligent demeanour they're both known for. Before heading to an exclusive, one night only talk he hosted later that evening, Mercer discussed hitting his tenth year on the air as the host of popular CBC show The Rick Mercer Report... 2012-09-20 14:16:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Stephen-Tobolowsky-npr-radio-interview.html “True trumps clever any day of the week,” Stephen Tobolowsky told NPR's Scott Simon. “It's far more important to tell a true story, even if it's not perfect in all the details, than to make up a clever lie.” In his interview on NPR,  the famous character actor—who you may recognize from his role as Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day or in a slew of other small, but memorable, parts—argues that his natural ability to weave a story together hinges on telling... 2012-09-20 14:22:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-thinking-in-numbers-daniel-tammet-new-book.html For many, the very utterance of the word “mathematics” is shudder-inducing. However, The Independent describes Thinking in Numbers by Daniel Tammet as “[a] delightful volume [that] shows the safety and comfort offered by numbers.”As one of only 50 high-functioning autistic savants, Tammet's perception of the world is based in arithmetic—and those numbers intrigue, rather than terrify, the best-selling author. In his newest work, he articulates the relationship that numbers... 2012-09-20 14:33:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-health-speaker-dr-marla-shapiro-new-ctv-show.html Dr. Marla Shapiro, one of the most trusted medical professionals on television, has a new show, Dr. Marla & Friends. The acclaimed health speaker, as you may recall, recently turned the camera on herself to produce an award-winning documentary about her own battle to overcome cancer. On the new show, airing on CTV News Channel, Dr. Shapiro will address evergreen topics such as health, diet, and lifestyle choices in a new interactive format. “This show is about taking charge of your health... 2012-09-19 16:43:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-salman-rushdie-writers-more-vulnerable-than-ideas.html Joseph Anton, the highly anticipated memoir by Salman Rushdie, hits the shelves today. It is the first time Rushdie has directly addressed in print the years he spent underground, forced into hiding by an infamous fatwa following the release of his novel The Satanic Verses. In this exclusive Lavin video from a few years ago, Rushdie describes the plight of authors throughout history—authors whose provocative works and ideas were subjected to intense scrutiny and state censure. “The question... 2012-09-18 11:38:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-nyt-introverted-president-of-the-united-states.html Not all leaders are aggressively charismatic extroverts, Susan Cain argues in a recent New York Times Op-Ed. In fact, the TED phenom says both of the current Presidential candidates are introverts—and their reserved nature doesn't make them any less effective as leaders.“Culturally, we tend to associate leadership with extroversion and attach less importance to judgment, vision and mettle,” Cain writes. “We prize leaders who are eager talkers over those who have something... 2012-09-18 12:47:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-reggie-love-on-obama-cnn.html “[Obama's] a competitor,” leadership speaker Reggie Love recently told CNN. And Love should know. As the former personal aide to the President—who spent more time with him than almost anyone else these past few years—he has seen Obama during White House decision-making sessions and on the basketball court. Love notes that Obama's cool and collected demeanor reflects lessons learned while shooting hoops. "I think it looks like he's really, really calm all the time and nothing... 2012-09-18 15:45:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-day-of-dragons-den-judge-arlene-dickinson.html No two days are the same for Arlene Dickinson, a judge on the hit business show Dragons' Den. Except of course, for the early starts, the dedication to coffee-drinking, and the fact that she always has a whirlwind of activities to consistently keep her on her toes. Recently, Women of Influence magazine featured a gorgeous photo spread chronicling a hectic day-in-the-life of Dickinson, who is the CEO of Venture Communications and the bestselling author of Persuasion: A New Approach To Changing Minds.... 2012-09-17 16:23:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-edge-interview-with-economics-speaker-daron-acemoglu.html “It's no mystery how you get economic growth,” bestselling author Daron Acemoglu says in a new, hour long interview at Edge.org. “You need to provide opportunities and incentives.” The problem, the noted economics speaker says, comes when trying to structure a political agenda dedicated to achieving those goals and having people abide by it—even if it is not in their immediate best-interest.It is this type of counterintuitive thinking that has made Acemoglu's book... 2012-09-17 11:52:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-salman-rushdie-on-today-show.html One day before the release of his highly-anticipated memoir, Salman Rushdie sat down with Matt Lauer on NBC's Today Show to discuss Joseph Anton, the “outrage industry,” and the perils of free speech, something he knows a lot about. “One of the problems with defending free speech,” Rushdie told Lauer, “is you often have to defend people that you find to be outrageous and unpleasant and disgusting." In the interview, the acclaimed novelist, essayist, critic, and... 2012-09-17 17:08:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bryant-terry-cooks-with-american-chef-corps.html Lavin speaker and food justice advocate Bryant Terry has been selected as one of less than 100 chefs to be inducted into the newly formed American Chef Corps. program. The Chef Corps. is a prestigious group of top-rated chefs who will prepare dishes promoting diplomatic exchanges. The program hopes to unite people around the world through an exceptionally unique and delicious culinary experience. As a speaker, Terry argues passionately about the important role that both food preparation... 2012-09-14 12:59:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lavin-top-speakers-weigh-in-on-business-speaker-david-chilton.html In a recent interview with CBC's Jian Ghomeshi, David Chilton—one of the most requested business speakers in North America—shared his love for entrepreneurial endeavors and offered valuable insights on start-up companies, investing, and on facing tough competition. Chilton's savvy for saving and entrepreneurship landed him a coveted spot on the Dragons' Den: and while the (mostly friendly) competition on the show is as fierce as ever, he seems to be fitting in just fine by the high... 2012-09-14 13:44:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-rick-mercer-new-book.html “A good rant is cathartic,” Rick Mercer writes in the forward of his new book, A Nation Worth Ranting About, in stores September 18. “Ranting is what keeps me sane.”In support of the book's release, the celebrity speaker, satirist, and host of the award-winning CBC show The Rick Mercer Report, will give a special talk—one-night only—at the Princes of Wales in Toronto, on September 17th. As arguably one of the top requested speakers in Canada, Mercer will bring... 2012-09-13 13:10:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mike-rowe-letter-to-mitt-romney.html “We need people who see opportunity where opportunity exists. We need enthusiasm for careers that have been overlooked and underappreciated by society at large [and] we need to have a really big national conversation about what we value in the workforce.” While those may seem like the proposals of a candidate running for office (and perhaps they should be) they were the words of Mike Rowe, the host of the popular Discovery Channel show Dirty Jobs. In an open letter to the Republican presidential... 2012-09-13 14:01:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-two-leadership-speakers-on-why-personality-matters.html "We really need to clearly look at people and who they really are," leadership speaker Arkadi Kuhlmann said recently. The ING Direct founder adds that employers “need to get back to the fundamentals of personality, character [and] what drives someone." Bill Strickland, the president and CEO of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation agrees. "Corporations need to learn to treat their people differently," he said. "Their people are their biggest asset." Strickland and Kuhlmann are both Lavin exclusive... 2012-09-12 13:39:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Kurt-Eichenwald-911-warnings-nyt.html In an explosive New York Times Op-Ed, investigative journalist Kurt Eichewald puts forth a startling question: “Could the 9/11 attack have been stopped, had the Bush team reacted with urgency to the warnings contained in all of those daily briefs? We can’t ever know. And that may be the most agonizing reality of all.” The daily briefs that he is referring to are mostly confidential documents that President George W. Bush received leading up to the 9/11 attacks—documents, starting... 2012-09-11 12:18:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eagleman-discusses-new-threats-to-the-internet.html In a recent CNN article, neuroscience speaker David Eagleman made a foreboding prediction about the fragility of the Internet which, in light of this week's GoDaddy crash—seems to be chillingly accurate. “Wars of the future will be fought less by rugged soldiers in the field and more by smart kids perched in front of computers slamming energy drinks,” Eagleman wrote. “As our dependence shifts onto the Net, so do our vulnerabilities.” With the massive crash of the web... 2012-09-11 15:24:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eaves-says-internet-builds-communities.html “Is the Internet bringing us together or is it tearing us apart?” David Eaves—a renowned open technology speaker—asks in a recent op-ed. “In reality, it’s doing both. And it will lead to a better future.” The public policy entrepreneur and influential blogger argues that the Internet fosters community building. However, online groups can have both positive and negative implications: providing forums for democratizing discussions that are critical for business... 2012-09-11 15:51:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-corporate-boards-shouldnt-get-too-chummy-ram-charan.html Ram Charan, one of our top requested business speakers, suggests hiring strong lead directors—because getting them off the board when they cause trouble is never easy. Profiled extensively in the business press, Charan works at the upper echelons of the corporate world, often flying in to help Fortune 100 companies solve some of their most complex structural problems. He tells The Economic Times, “Collegiality and board harmony are important, and the universe of independent directors... 2012-09-11 16:30:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Kiva-cofounder-jessica-jackley-buick-agent-of-change.html “Simple ideas are often overlooked,” says Jessica Jackley, a social entrepreneur speaker who has just been named one of the 2012 Buick Agents of Change. Jackley is the co-founder of the microlending powerhouse KIVA, where she turned a simple idea (lending developing world entrepreneurs the exact amount of money they need, say, $25) into a thriving institution promoting social good. Since its inception in 2005, KIVA has connected entrepreneurs with lenders from all around the world. Beginning... 2012-09-11 17:02:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-the-social-pages-a-new-keynote-by-tim-sanders-on-how-to-win-business.html Speaker Tim Sanders recently revealed a new keynote, based on his 15 years of experience in interactive marketing and social media. (Anyone who has an interest in corporate trends and who’s also on various social media platforms, such as Twitter, will be familiar with Sanders!) His talk is all about how to win more business, which is something that Sanders—formerly at Yahoo! and now the maverick CEO of L.A. start-up Net Minds—knows all about. “Use social networks as a listening... 2012-09-10 10:41:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ta-nehisi-coates-keynote-highlight-of-week.html The Civil War has much to teach us about where we’ve been and where we’re going. Recently The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates gave a timely talk on those lessons to a group of educators, and the audience response was tremendous. Here are some comments we got back, from the event planners at the Richard Bartol Jr. Educators Conference: “[You reignited] our desire to show others why we as a nation need to understand the Civil War, and why it is so important 150 years later.”... 2012-09-10 11:20:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rabbi-david-wolpe-on-cnn.html “Religious convictions will always be brought to politics,” Rabbi David Wolpe tells CNN. In an interview with CNN's Faces of Faith this past Sunday, Rabbi Wolpe said that the reinstatement of support for Israel into the Democratic platform was “enormously important.” Named as “the most influential Rabbi in America” by Newsweek Magazine, the religion speaker explained that being aligned with Israel means America has a responsibility to formally support the country.... 2012-09-10 14:55:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-arlene-dickinson-entrepreneur-economy.html Despite the unstable economy, speaker Arlene Dickinson isn't afraid to invest in new start-ups—in fact, she thinks that this is the ideal time to do it. "There’s a widespread sense of how terrible conditions are right now for entrepreneurs,” Dickinson said in an interview with MSN Money. “But I actually think we’re entering an entrepreneur economy. And it’s about to really take off.” As a judge on the hit business show Dragons’ Den, the CEO of Venture... 2012-09-10 15:42:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-top-documentaries-at-tiff-feature-our-speakers.html This year, the Toronto International Film Festival has placed an emphasis on documentaries—and three of them feature some of our most-requested celebrity speakers! Free Angela & All Political Prisoners is a biographical account of the life of Angela Davis. The Central Park Five is the new doc directed by PBS mainstay Ken Burns. And, as we previously wrote, Spike Lee will debut his Michael Jackson documentary, Bad 25, at TIFF.Free Angela & All Political Prisoners, directed by Shola Lynch,... 2012-09-07 14:00:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-salman-rushdie-adapts-midnights-children-for-film.html  “Initially, I didn’t want to do the screenplay [for Midnight's Children],” Salman Rushdie said recently, about his decision to adapt his Booker-winning novel into a film. “But if I had said no,” he told The Globe and Mail, “we wouldn’t have been able to raise the money.”Set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the highly anticipated film, directed by Academy Award-nominated Deepa Mehta, tells the story of two children born at... 2012-09-06 12:25:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alex-samuel-online-distractions.html As lit screens continue to bombard us with a never-ending stream of information, social media speaker and occasional Atlantic blogger Alexandra Samuel says it's okay—sometimes—to unplug yourself from these “distractions.” A Singapore teacher named Jeffrey Plaman agrees, and is now teaching her advice to his students. As we learned recently, the teacher is using Samuel's Atlantic article “Plug in Better: A Manifesto,”  to give his students lessons on how... 2012-09-06 17:10:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-how-to-talk-to-people-about-things-misha-glouberman.html Learning how to talk to people is incredibly straightforward, says communications speaker Misha Glouberman. But it’s also incredibly easy to muck up. That’s why Glouberman offers his provocatively titled How to Talk To People About Things, a six-week lecture series that has sold out every time he’s offered it. Taking place at Hart House, at the University of Toronto, the course vividly shows people how to negotiate with others—a skill (and, yes, it’s a skill) that the... 2012-09-05 10:58:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-facts-change-all-the-time-says-science-speaker-samuel-arbesman.html Samuel Arbesman—a network scientist, author, and new Lavin exclusive speaker—is an expert in scientometrics, literally the science of science: how we know what we know. Arbesman has gained renown as a science speaker recently for his years of research into a very interesting—ahem—fact: that everything we deem to be empirically true is constantly changing and evolving. As facts change and fluctuate, more questions rise about what we know: Is the overturn of knowledge speeding... 2012-09-05 14:44:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-kal-penn-addresses-dnc.html “I've worked on a lot of fun movies but my favorite job was having a boss who gave the order to take out Bin Laden and who's cool with all of us getting gay-married,” celebrity speaker Kal Penn declared in an opening talk at the Democratic National Convention.The actor-turned-White-House-staffer used his unique mix of intelligence, poise and quick-witted humor to highlight Obama's first-term achievements in office, and to remind the audience to get out to the polls and vote. Citing his... 2012-09-05 14:46:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-candy-chang-new-ted-talk.html Artist, designer, and Senior TED Fellow Candy Chang is an inspirational speaker who believes in the power of public spaces to connect and empower communities. “We don't bump into every neighbor,” she says in her latest TED talk, “so a lot of wisdom never gets passed on. But we do share the same public spaces, so over the past few years I've tried ways to share more with my neighbors in public space.” One of those projects is her famous “Before I Die...” art installation.... 2012-09-05 17:12:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-top-honors-for-lavin-speakers.html At Lavin, we take pride in representing the top speakers in each of their respective fields—people who, throughout the course of their careers, are singled out for their achievements by major organizations and award bodies, like, say, the Pulitzer Prize and Nobel committees, or the MacArthur people. Three of our speakers were recently honored. Congrats to all!Siddhartha Deb has received the 2012 PEN Open Book Award. His audacious book The Beautiful and the Damned: A Portrait of the New India... 2012-09-04 12:12:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-event-planners-promoting-dr-richard-heinzl-college-talk.html Someone has been writing cryptic messages—in chalk!—on the sidewalks at the Ursinus College Center for Science and the Common Good. "Who is Heinzl?" asks one of many teaser inscriptions. Other chalk renderings quote from a book on humanitarianism, Cambodia Calling. It turns out that this guerilla marketing has been employed by clever event planners at the college, in anticipation of a keynote by Dr. Richard Heinzl, the founder of the first North American chapter of Doctors Without Borders.Dr.... 2012-09-04 15:06:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-obama-calls-kal-penn-viral-video.html When President Obama calls, you answer. In a new viral video, Obama calls Kal Penn—a renowned actor who has also worked at the White House—and reminds him of his hosting duties at this week’s Democratic National Convention. (Penn will host a web segment called the “Live From Charlotte.”) In a faux-stern voice, Obama asks Penn to take his role as host seriously; Penn, meanwhile, answers the call while watching cartoons on a couch littered with snacks—a sly nod to... 2012-09-04 16:23:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rabbi-david-wolpe-democratic-national-convention.html Rabbi David Wolpe, heralded by Newsweek as being the most influential rabbi in America, will deliver the Benediction during the Democratic National Convention this Wednesday.  The President has called upon the Los Angeles-based religious speaker to address pressing national issues in his prayer to the audience. As the author of seven books, including, most recently, Why Faith Matters, as well as a regular commentator at news outlets such as CNN, Wolpe has earned renown across  Jewish and... 2012-09-04 16:49:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-why-book-top-keynote-speakers.html As a top speakers bureau, The Lavin Agency is occasionally asked very blunt questions: Why even see keynote speakers live? Why not have everyone read the speaker’s book instead? Or watch their videos? What, ultimately, is the value of seeing a speaker in person at a conference, on stage, in a room full of other people? Good questions, all. Here are some very candid answers. In a recent conversation, David Lavin, president of The Lavin Agency speakers bureau, told Misha Glouberman, co-author... 2012-08-31 11:54:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-changeorg-founder-ben-rattray-on-leadership.html “The best way to be an effective leader is to be incredibly passionate about what you're working on,” Ben Rattray tells Fast Company. Rattray is a member of the Time 100 for 2012, and he’s the founder and CEO of Change.org—an organization that is all about passion, from its dedicated staff to the millions of engaged users who turn to the site to post and respond to the social causes listed there.In a new  “30 Second MBA,” the social change speaker and entrepreneur... 2012-08-31 14:20:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-greed-and-debt-matt-taibbi-rolling-stone.html The new Rolling Stone, with Mitt Romney on the cover, is already the talk of the internet. The cover article—which runs over 6,000 scathing words—was written by politics speaker Matt Taibbi in his trademark metaphor-rich, no-holds barred, cut-to-the-marrow style that he’s employed in bestsellers like Griftopia. Called “Greed & Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital,” the piece is a massive investigation into what Taibbi sees as Romney’s hypocrisy... 2012-08-30 10:14:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jessica-jackley-kiva-expands-to-india.html KIVA, the peer-to-peer microlending site co-founded by business speaker Jessica Jackley, has recently extended its reach to help alleviate poverty in India. A $25 dollar loan can provide individuals living below the poverty line (which defines 68 per cent of India's population) with the capital to start—or grow—their business, and create a sustainable income. The company has partnered with three socially driven nonprofits—People's Forum, Mahashakti Foundation and WSDS-Inititiative—... 2012-08-30 13:08:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-jonathon-kozol-new-book.html Jonathan Kozol—one of the top speakers giving a voice to the public education system's disenfranchised—will share lessons from his newest book, Fire In The Ashes, at an appropriate venue: DeKalb High School, in DeKalb, Illinois, on September 26th. The lecture is free and open to all.Kozol’s book follows the development of a group of inner-city children first introduced in his award-winning books Rachel and Her Children and Amazing Grace (the latter earning him approval from Oprah).... 2012-08-30 15:34:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-500-days-kurt-eichenwald.html Investigative journalist Kurt Eichenwald’s new book, 500 Days, is an epic account of the 18 months that followed 9/11, one of the most volatile events to take place on American soil. Years in the making, the book draws on over 600 hours of interviews, and hundreds of documents and sources, some previously confidential, to piece together a mammoth overview of the tragedy, and the handling of it by the Bush administration. It will be released one week after September 11, 2012, on the 18th. Eichenwald's... 2012-08-30 15:41:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-celebrity-speaker-kal-penn-youth-gotta-vote.html Although he's widely known for his role in the Harold and Kumar flicks, celebrity speaker Kal Penn has been spending more of his time these past few years promoting the importance of the youth vote— rather than seeking out the closest White Castle with his on-screen partner-in-crime.“Particularly for a lot of folks that turned 18 between the last election and now, there's a lot that's at stake,” he said, during a trip to New Mexico last week.Between acting gigs (such as his role... 2012-08-28 16:17:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-john-ibbitson-eastern-media-bias.html It's time, says political speaker John Ibbitson, to start including the views of Western Canada in the media. In a video interview at Lavin's new Toronto office, Ibbitson notes that even though he's a fan of the CBC, he takes issue with the fact that it—and practically every other major media player in the country—favours the views of Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal in its coverage, a group he calls “The Laurentian Consensus.” (Ibbiston himself is The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa... 2012-08-28 12:38:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bad-25-spike-lee-michael-jackson-film-at-tiff.html Bad 25, directed by celebrity speaker Spike Lee, is a gripping documentary that pays homage to Michael Jackson—the King of Pop—and commemorates the 25th anniversary of his album Bad. Set to make its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival this September, the movie takes fans behind the scenes of the recording of the 1987 blockbuster.  It features footage shot by Jackson himself as well as new interviews from music big wigs Kayne West, Sheryl Crow, and Mariah Carey.  Lee,... 2012-08-28 9:14:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dance-to-smarter-brain-health-speaker-slyvain-moreno.html “You can create neurons in your brain with dancing,” Dr. Sylvain Moreno, a noted health speaker, told us at the Lavin offices today. Best of all: “you don't have to be good!” Dr. Moreno, a brain plasticity expert, told us about all the things we can do to improve our brains. He also spoke about his groundbreaking work with childhood learning, at the University of Toronto, which has proven that, with twenty days of his specified classroom learning, students can improve their... 2012-08-28 16:39:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cesar-harada-cleans-up-massive-oil-spills-with-unmanned-robots.html The Lavin Agency is pleased to welcome our newest speaker, Cesar Harada. He's a TED Fellow, inventor and environmentalist—and he's changing the way we clean up our oceans. While studying oil spills off the coast in Japan, Harada noticed that the current oil spill skimming technology only collected 3% of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (otherwise known as the BP oil spill) in the Gulf of Mexico. He noted as well that the technology required expensive machinery and heavy human intervention, plus... 2012-08-28 17:06:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-james-fallows-hanna-rosin-ta-nehisi-coates-atlantic.html If you look closely at the cover of The Atlantic’s September issue, you’ll notice three bylines—and all of them belong to Lavin keynote speakers! James Fallows’ cover story dissects Mitt Romney’s debating skills. Ta-Nehisi Coates contributes the powerful piece, “Fear of a Black President.” And Hanna Rosin—whose own cover story from 2010, The End of Men, caused much controversy—files a piece on “hookup culture.”Politics speaker James... 2012-08-27 14:30:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-start-up-advice-business-speaker-kevin-oleary.html “You’re nobody as an entrepreneur until you’ve made money for someone else,” says Kevin O’Leary, a noted business speaker.  Anyone who has watched an episode of ABC’s Shark Tank, or The Lang And O'Leary Exchange and Dragon's Den, on CBC, knows that O'Leary, a host and judge on those shows, is unabashed about his love of  money, of making a big profit. In a recent interview with watchmojo.com, O’Leary says that making money requires much more than... 2012-08-27 14:57:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-internet-speaker-virginia-heffernan-amazon--content-producer.html When Amazon started to categorize purchases of its political books as either "red" or "blue," the mega-retailer became, in essence, a media company—a producer of content. So says Internet speaker Virginia Heffernan. Amazon, she argues, is "not a virtual bookstore anymore. Instead, it’s an immersive online media experience—the kind that washingtonpost.com or bloomberg.com endeavors, less successfully, to provide to users." As she’s said before, all companies, whether they realize... 2012-08-27 15:38:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-human-rights-speaker-stephen-lewis-on-fighting-aids.html During the recent International AIDS conference—which was held in the United States for the first time in 22 years—Stephen Lewis told Democracy Now that we can't afford to rest on our laurels, not when millions of people still need treatment. Lewis, who is a renowned human rights speaker, discussed several hot topic issues. Lack of adequate funding was one. A gross misuse of public money was another. “We’re always struggling for the crumbs and the pennies from the table,... 2012-08-24 13:10:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-salman-rushdie-deepa-mehta-midnights-children-tiff.html Midnight's Children, an adaptation of the Booker Prize-winning novel by Salman Rushdie, is one of the most highly anticipated films to debut at the Toronto International Film Festival this September.It’ll be a busy month for Rushdie, as he’ll also be launching his new memoir, Joseph Anton.  For the new movie, Rushdie converted his best-selling novel into an arresting and whimsical screenplay in a collaboration with Deepa Mehta, the Academy Award-nominated Canadian director. The fantastical... 2012-08-24 15:03:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-internet-speaker-sue-garnder-forbes-most-powerful-woman.html Sue Gardner, the Executive Director of the WikiMedia Foundation, has something to add to her Wikipedia page: she landed a coveted spot on Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women list. That, and she's the only Canadian who made the cut this time around. Gardner, a brilliant Internet speaker, is a powerhouse in the web world, and is one of only two women running a top ten website. Since arriving at the crowd-sourced encyclopedia a few years ago, Gardner has dramatically raised Wikipedia’s offices,... 2012-08-24 16:43:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mira-nair-tiff-the-reluctant-fundamentalist.html Director Mira Nair’s hotly anticipated new film, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, revolves around the complicated, and sometimes scandalous, world of international politics—and, in classic Nair fashion, it's wildly entertaining while still having heft. It stars Riz Ahmen, Kate Hudson, and Kiefer Sutherland, and is based on the bestselling novel of the same name. In September, it will make its North American debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, the festival that has become the... 2012-08-23 10:56:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-jeremy-gutsche-2012-australian-chambers-business-congress.html At his site, TrendHunter.com, innovation speaker Jeremey Gutsche knows how to sift through the hubbub and find the next big thing. As one of the speakers at the 2012 Australian Chambers Business Congress, Gutsche brought his voracious stage presence and keen eye for innovative business cultures. In an email to Lavin, one of the event’s meeting planners described Gutsche as “a fresh burst of life and energy, delightful to work with.” “His enthusiasm was bouncing off the walls,”... 2012-08-23 11:20:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kate-bolick-atlantic-story-now-cbs-sitcom.html Kate Bolick’s popular Atlantic cover story “All The Single Ladies,” which was one of the most-read articles on the Internet last year, is being turned into a new sitcom, set to air on CBS, the network that ran The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the ‘70s. Bolick’s highly personal article will serve as the backdrop for the single-camera, half-hour series, about a thirty-something woman who abandons tradition notions of marriage and family—a successful woman who does not... 2012-08-23 11:45:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-looking-at-extreme-weather-photographer-and-environmental-speaker-camille-seaman.html "I'm trying to articulate that humans are not separate from nature," says environmental speaker Camille Seaman. Seaman is a TED Fellow, a photographer, and Lavin’s latest signing. Her work captures the harsh beauty of our powerful yet fragile natural world, from the polar regions to the tornado-riddled South. Through her exhibitions, workshops, and keynotes, Seaman intimately connects audiences to the ecosystems around them.Born to a Native American father and African American mother, Seaman... 2012-08-23 15:21:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-speaker-mike-rowe-forbes-most-trustworthy-celebrity.html Getting down and dirty at some of the most grueling and messy jobs there are has earned celebrity speaker Mike Rowe the #10 spot on Forbes' “Most Trustworthy Celebrities list.”In his popular Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs, Rowe has rolled up his sleeves and held down more jobs than virutally anyone in the world since the show aired in 2005. Paying homage to the thousands of hardworking Americans employed in less-than-glamorous careers has undoubtedly given him mass appeal within the... 2012-08-22 12:22:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-why-the-cloud-sucks-innovation-speaker-steve-wozniak.html Innovation speaker Steve Wozniak doesn’t like the cloud. In an article for Gizmodo, the co-founder of Apple Computers tells a tale of woe where most of the important information he had stored on his Google calendar was wiped out—thanks to a glitchy system update. Depending on something so easy to use, and so convenient, came at a price, and Wozniak laments that he's become extremely disheartened with the instability of the system we use to store our most important information. “I’ve... 2012-08-22 13:22:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-faith-politics-collide-world-religions-speaker-stephen-prothero.html In his recent CNN blog, world religions speaker Stephen Prothero talked about the way a candidate’s faith will inevitably work its way into discussions about their politics, especially in an election year. Case in point: Mitt Romney’s open invitation for reporters to join him at church —despite the fact that he's often been tight-lipped about his religious heritage. Prothero, the author of the new book American Bible, says that Romney should “define his faith in his own terms... 2012-08-22 15:09:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-online-matters-public-policy-speaker-david-eaves.html With the Internet world and the “real world” being more intertwined than ever, and the lines between the two becoming more blurred, public policy speaker David Eaves says that what happens online is just as important as what happens offline. In response to a Globe and Mail editorial about the serious nature of online death threats, Eaves blogs that what happens on the Web should not be taken lightly. “For many of us, we've known for a long time that what happens online matters,”... 2012-08-21 14:34:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-speaker-debbie-beribichez.html Renowned science speaker Debbie Berebichez has always had a passion for understanding how the world around her worked. Her motivational keynote presentations urge inquiring minds to put on their “physics glasses” and see the world from a new perspective — despite the fact that she was never encouraged to do so herself.In a new interview with Double X Science, Berebichez describes how she was constantly told to spend less time studying physics and more time raising a family. However,... 2012-08-20 10:50:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-economist-jeff-rubin-longer-retirement-wait.html Jeff Rubin, prominent economist and author of The End of Growth, discusses the future of the economy and the labor force in an exclusive talk with the Lavin agency. The insightful speaker skips the sugar-coating and flat-out admits that North America's struggling and unstable economy will not be lending itself to the stimulation of new employment opportunities any time soon. Not only will the ability to find work in the near future become harder than it already is, but those who are currently employed... 2012-08-20 14:47:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-douglas-merrill-communicating.html As the former Chief Information Officer at Google and the founder of the online loan service ZestCash.com, innovation speaker Douglas Merrill has had his fair share of experience with the online customer. As he discusses in this exclusive Lavin Agency video, the customer-retailer dynamic has changed dramatically with the onset and growing popularity of online shopping. While physical retailers know their customers (as they can literally see them face-to-face), the online retailer often never makes... 2012-08-20 17:00:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dont-waste-the-drought-water-speaker-charles-fishman.html America is experiencing one of the worst droughts it has seen in over 60 years, and water speaker Charles Fishman implores us—in his top-emailed New York Times op-ed—to not “waste” the drought, to use it as a learning moment.As the author of the bestselling book The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water, Fishman is an informed source on the vital role that H20 plays in our lives. As he writes in the Times, this period of water scarcity “...represents... 2012-08-17 14:20:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-how-science-speaker-hakeem-oluseyi-overcame-poverty-to-study-the-universe.html Hakeem Oluseyi, a new exclusive speaker at The Lavin Agency, grew up with very little. He and his mother moved from one poor neighbourhood in the deep South to the next—from the Ninth Ward in New Orleans to the Third Ward in Houston. He's also a graduate of Stanford University, an internationally recognized astrophysicist and inventor, and part of a group of scientists who won the Nobel Peace Prize. Did we mention, he's also a TED Fellow? Growing up as the new kid in the bad neighbourhood,... 2012-08-17 15:11:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-why-introverts-love-digital-gadgets-susan-cain.html Despite arguments to the contrary, says Quiet author Susan Cain, social media and new digital technologies have made it easier for introverts to communicate. In Time magazine recently, introvert speaker (and TED phenom) Cain describes the benefits to communicating in an increasingly wired, gadget-based world. Despite often possessing apt social skills, many introverts thrive in this new technologically-driven realm. "One of the most unremarked advances of the online revolution," Cain writes in the... 2012-08-17 16:22:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sci-fi-film-by-shalini-kantayya-tackles-water-scarcity.html Even though it’s a sci-fi film, A Drop of Life features an alarmingly poignant account of the future of water privatization that is actually much closer to fact than fiction.For those who have never had to worry about clean drinking water, this documentary, directed by environmental speaker Shalini Kantayya, may come as an illuminating shock. Set for a wide release on the Indian broadcast NDTV Profit this Saturday, Kantayya’s film depicts a world where water is rationed in quantities... 2012-08-15 9:31:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-media-expert-amber-macarthur-twitter.html Purchasing Twitter followers from an online source may seem like an easy and cost-effective way to increase your Twitter credibility—seemingly, with the online community being none-the-wiser. For less than a hundred dollars, you can buy yourself thousands of bots to up your Twitter clout, but social media expert Amber Mac warns that web apps such as StatusPeople will put a kibosh on your corner-cutting, black hat, social media trickery. In a recent Fast Company article, the digital media and... 2012-08-15 16:03:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-make-syria-a-top-priority-humanitarian-speaker-samantha-nutt.html Samantha Nutt, the founder of War Child, recently spoke with Peter Mansbridge and a collection of other experts about the situation in Syria. Appearing on CBC’s The National, she addressed the differences between Syria and recent events in Egypt and Libya, and the potential dangers to individuals living in the region. Given the lack of clear leadership in the segmented group of insurgents, she said, even if they topple the current regime, it may lead to greater troubles in the future.With an... 2012-08-15 16:19:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gayletzemachlemmon-clintonglobalinitiative-conference.html Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, the New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, will speak at the second annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting this September; offering her insights on achieving positive social change and economic recovery.The three-day event will leverage Lemmon’s views, and those of others in her peer group, on enacting successful economic growth amidst tumultuous social and financial climates. Lemmon's extensive work in foreign policy, and her research on... 2012-08-15 16:27:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-how-weather-affects-our-economy-erwann-michel-kerjan.html Erwann Michel-Kerjan has spent a lot of time thinking about how our increasingly-unpredictable weather affects our economy in tangible ways. That explains why Michel-Kerjan, a sought-after risk management speaker, is happy with the work done in Congress last month. The National Flood Insurance Program was renewed for another five years—meaning that Congress is considering risk-based rates for insurance programs. This dovetails with two principles outlined in Michel-Kerjan's prescient book At... 2012-08-14 15:45:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-innovation-speaker-jeremy-gutsche-celebrates-one-billion-views-at-trendhunter.html Great news! Trendhunter.com—the brainchild website of innovation speaker Jeremy Gutsche—just passed one billion views. Gutsche’s site is, by leaps and bounds, the largest and most updated collection of cutting edge ideas available anywhere—ideas on fashion, technology, design, architecture, consumer behavior, and mush else. As the site passed the billion-with-a-b milestone, Gutsche wrote, “Just three years ago, we were celebrating our 100 millionth view. Now, our community... 2012-08-10 14:45:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-peter-mansbridge-reviews-the-newsroom.html While some viewers are quick to criticize HBO's new drama The Newsroom, Peter Mansbridge—the anchor of CBC’s The National—thinks the show is exactly what it's meant to be: entertainment. Mansbridge is the Chief Correspondent of CBC News, and is therefore no stranger to the internal logic of a busy newsroom, or to the portrayal of news media in film and on television. In a recent piece that ran on the CBC’s website, Mansbridge writes: “As in any television drama, a lot... 2012-08-09 16:47:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-internet-speaker-alexandra-samuel-profile.html A recent Vancouver Sun profile takes us inside the busy world of internet speaker Alexandra Samuel, who is perhaps best-known for her TED talk in which she argues that our online personas count as “real-life, too.” Samuel, the profile notes, is a digital savant, mother of two, entrepreneur, PhD, Harvard Business Review blogger, director of the Social + Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University, Wonder Woman fan, and all-around human dynamo. Her work places her at  the unique... 2012-08-08 16:38:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-salman-rushdie-tweets-photo-of-his-new-memoir-joseph-anton.html Today on Twitter (where else?), Lavin speaker Salman Rushdie tweeted a photo of the UK cover of Joseph Anton, his wildly-anticipated memoir. “Here it is,” he writes. “Worldwide release date September 18. English & 16 other languages.” Earlier, he tweeted: “Today I got my first copy of the UK first edition of my memoir….These are the best moments in a writer’s life.” The memoir’s title refers to the alias Rushdie adopted while in hiding, and... 2012-08-08 9:37:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-elizabeth-dunn-money-happiness.html If you think money will make you happier, you might want to check out the research of Dr. Elizabeth Dunn. Dunn is the co-author of Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, and she studies the effect that money has—or doesn't have—on happiness. Dunn recently asked whether or not doubling somebody's salary would lead them to be twice as happy.  While most of the people she studied expected to see happiness double along with their pay, the reality was that doubling your paycheque... 2012-08-07 13:53:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-e-o-wilson-ted-advice.html In this TED video, science speaker E.O. Wilson reads an excerpt from his upcoming book, Letter to a Young Scientist, which seeks to inspire young scientists at this crucial point in the field’s history. Here’s the legendary biologist, talking about the impact that science has on our lives, and the important position new scientists have in shepherding what he calls the "techno-scientific revolution": "So swift is the velocity of the techno-scientific revolution—so startling in its... 2012-08-07 14:11:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-splits-in-two-high-fidelity-experiences-vs-convenience-doug-stephens.html Consumer spending habits are drastically evolving, says retail speaker Doug Stephens. As he tells The Globe and Mail recently, "What we're seeing is that the marketplace is bifurcating into two very distinct sort of propositions." The first is something called “super-high fidelity experiences," such as exclusive or limited products and concierge-level services such as Holt Renfrew. The second is "super high-convenience experiences," where everything is available at the press of a button, like... 2012-08-02 13:47:20 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jared-diamond-responds-to-mitt-romneys-use-of-guns-germs-and-steel.html Dr. Jared Diamond Responds to Mitt Romney: “He Didn’t Do His Homework.” 2012-08-02 16:47:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-web-speaker-virginia-heffernan-romney.html “The app is quickly revealed as a banal, noxiously safe, wavy-bunting-on-the-dais bit of silliness, like a campaign website from the ’90s. The nineteen-nineties. The collision of this nervous patriotism with the sheen of steampunk irony in the design is queasy-making… “Mitt’s VP” is junk. And that’s not political. Romney’s app looks weird, it asks for tons of data, and it gives nothing but promises.”—Web speaker Virginia Heffernan, on... 2012-08-01 16:28:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-getting-the-most-from-introverts-in-the-office.html Quiet author Susan Cain has advice for corporations on how to tap the power of introverts in the workplace. Speaking with the Harvard Business Review, Cain offered concrete guidance on managing introverted staff members—of which there are many more than we think. “Introverts get into the habit of trying to act like extroverts,” Cain says. “But that doesn't mean that doesn't take a toll, and that it doesn't deplete your energies that could be better directed towards actually... 2012-07-31 14:38:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-marketing-speaker-bruce-philp-olympics.html As marketing speaker Bruce Philp reminds us: it wasn't long ago that the Olympics were the place to get your brand seen. But no longer. In a new piece for Canadian Business, he writes that overexposure, skyrocketing prices, and the evolution of media have made Olympic sponsorship much less valuable than in the past. The Consumer Republic author argues that our changing marketplace, coupled with new media consumption patterns, have turned Olympic sponsorships from an integral opportunity for exposure... 2012-07-30 15:15:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-human-resources-speaker-douglas-merrill.html Human resources speaker Douglas Merrill is the former Chief Information officer at Google—where he oversaw a team of 1,500 employees—and he has a lot of opinions about how human resources managers should (and shouldn’t) attract and develop talent. In this new Lavin video, Merrill explains that most HR decision-makers have a crippling bias: a natural instinct to hire and promote people who are most like them. This, he says, is the exact wrong way to build a company. Here's Douglas... 2012-07-27 12:06:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-social-media-expert-amber-mac-socialmix.html Social media expert Amber Mac spoke today at Social Mix 2012, and Twitter—via the #SoMix2012 hashtag—lit up immediately. The event, which brought together top online branding innovators, is a special fundraiser for the Remix Project, a Toronto-based program to give young people from disadvantaged, marginalized, and under-served communities access to creative educational programs and facilities. Amber delivered a new talk, Social Media for Entrepreneurs - 7 Steps to Success, where... 2012-07-26 15:04:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-flipping-the-classroom-time-profiles-education-speaker-salman-khan.html A recent Time magazine article on education speaker Salman Khan reveals his plan to “flip” the traditional classroom model, and to empower teachers to give personalized attention to individual students. Khan, who founded the popular Khan Academy, is relying on the support of the Internet, as well as the cooperation of educators everywhere. “In the ideal classroom,” Khan tells Time, “the teacher is either spending all of their time doing deep interventions with students... 2012-07-25 14:43:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-business-speaker-jeff-rubin-return-manufacturing.html Visiting the Lavin Agency's Toronto office last week, business speaker Jeff Rubin told us where he thinks industry in North America is heading: back to manufacturing. In his new book, The End of Growth, Rubin argues that rising oil prices spell the end of exponential economic growth—and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What do higher oil prices worldwide mean for North America, specifically? Rubin says the next decade will see our economy shift away from the service industries—whether... 2012-07-24 14:04:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tom-wujec-marshmallow-challenge-innovation-workshop.html Tom Wujec is one of the world's leading innovation and visualization speakers, offering interactive innovation workshops to help companies streamline the way they do business and foster innovation. One of his most unorthodox, yet equally effective, workshops is the "Marshmallow Challenge"—a simple team exercise in amateur architecture that ends up teaching us the true value of teamwork. experiment sounds simple enough: teams try to build the tallest freestanding structure they can out of 20... 2012-07-24 15:35:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-laurie-garrett-keynotes-at-ndia-bisurveillance-conference.html Health speaker Laurie Garrett will talk about an important matter of national health and security at the major NDIA Biosurveillance Conference, in Washington, at the end of August. Garrett, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, will open the concerence, focusing on the shortfalls and inadequacies of our nation's biosurveillance procedures—a key topic that has been front page news several times this past year. The issues facing our national program include: lack of funding and “actionable”... 2012-07-23 9:33:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-scientist-ronald-mallett-time-machine.html In a new video series called EPIPHANY, Ronald Mallett discusses his emotional and scientific quest to make time travel possible. The video reveals the original story behind his lifelong quest: how the death of his father, when Mallett was just ten, inspired him to build a functioning time machine. While most childhood dreams fade over time, Mallett has transformed his into an academic career that has made him an influential voice in theoretical physics—overcoming poverty, racism, and much else... 2012-07-19 14:31:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gayle-lemmon-yahoo-pregnant-ceo.html “I have no doubt that [newly-announced Yahoo CEO Marissa] Mayer, a respected tech veteran, will engineer all the changes ahead for her with the same clarity and precision she showed at Google over the past 13 years. That includes her very private decision to embrace new motherhood while scaling new professional heights. And I imagine she will handily tune out the legion of self-picked advisers keen to offer the unsolicited advice heaped on expectant mothers every day.”—Bestselling... 2012-07-18 14:57:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jane-chen-dove-women-famous.html Dove has chosen Jane Chen—a TED Fellow and new Lavin speaker—for its “Women Who Should Be Famous” series of television commercials. Chen was highlighted for her strength and charisma, and for her contribution to society. That contribution comes in the form of Embrace—a social enterprise she founded which provides affordable and innovative healthcare technologies for the disadvantaged. Embrace’s first invention is the Embrace Infant Warmer (EIW), which was praised... 2012-07-18 17:07:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-leadership-speaker-drew-dudley-dictator.html In a recent article, TEDx favorite Drew Dudley makes an impassioned, and plausible, argument for small acts of daily leadership, a favorite topic of his. We all carry our own "private dictators" with us, Dudley says—the negative voices that "deny us happiness and coerce us into behaviour which pulls value from our own lives and the lives of those around us." How can we defeat our private dictators? Dudley says we must form our own "personal revolutions" to overthrow the notions that we're not... 2012-07-17 9:42:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rob-walker-significant-objects-add-value.html Significant Objects, an eBay art experiment by Lavin’s Rob Walker, earned deafening buzz in marketing circles for showing the (monetary) value that a great story can add to an otherwise ordinary object. In the book Significant Objects, co-authored with Joshua Glenn, Walker presents a stunning mediation on the value of narrative. Rob Walker, who contributes to The New York Times Magazine, Design Observer, and The Atlantic, speaks often on the intricate relationship between people, corporations,... 2012-07-17 16:43:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kurt-eichenwald-vanity-fair.html In the August issue of Vanity Fair, Lavin speaker Kurt Eichenwald reveals the crippling bureaucracy that has stifled Microsoft's innovation for years—from internal HR policies that pitted workers against each other, to the company-wide refusal to take business risks that, in hindsight, may have changed the history of technology forever. Eichenwald rigorously researched the piece to offer a real-life example of why companies must continually take risks in order to succeed in today's ever-shifting... 2012-07-16 9:24:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sue-gardner-wikipedia-ugly-design-follows-function.html The Atlantic recently called Wikipedia’s design “pretty ugly” in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek critique of the site’s “homeliness.” Well, it turns out that the homeliness is intentional—and, according to Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia’s parent), it’s part of the site’s “awkward charm” and functionality. Gardner says the design of the world’s biggest online encyclopedia keeps the experience... 2012-07-16 13:26:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-in-paperback-dr-samantha-nutt-number-one-bestseller-damned-nations.html Lavin speaker Dr. Samantha Nutt—Founder and Executive Director of the internationally recognized War Child Canada organization—is releasing her #1 national bestselling book, Damned Nations: Greed, Guns, Armies and Aid, in paperback this month.An award-winning humanitarian, Dr. Samantha Nutt has worked with children and families at the frontlines of some of the world's most dangerous war zones. In Damned Nations, Nutt intertwines personal experience with impassioned argument on the issues... 2012-07-16 17:44:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jessica-jackley-microfinance-kiva-tv-commercial-best-buy.html “It’s hard to believe that it started with just a dream and a laptop,” Jessica Jackley says in a ubiquitous new Best Buy television commercial. A Lavin speaker, Jackley is the co-founder of KIVA, the world’s first microlending platform—where anybody can lend money to developing world entrepreneurs for as little as $25. In a nice touch, the commercial features Jackley’s father, David, holding up the laptop computer he gave to Jessica when she left for college. (As... 2012-07-13 14:17:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-candy-chang-urbanized.html One of the best parts of the documentary Urbanized, about the issues facing cities in the 21st Century, is when Candy Chang, a public space artist, appears on screen, late in the movie. “There are so many things—living in the same neighborhood—that we could actually share with each other that would help us understand what's going on,” Chang says. Standing in her New Orleans neighborhood, she discusses her “I Wish This Was…” project, started in the wake of... 2012-07-12 16:01:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-lavin-how-to-start-a-speakers-bureau.html With two big developments at The Lavin Agency—our move to a bigger office, and the launch of our new website—we sat down with David Lavin to talk about the history and future of a speakers bureau that started two decades ago when, looking for something to do, David decided to invite Hunter S. Thompson to give a speech. That first event was followed by the much-loved Toronto Star lecture series, which morphed into The Lavin Agency, which has grown from a solo shop into one of the world’s... 2012-07-11 15:37:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-john-ibbitson-big-shift.html In a fascinating upcoming book, The Big Shift, John Ibbitson, The Globe and Mail's Ottawa bureau chief, explains how immigration and shifting power centres within Canada have fundamentally reshaped our country. "The provinces that mattered most don’t matter as much any more," he boldly states. "The country’s centre has shifted west, and power has shifted with it. In fact power is now shared by two groups: Westerners and Ontario’s suburban middle class, especially the immigrant suburban... 2012-07-11 12:45:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jer-thorp-humanizing-data.html The Lavin Agency would like to welcome our newest speaker, Jer Thorp, who holds one of the world’s coolest jobs: Data Artist-in-Residence at The New York Times. Thorp’s work focuses on humanizing data—on turning data into narratives and stories—by creating striking graphic representations. He turns raw, unwieldy numbers into actionable information for companies and people who are hoping to better understand user, client, and customer behaviors. By visualizing this data, we... 2012-07-10 16:06:38 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-how-can-money-make-you-happier-elizabeth-dunn.html Do you need more money to be happier? Dr. Elizabeth Dunn—co-author of Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending—says, no! This weekend, The New York Times ran a Sunday Review story, co-authored by Dunn, which has quickly gone viral, based on its counterintuitive conclusions: “Interestingly, and usefully,” Dunn writes, “it turns out that what we do with our money plays a far more important role than how much money we make.” Overindulging is dangerous, she warns,... 2012-07-09 15:40:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-shannon-brownlee-with-affordable-care-act-upheld-lets-stop-overspending.html Lavin speaker Shannon Brownlee (Overtreated) says the recent ruling by the Supreme Court to uphold the Affordable Care Act—one of the most important moves toward universal health care in 50 years—is “good news.” “But an even bigger task still lies ahead,” says Brownlee, the director of the New America Foundation's Health Policy Program. On the heels of the ruling, she argues that now is the time to crack down on overspending in the health care system—which... 2012-07-06 13:30:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-yorker-susan-cain-ted-talk.html Susan Cain's 2012 TED talk on introverts—which is now approaching 2.5 million views—was named one of The New Yorker's five key TED talks in a recent blog post, which called it “a miniature theatre piece.” In her passionate keynote, Cain argued that introverts bring extraordinary abilities and talents to the world, but have been overlooked and discouraged by our society's emphasis on extroversion as the desired norm. The message has clearly struck a chord with many people.... 2012-07-06 15:09:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ninive-calegari-talking-to-teachers-826.html In this video from a recent keynote, Nínive Calegari touches on some of the realities of teaching in America today. As the president of the Teacher Salary Project, and as co-founder with Dave Eggers of 826 National, Calegari believes teachers are woefully undervalued as professionals and as a profession—and this has dire consequences for our culture, our economy, and our future. Here’s Calegari: "I knew there was this really big gap between how sophisticated I knew my work was,... 2012-07-04 9:57:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-BNNs-Catherine-Murray-From-The-Boardroom-To-The-Anchor-Chair.html Catherine Murray—Lavin’s newest exclusive speaker—is a BNN news anchor with a difference: she brings to the small screen her extensive behind-the-scenes business experience at the upper echelons of the corporate, retail, and finance worlds. Murray has worked closely, and internationally, with the CEOs of major corporations, was a Vice President of Institutional Sales and Trading at Deutsche Bank, and started her own equities company. She brings an incredible vitality... 2012-07-03 13:08:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-charles-fishman-wal-mart-50-years.html In a recent article on the 50-year anniversary of Walmart, Time magazine turned to retail speaker Charles Fishman for examples of just how much the mega-retailer has changed the landscape of American business, and America itself. Fishman compares Walmart's earnings to its nearest retail competitor, Target, to illustrate the extent of its domination: Walmart does more business by March 3 than Target does all year. Target doesn’t have a single store outside the United States; Walmart’s... 2012-07-03 14:23:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-apple-CEO-is-no-steve-jobs-and-thats-good-virginia-heffernan.html Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook, is no Steve Jobs, writes Virginia Heffernan—and that’s not such a bad thing. In her review of Cook’s first keynote as CEO, Heffernan drew a striking contrast between Cook and Jobs, whose showier presentations used to elicit a near-religious fervor among many. Heffernan outlines where Apple might be headed, arguing that not having Jobs will help the company expand. “There’s something loose about the Cook agenda,” she writes, “but... 2012-06-27 13:32:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-closing-the-gender-gap-Gayle-Lemmon-at-the-state-department.html Exciting news! Lavin speaker Gayle Tzemach Lemmon has been invited to be a moderator at a conference on women and the economy, co-hosted by the U.S. Department of State and Gallup. The event features Hillary Rodham Clinton, who, in a Newsweek cover story written by Lemmon said, "I believe that the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st century." The conference will focus on the current and emerging gender-sensitive data with which women's societal impact can be monitored--and... 2012-06-26 9:39:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jessica-jackley-kiva-fast-company-extraordinary-list.html Innovators, leaders, philanthropists, and artists—all grace Fast Company's A-Z rundown of 60 women bettering the world for girls and women. Lavin's own Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva, is on the “League of Extraordinary Women” list alongside women like Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and Melinda Gates. On Jackley and Kiva, from Fast Company: The Kiva microfinance system is well suited for women—who produce half the world’s food, yet earn just 10 percent of the world’s... 2012-06-26 10:15:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-pop-culture-speaker-chuck-klosterman-new-york-times-ethicist.html Pop culture speaker Chuck Klosterman has taken over the coveted Ethicist role at The New York Times Magazine. Klosterman, who has been called “the new Hunter S. Thompson” by People, also writes for Grantland, and he previously wrote columns for SPIN and Esquire, home of “Chuck Klosterman’s America.” So, what makes someone qualified to give advice to total strangers? In a recent Poynter interview, Klosterman elaborated on the essentially indefinable qualifications for... 2012-06-25 10:56:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-risk-management-speaker-erwann-michel-kerjan-euro-2.html At the Huffington Post recently, risk management speaker Erwann Michel-Kerjan suggests an innovative way to save the deeply troubled Euro. His solution? To 'quarantine' the beleaguered nations of Greece, Portugal and Ireland (and perhaps Spain and Italy if trends continue) by creating a secondary currency, called the Euro II (E2), that these countries could adopt to get themselves back on their fiscal feet. Michel-Kerjan explains: Bundle Greece, Portugal and Ireland (and maybe others) into a second... 2012-06-22 14:11:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-retail-speaker-douglas-stephens-apple.html Why are Apple stores better than most retail outlets? In a recent visit to the Lavin offices, retail speaker Douglas Stephens explained. Much of it has to do with the late Steve Jobs' obsessive dedication to detail. "What Apple was very good at doing was thinking radically," Stephens says. "They didn't model themselves after any other computer store." In addition to the genius bar and mobile point-of-sale technology that eliminated lineups, Stephens pointed out, Apple trained its retail workers to... 2012-06-21 14:56:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-ten-reasons-nations-fail-daron-acemoglu-and-james-robinson.html Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson’s bestselling book, Why Nations Fail, takes a hard-hitting look at why some nations prosper and others fall apart. In Foreign Policy recently, these two Lavin speakers offer ten  reasons why certain countries crumble: usually, the collapse is the ultimate outcome of a deeply flawed political institution and an "extractive" economic model, which focuses on harvesting or extracting natural resources for sale or trade, and very little else. In their words,... 2012-06-21 13:02:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-new-lavin-speaker-ben-rattray-founder-change-org.html The Lavin Agency is excited to announce our new exclusive speaker, Ben Rattray, founder and CEO of Change.org—the world's fastest-growing website for social action. Launched in 2008, the site already wields an impressive amount of influence: it has attracted 10 million users, 93,000 causes, and a mountain of media attention. Time named Rattray one of its 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2012. The magazine writes: “By marrying one of the world's oldest organizing tools, the... 2012-06-20 13:36:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jessica-jackley-economist-crowdfunding.html In a recent interview with The Economist, Jessica Jackley spoke about the future of crowdfunding: will it affect the business world and can it fundamentally change the nature of entrepreneurship. In the case of start-up businesses, investors who participate in crowdfunding bring much more than simple capital to would-be entrepreneurs. They also contribute their ideas, values, and industry contacts. Businesses started with crowdfunding will likely have more investors than traditionally-funded businesses,... 2012-06-19 12:54:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-first-look-at-jared-diamonds-new-book-the-world-until-yesterday.html The Lavin Agency is pleased to offer a first glimpse of the major new book from Dr. Jared Diamond—the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, and a scientist who doesn’t shy away from examining the big questions about human civilization. Called The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies, Diamond’s new work is due in January 2013. Watch the video above of Dr. Diamond’s recent visit to the Lavin offices in Toronto, in which he offered... 2012-06-18 14:28:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-creating-a-better-conference-culture-jeremy-gutsche.html One of the great things about a keynote from Trendhunter’s Jeremy Gutsche is that he can adapt his message of methodical innovation to any audience. Recently, he spoke in front of an influential group of meeting planners about, well, how to plan better meetings and conferences. It’s a topic that, given his hundreds of talks over the last few years, he was especially eager to address. As the closing keynote at Meeting Planner's World Education Congress, in Vancouver, Gutsche delivered... 2012-06-14 15:20:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-amber-mac-social-mix-2012.html Today, Amber Mac is one of the most in-demand digital innovation speakers around, giving keynotes from Vancouver to Chicago to Sydney. But the bestselling author and Fast Company contributor comes from humble beginnings in Canada's East Coast. And that’s what makes her the perfect speaker for the Remix Project’s Social Mix 2012 conference. The Remix Project helps “level the playing field for young people from disadvantaged, marginalized and underserved communities” by providing... 2012-06-13 13:15:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-David-Livingstone-Smith-book-Less-Than-Human-is-Honored.html Acclaimed philosopher and Lavin speaker David Livingstone Smith has received a 2012 Anisfield-Wolf Award for Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others, which The New York Times called “an unusually lucid book about an under-studied subject.” In winning the award, Smith joins past winners Oprah Winfrey, Zadie Smith (no relation), and fellow Lavin speakers Kwame Anthony Appiah and Derek Walcott. For the past 77 years, the award has recognized writers whose work makes... 2012-06-13 9:34:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-How-to-Topple-a-Dictator-Srdja-Popovic-Peaceful-Revolutions.html The Lavin Agency is pleased to announce our new exclusive speaker, Srdja Popovic—a visionary figure in the art of non-violent protests.Popovic was recently named among Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers, for "inspiring Arab Spring protestors directly and indirectly.” Popovic is perhaps most famous for founding Otpor!, the Serbian youth movement that surged to over 70,000 members and eventually toppled Slobodan Milosevic, using a variety of techniques, some of which were borrowed... 2012-06-11 14:17:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Laurie-Garrett-and-Michael-Osterholm-How-Effective-are-Vaccines.html At the World Science Festival in New York City recently, leading health journalists and scientists gathered to reflect on past mistakes and discuss the future of public health. Among them were Lavin speakers Michael Osterholm, a public health scientist, and Laurie Garrett, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Garrett and Osterholm both agreed with fellow panelists that universal vaccinations hold the biggest opportunities for good global health. However, global vaccines are also among the most contentious... 2012-06-08 9:45:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonah-lehrer-joins-new-yorker.html Great news! Jonah Lehrer, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Imagine: How Creativity Works, is now a staff writer at The New Yorker, one of America’s premier showcases for thoughtful long-form reporting. Lehrer’s recent New Yorker articles include a profile of Edward O. Wilson (focusing on his research into the nature of altruism), and a controversial piece about flaws in the scientific method. That story was the #1 most-read article the week it was released.Lehrer, who has a... 2012-06-06 10:06:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Arthur-Fleischmann-What-an-Autistic-Teenager-Can-Teach-Marketers.html Arthur Fleischmann is upbeat on a recent grey Tuesday morning. Our new exclusive speaker, Fleischmann was at Lavin’s Toronto offices to discuss his national bestseller, Carly's Voice—a memoir co-written with his daughter Carly which chronicles her exceptional experiences in living with severe non-verbal autism. The “voice” in the title refers to Carly’s ability, nonetheless, to communicate through typing and on social media, where she has thousands of followers and friends.While... 2012-06-05 16:48:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-In-norway-Laurence-C-Smith-Points-to-the-Rise-of-northern-Economies.html Scientist Laurence C. Smith is a bit of a celebrity in Norway—at least he's treated like one when we send him there for keynotes. Recently, Smith spoke at a Norwegian economic conference, and he ended up on the front page of the country’s biggest financial paper. Even the Crown Princess paid him a visit. There was an accompanying three-page article on Smith in the paper. Why the hoopla? Smith is a sought-after speaker who argues that, in the coming decades, the eight nations of the Arctic... 2012-06-01 15:02:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Standing-up-for-Our-Teachers-826-Co-Founder-Ninive-Calegari.html The Lavin Agency is pleased to welcome our newest exclusive speaker, Ninive Calegari, the co-founder—with Dave Eggers—of 826 National, the acclaimed after-school tutoring program. In her talks, Calegari looks at the sobering state of education in America: There are currently 3.2 million public school teachers. But by the next decade, 1.8 million of them will retire or be eligible for retirement. Who will fill the gap, and why should we care? A former teacher herself, Calegari has dedicated... 2012-05-31 16:18:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tonya-surman-collaboration-economy.html "The new economy is all about collaboration," says Tonya Surman. And she should know. Surman is the co-founder of The Centre for Social Innovation, a 5,000 square foot shared workspace in downtown Toronto—the first of its kind in the world—that contains an ecosystem of nearly 200 not-for-profits and social purpose businesses. The CSI has been designed, from the ground up, to remove logistical barriers like overhead costs in order to create a flourishing environment of cross-pollinating... 2012-05-30 16:13:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bruce-philp-consumer-republic-national-book-award.html Bruce Philp’s Consumer Republic has won the 2012 National Business Book Award; the two runners-up were titles by Chris Turner and Conrad Black. Philp’s book gives a unique—and optimistic—take on consumerism, boldly conflating it with a healthy democracy. In it, he argues that informed consumers are the ultimate jury that holds brands accountable. The award jury chairman, Roger Martin, called Philp's book "a balanced, intelligent, sophisticated and timely message for a world... 2012-05-29 16:27:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Salman-Khan-Tech-Makes-Classrooms-More-Not-Less-Interactive.html Last month, we were in the audience in Toronto’s TIFF Lightbox building as Salman Khan spoke about his world-famous Khan Academy—a nonprofit that provides free, high-quality education to “anyone, anywhere” through online videos. The Khan Academy is the perfect example of the positive power of media in education: more technology actually means more interaction in the classroom, not less, creating “a more human experience” for students. The story of how the Khan... 2012-05-28 16:40:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Diversity-in-Higher-Education-Four-Lavin-Speakers-at-NCORE-2012.html If you are interested in intelligent discussions of race and ethnicity in American higher education, then the annual NCORE conference is the place to be. Next week, at NCORE 2012, in New York City, we’ll have four Lavin keynote speakers on hand to discuss various aspects of their leading edge work. Topics include: a new history of multiculturalism, the next steps in civil rights, the ongoing debate surrounding the politics of race, and a closing keynote on the intersection of race and public... 2012-05-25 17:05:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Kate-Bolick-and-Eric-Klinenberg-Talk-About-Solo-Living.html On CBS Sunday Morning this week, two hot new authors, writing about social trends shaping America, appeared together. Kate Bolick and Eric Klinenberg, Lavin speakers both, discussed the rise in living alone, the subject of Klinenberg’s new book Going Solo. For Bolick, choosing to live alone was a sort of test. She says she grew up close to her family and had tight-knit friends and boyfriends all her life. “I thought, 'God, you know, who am I on my own when I'm not being supported by these... 2012-05-24 17:09:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog- How-to-Be-Awesome-At-Work-Neil-Pasricha.html While Neil Pasricha’s world-famous blog, 1000 Awesome Things, recently ended to much fanfare, he still has much more to say on the subject—especially how to be awesome at work. One thing worth knowing about Pasricha is that, despite being the author of several #1 bestsellers—in fact, this week he’s once again made the list at #2 and #3!—he wakes up every morning, drives to the suburbs, and works his office job. What keeps this Harvard MBA and Lavin speaker motivated?... 2012-05-23 17:13:35 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-The-Only-Interview-I-am-giving-conrad-black-speaks-to-peter-mansbridge.html It was a big get for the CBC News, and for its Chief Correspondent, Peter Mansbridge. In what was hailed as his only scheduled interview for a long time, Conrad Black sat down with Mansbridge for an hour and a half conversation—thirty tantalizing and often quite funny minutes of which aired last night on The National. Mansbridge is a seasoned interviewer (see his book, Peter Mansbridge One on One, for ample proof), and he led the famously verbose Black, newly released from US prison, through... 2012-05-22 14:55:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeremy-gutsche-inside-trendhunter-innovative-work-culture.html Though innovation speaker Jeremy Gutsche runs the #1 trendspotting site in the world—it’s called Trendhunter.com, and it boasts over a billion hits—his meteoric rise started from the same kernels that all entrepreneurs begin with: an idea and a dream. In a new behind-the-scenes video, we’re given a glimpse into Gutsche’s background, as well as the unique work environment that he has cultivated at Trendhunter. Jeremy Gutsche's approach to corporate culture has, from the... 2012-05-18 14:49:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-misha-glouberman-conference-communication.html When you consider how much time, money and effort go into planning or even just attending conferences, it’s worth thinking seriously about what makes for a great conference and what, unfortunately, causes many conferences to be less-than-great. This is what Misha Glouberman thinks, anyway. “The main reason for people to come together at a conference is to meet people,” Glouberman says, “but conferences usually treat the meeting people as secondary." Glouberman is the charismatic... 2012-05-17 14:35:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-charles-wheelan-commencement-speeches.html In his funny and deeply insightful new book, 10 1/2 Things No Commencement Speaker Has Ever Said, bestselling author Charles Wheelan outlines the life lessons that the nation’s graduates need to hear, but which they seldom do. Though some of his wisdom may seem odd—such as "Don't try to be great"—Wheelan isn't out to discourage graduates; he is providing them with realistic advice that skips vapid optimism in favor of gritty authenticity.Recently, Charles Wheelan spoke to CBC Q... 2012-05-17 14:46:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Making-it-in-New-York-City-Then-and-Now-Patti-Smith.html If you want to know what it takes for a young artist to “make it” in New York City, look no further than Patti Smith. That's what The Awl did in a recent article: they highlighted eight famous New York women writers working from the 1920s to the ‘70s, traced their paths to success, and showed us how this generation's artists fare in comparison, cost-wise. In doing so, The Awl reminds us how truly pioneering Patti Smith, a Lavin speaker, really was—and how far she’s come... 2012-05-16 14:13:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Jeff-Rubin-Talks-to-Michael-Hlinka-About-The-end-of-growth.html At a packed Toronto Reference Library event last night, CBC financial expert Michael Hlinka sat down to talk with economist and bestselling author Jeff Rubin about his new book, The End Of Growth. The two speakers shared a relaxed and animated rapport, even when discussing grave matters like bailouts and economic disruption. The End of Growth is an ominous title, but Rubin's projected view of the future—a “gearing down to a much slower rate of economic growth”—will have its... 2012-05-15 14:09:44 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-investigative-journalism-triumph-diana-swain-awarded-hillman-prize.html Lavin speaker Diana Swain has been awarded a Canadian Hillman Prize for her work on “Scout's Honour,” a yearlong story for CBC’s the fifth estate that was hailed as “a triumph of investigative journalism.” Alongside her colleagues—and fellow prize winners Timothy Sawa and Angela Gilbert—Swain helped bring to public attention allegations of child abuse and efforts to cover it up at Scouts Canada.     The Hillman Prize writes: The reporters... 2012-05-14 13:38:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-matt-taibbi-how-wall-street-killed-financial-reform.html In a scorching Rolling Stone investigative report this week, Matt Taibbi writes about how Wall Street killed financial reform in America—specifically, the Dodd-Frank act, which President Obama said “represent[s] the strongest consumer financial reform in history,” but which Taibbi says “is groaning on its deathbed” just two years after its passage. “That the banks have just about succeeded in strangling Dodd-Frank is probably not news to most Americans,”... 2012-05-11 13:34:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Ta-Nehisi-Coates-Wins-Hillman-Prize-for-Opinion-and-Analysis-Journalism.html Lavin speaker Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor at The Atlantic, has won the 2012 Hillman Prize for Opinion & Analysis Journalism. “Coates is one of the most elegant and sharp observers of race in America,” said judge Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker. “He is an upholder of universal values, a brave and compassionate writer who challenges his readers to transcend narrow self-definitions and focus on shared humanity.” Coates writes stories for The Atlantic, and updates... 2012-05-10 13:31:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-shooting-the-messenger-justin-fox-on-how-arguments-really-work.html The next time you have an argument that rubs you the wrong way, Justin Fox (The Myth of the Rational Market) wants you to think about this: “Is it the argument that bothers you, or the group you think the arguer belongs to?” In his latest Harvard Business Review article, Fox writes that if we don't like the messenger, we're likely to take it out on the message. And vice versa. If we like the individual or group that the content is coming from, we are more likely to agree. Nobel Prize... 2012-05-09 13:27:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-herle-bensimon-consumerology-three-types-of-canadians.html Economic confidence hinges on one variable: housing. This is one of the many insights shared by speakers Jack Bensimon and David Herle—the duo behind Consumerology, a leading consumer research report—in their visit to Lavin’s Toronto offices this month. Most interesting was their discussion of how extensive research led them to classify the Canadian population into three demographic groups: Runners, Walkers, and Spectators.Runners, the Consumerology guys tell us, are the ones who... 2012-05-08 12:41:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-amber-mac-personal-branding-online.html What does personal online branding mean? And why, suddenly, has it become so popular and important to companies, to their employees, and to individuals trying to make a mark in an increasingly crowded marketplace? In a new talk, Amber Mac—a renowned digital innovation speaker with a massive social media following—offers a master course in “The Art of Personal Branding.” It’s a topic she’s written about often. (Check out her Fast Company piece, from earlier this... 2012-05-07 12:25:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-an-explosive-moment-in-us-history-jeff-chang-on-the-LA-riots.html Twenty years ago, a nation watched as Los Angeles burned. In a new essay, social historian Jeff Chang—the author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop—examines the L.A. riots in parallel with the political and cultural evolution of rap music into the early ‘90s. Each seemed to mirror the other, he concludes. As Chang notes: “By 1991, L.A. rap was all tension and little release.” Chang’s essay, “I Gotta Be Able to Counterattack,” at The Los Angeles Review... 2012-05-04 12:21:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-justin-fox-innovation-myth-wired.html In a recent Wired article, Justin Fox asks whether the prevailing notion that we are in "an age of unprecedented, staggering technological change" is actually true—or whether it is a myth perpetuated by journalists covering business and technology. While Fox does admits that this argument is blatantly contrarian and purposefully provocative, he does see some truth behind it.Here's Fox: "Compared with the staggering changes in everyday life in the first half of the 20th century wrought by electricity,... 2012-05-02 17:03:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eagleman-guardian-article-observer.html In a recent article in The Guardian, Lavin speaker David Eagleman debated Raymond Tallis on the age-old question of whether our personalities, desires, and actions are governed by our unconscious mind, or whether the human condition is much more complicated. Eagleman's New York Times bestseller Incognito explores this question in accessible detail, pointing out that our behaviors, thoughts, and experiences are inseparably linked to the vast, wet, chemical-electrical networks of the brain. While we... 2012-05-01 16:53:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-how-introvert-susan-cain-got-a-standing-ovation-at-ted.html Lavin speaker Susan Cain has been an introvert all her life. But when it came time to deliver her 2012 TED talk—“a critique of our overly loquacious culture”—the bestselling author of Quiet had to get a little loud. In a recent New York Times essay, Cain recounts the journey she took to prepare for her record-breaking TED Talk. Addressing an audience of 1,500 people, Cain spoke with wit, grace, and ease—and received a standing ovation. “I talked about my lifelong... 2012-04-30 16:29:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cbc-insider-panel-live-political-insight-and-self-deprecating-humour.html Today, members of CBC's popular Insiders panel—David Herle, Kathleen Monk, and Jaime Watt—held their first-ever live event for a crowd of politicos, fans, and media. Billed as “a masterclass in Canadian politics,” the event featured an astonishing depth of political insight, undercut by a self-deprecating sense of humor that kept things buoyant.The Insiders—who have each worked behind the scenes at the upper echelons of Canadian politics—used visuals to illustrate... 2012-04-30 16:35:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bruce-philp-authors-at-google.html At his recent Authors@Google talk, Consumer Republic author Bruce Philp spoke about why brands make corporations more accountable, how they empower consumers, and why they can ultimately save capitalism. Big claims, but Philp backed them up persuasively. His talk drew on sociology, consumer history, and his years in the advertising industry, helping make the world's leading brands more accountable. Philp argued that the soul of consumerism is political in nature—that corporations, through their... 2012-04-27 16:04:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-reviewing-the-righteous-mind-jonathan-haidt-book-is-a-revelation.html Jonathan Haidt’s much-buzzed about new book, The Righteous Mind—which uses moral psychology to examine why liberals and conservatives have such a hard time seeing eye-to-eye—debuted at #6 on the New York Times bestseller list a few weeks back. Haidt’s book is perfectly timed for this year’s US election, which may be the nastiest and most partisan in recent memory, but it’s also making waves internationally. Two recent reviews of the UK edition call The Righteous... 2012-04-25 15:44:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dave-hemstad-a-stand-up-who-does-corporate-comedy-right.html Do you need to book a truly great corporate comedian this year? As opposed to one who's just punching the clock? Then check out Dave Hemstad. This Debaters regular is one of the country’s hottest comedians—and, incidentally, the only stand-up Lavin has chosen to exclusively represent. This year, he’ll appear numerous times at the Ha!ifax Comedy Festival, one of the leading showcases of comedic talent in North America. (Previously, another leading comedic showcase, Just for Laughs,... 2012-04-24 15:21:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-science-writer-carol-yoon-indadvertently-discovered-rare-species.html Science writer Carol Yoon has traveled far and wide to research rare and exotic species. But for her latest adventure, the award-winning author of Naming Nature only had to walk about twenty feet. In the small town of Bellingham, Washington, Yoon was standing by her living room window when she spied an exceptionally rare moth—the one that would get her published in a scientific journal for the first time. Her location was perhaps more surprising than the find: “Out of that window —... 2012-04-24 15:39:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Guggenheim-Fellow-Janna-Levin-Listens-To-The-Sounds-Of-The-Universe.html This month, Janna Levin—the theoretical cosmologist who spoke at TED about the sounds of the universe—was named a 2012 Guggenheim Fellow. Levin teaches physics and astronomy at Barnard College, and is a Lavin Agency exclusive speaker. She recently talked to us about her research, her thoughts on innovation, and why it’s “incredibly exciting to hear black holes clanging a billion light years away.” Here are three highlights from our interview: 1) The Crossover of Art... 2012-04-23 14:27:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-End-Of-An-Awesome-Era-Neil-Pasricha-Reveals-His-Number-One-Awesome-Thing.html Last night, at a bookstore in Toronto, Neil Pasricha revealed his #1 Awesome thing—the final entry in a list of 1,000 awesome things he's been counting down for the past four years. “How are you?” a young fan asked, as he took the stage. “I'm awesome,” he said, smiling. Pasricha’s 1000 Awesome Things blog, which began as a personal project, has garnered 45 million hits and spun off into three #1 bestselling books; it came to a happy end in front of a large crowd... 2012-04-20 10:28:05 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-matt-taibbi-wall-street-organized-crime.html Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi recently appeared on the Max Keiser Report to talk about why he considers his work—covering Wall Street—to be akin to writing “an organized crime story.” Since 2008, Taibbi has covered the big banks and their role in our troubled economic times, publishing influential pieces on the Bank of America, and, perhaps most famously, Goldman Sachs. Taibbi is currently working on his second book, a follow-up to the bestselling, Griftopia: A Story of... 2012-04-20 11:54:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Creativity-Meets-Truthiness-Jonah-Lehrer-On-The-Colbert-Report.html “My guest, Jonah Lehrer, says most new ideas are actually old. Well that's original,” Stephen Colbert quipped on his show last night. The two sat down to talk about Lehrer's new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list earlier this month. Lehrer, a popular neuroscience speaker, says he wrote the book to debunk the myth that art is invented "out of thin air." He wanted to explain that most creativity comes from finding new connections... 2012-04-18 15:22:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-vijay-vaitheeswaran-need-speed-greed.html Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran is one of the world's foremost voices on business innovation. His latest book, Need, Speed, and Greed, is the essential insider's guide to the new world of enterprise trailblazing and asks: Can the benefits of the global innovation revolution be shared more equitably amongst all of society? Vaitheeswaran believes that the 'wicked global problems' we face—a booming global population, the rapid urbanization of our species, climate change, and the risk of global pandemics... 2012-04-18 15:21:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-China-Faces-Even-More-Challenges-Than-America-James-Fallows.html James Fallows wants you to know three things about China: it has more problems than America; a fear of the country prevents people from taking it seriously; and its future is something absolutely no one can predict: "If anyone knows what's going to happen, you should stop listening to them," he said at a recent talk on China in North Carolina. A longtime national correspondent for The Atlantic (his most recent cover story was this one on Obama), Fallows spent several years living in China and has... 2012-04-17 14:40:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-TEDx-Occupy-Wall-Street-Rahaf-Harfoush-Protest-Fuels-Innovation.html “I believe that in every protest there is an economic opportunity,” Rahaf Harfoush said during her recent TEDxWallStreet talk. Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange, just blocks from where the Occupy movement set up camp at Zuccotti Park, the digital strategist told the audience that “the future of protest is: creating new ideas.” She explained why the old equation for peaceful protests—a critical mass plus a boycott or strike—no longer works, and how a new model,... 2012-04-16 10:48:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jaime-watt-david-herle-cbc-the-national-the-insiders.html UPDATE: Tickets are still available for the Insiders live event in Toronto. Click the link below for more detailsThe Insiders Panel, on CBC, may be the smartest, most entertaining ten minutes on television news every week. Airing as part of The National, the “Insiders”— Lavin speakers David Herle and Jaime Watt, as well as Kathleen Monk—rip back the veil from the crowding political newscycle to make sense of the events that matter to this country’s industries and citizens.... 2012-04-16 10:53:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Dragons-Den-CBC-David-Chilton-New-Judge.html The CBC can't get enough of David Chilton. The bestselling "Wealthy Barber" is practically a regular on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, and fills in for Kevin O'Leary on The Lang & O'Leary Exchange. So when the time came to find a new judge for their hit reality show Dragons' Den, choosing Chilton was a natural choice.But Chilton tells the CBC Live that he was apprehensive at first. “I was quite interested right away but I felt mixed emotions. I'm a very low key guy. I like being... 2012-04-13 11:56:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neil-pasricha-ends-1000awesomethings-blog.html In a recent front page story, The Toronto Star called Neil Pasricha “the preacher of the positive” with his “make-you-smile messages—think Jerry Seinfeld without the cynicism.” After four years of blogging about awesome things (popping bubble wrap, the cool side of the pillow), Pasricha is posting his final awesome thing—the #1 awesome thing—on April 19. It will round out his list, which started at #1000, in June 2008. Pasricha started the blog at a low point... 2012-04-12 9:20:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rick-mercer-best-high-school.html Rick Mercer recently took to The Rick Mercer Report to talk about “the best high school in Canada,” which, in an ironic twist of fate, is being shut down. Despite being told their school would close, the students at Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School raised the most money for Mercer's famous Spread the Net campaign. “The president of the student council at PCVS has said they're gonna keep fighting,” Mercer says. “Because Canada needs more schools like theirs,... 2012-04-11 10:50:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-Eric-Klinenberg-The-New-Yorker-Living-Alone.html The #1 most popular article at The New Yorker this week is "Why Are So Many Americans Single?"—a review of Eric Klinenberg's new book, Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone. The magazine writes that despite society's stereotypical image of loners (with their “taint of loserdom”), “Klinenberg’s research suggests that our usual perceptions about life alone get things backward. Far from being a mark of social abandonment, the solo life... 2012-04-11 15:49:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-arianna-huffington.html Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington recently interviewed Susan Cain about the impact of her bestselling book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts. Huffington explains that Cain’s impassioned manifesto "taps into our growing need for unplugging and recharging,” a topic that Huffington herself has been exploring in her site’s Healthy Living Section. From their conversation: Arianna Huffington: It's really great to have Susan Cain with us. I loved her TED talk, which was seen really... 2012-04-10 15:26:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eric-berlow-simplicity-complex.html Eric Berlow is an ecologist and complexity scientist whose work has drawn major interest from corporations and government agencies—basically, any group looking to solve seemingly enormous problems. This Senior TED Fellow draws on the methodology of ecologists—analyzing the moving parts of an ecosystem to see how they interact with each other—and applies it to large-scale societal problems, such as sustainable energy, food, and water security. At his company, TruNorth Labs, he also... 2012-04-09 9:59:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jared-diamond-languages-internet-extinction.html At a recent keynote, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond warned that 6,800 of the world’s 7,000 languages are expected to go extinct in under 100 years—and technology is playing a big role in both their extinction and preservation. MediaBistro posted a short piece on the talk, highlighting choice insights from “L.A's favorite geography and philosophy professor with a wicked Boston accent.” Here's Diamond: The language of the Internet is English. And that is absolutely... 2012-04-05 13:17:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-thomas-friedman-why-nations-fail-fascinating.html Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson's sweeping new book, Why Nations Fail, has a fan in Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. In a recent op-ed, Friedman says of the “fascinating” new book: “The more you read it, the more you appreciate what a fool’s errand we’re on in Afghanistan and how much we need to totally revamp our whole foreign aid strategy. But most intriguing are the warning flares the authors put up about both America and China.”... 2012-04-04 14:38:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-patti-smith-cbs-sunday-morning.html On CBS Sunday Morning this week, Patti Smith, the legendary songwriter, author, poet, and photographer, discussed her career in an intimate hour-long interview. Smith performed two songs from her new album, Banga, and talked about her 2010 memoir, Just Kids. A bestseller and winner of the National Book Award, Kids is about her formative years in 1970's New York and her friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. When asked about Mapplethorpe's impact on her life, Smith said: I had a sense... 2012-04-03 13:39:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-eric-klinenberg-pbs-going-solo.html Eric Klinenberg's new book, Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, uncovers the biggest societal shift that no one is talking about—the dominance of single person living. In Time's 2012 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life Issue,  Klinenberg's research was listed first. In an interview with PBS, Klinenberg outlines just how important this change is. In 1950, 22% of American adults were single as opposed to 50% today, four million Americans lived alone compared... 2012-04-02 10:17:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeff-rubin-new-book-the-end-of-growth.html Renowned economist Jeff Rubin—a trusted voice on the future of oil and energy and how they relate to the economic outlook—has just penned the eagerly awaited follow-up to his last bestseller, Why Your World is About To Get a Whole Lot Smaller. In The End of Growth (out May 8th) Rubin continues to explain how resource competition and the rising cost of oil will reshape the way we live.From the publisher: Economist and resource analyst Jeff Rubin is certain that the world's governments... 2012-03-29 9:36:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-amber-mac-david-eaves-online-privacy-hiring.html The job market just got a lot tougher, for employers, employees, and human resource departments alike. A new trend finds some companies going so far as to ask potential hires for access to their social media accounts—leading to bigger questions about online rights and privacy. A recent Toronto Star article tackled this topic, turning to acclaimed digital strategist Amber Mac for her thoughts. Mac, who charts the collision of the workplace and Internet usage for Fast Company, among others, argues... 2012-03-28 10:37:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonathan-haidt-righteous-mind-nyt-review.html This weekend, Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind debuted at number six on The New York Times bestseller list, and was the subject of a two-page review in the paper, which called it "well worth reading." The Righteous Mind revolves around morality's role in politics and religion—eschewing partisan rhetoric to drill down to the real motivations behind people's political and religious views. The Times writes that "Haidt seeks to enrich liberalism, and political discourse generally, with a deeper... 2012-03-27 11:48:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-salman-khan-journey-to-save-education.html This month, 60 Minutes ran an inspiring feature on why Salman Khan—founder of Khan Academy—decided to quit his job as a hedge fund analyst and devote all his efforts to revamping education, one online video at a time. The segment explains that Khan’s famous archive of thousands of comprehensible web lessons, which are changing the nature of tech-enabled classrooms, began as a simple one-on-one tutoring project.With three science degrees from MIT and an MBA from Harvard, Khan was... 2012-03-26 10:51:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-chilton-cbc-dragons-den.html David Chilton is the author of Canada's all-time best-selling book, The Wealthy Barber, and he's about to become a co-star on Dragons' Den, one of the country’s most successful television shows. CBC has announced that Chilton will join fellow Lavin speakers Kevin O’Leary and Arlene Dickinson as a judge, starring in the hit show’s seventh season. "David Chilton embodies Canadian entrepreneurial success,” the CBC said, “and through his terrific books he has shared his... 2012-03-23 8:42:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonah-lehrer-imagine-npr.html On tour to promote his critically-hailed new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, Jonah Lehrer stopped by NPR to talk about how each of us can become more creative. In Imagine, Lehrer views creativity through a wide lens—"considering everything from the invention of masking tape to breakthroughs in mathematics; from memorable ad campaigns to Shakespearean tragedies." As he explains, there are many ways to spark creativity and create those 'a-ha!' moments that result in original ideas. On NPR,... 2012-03-22 16:01:18 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-daron-acemoglu-new-york-times-mag.html Daron Acemoglu is “about as hot as economists get,” writes The New York Times Magazine in a recent feature on the Why Nations Fail co-author. In the book, Acemoglu addresses the big question that has perplexed economists for ages: why are some countries rich while others are poor? He tells the Times Magazine that poverty stems not just from a lack of market freedom, or overpopulation, or a lack of centralized government. For Acemoglu, poor countries are ones where the average citizen... 2012-03-21 13:02:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-doug-stephens-future-big-box-retail.html In Advertising Age this month, Retail Prophet founder Doug Stephens offers insights on how the Big Box model, which has dominated retail since roughly the 1960s, will undergo drastic changes in the near future—and what it will mean for all of us, retailers, suppliers, and consumers alike. Stephens points to several major shifts we're already seeing or which we will see in short order as retailers like Walmart, K-Mart,Target, and others adjust to unprecedented changes in consumer behavior. Some... 2012-03-20 10:32:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-margaret-atwood-payback-trailer.html Margaret Atwood's Massey Lecture-turned-bestselling book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, is a fascinating look at the role of "debt" throughout human history. Now, filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal has adapted Payback into a documentary, continuing Atwood's "line of high-minded questioning" into the multiple meanings of this complex subject. Atwood and Baichwal eschew the more common financial incarnation of the term, and instead look at "everything from an Albanian blood feud to Florida... 2012-03-19 12:50:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eagleman-google-debates.html This week, neuroscientist David Eagleman spoke at a Google 'Debates' series addressing the war on drugs. Other luminaries on the bill included Vincente Fox, Julian Assange, Eliot Spitzer, Richard Branson, and Russell Brand. "The reason why we're losing the war on drugs," Eagleman said, "is because we're attacking supply, and that's like a water balloon: if you press it down in one place, it comes up somewhere else." What Eagleman and his colleagues are attempting to do, instead, is attack the demand—or... 2012-03-16 9:58:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lev-grossman-raymond-kurzweil-sxsw.html Lev Grossman's 2011 TIME cover story on Raymond Kurzweil's "singularity" theory was one of the most talked about articles of the year. At this year's South By Southwest Interactive (SXSWi), TIME's lead tech writer sat down with Kurzweil to explore the divisive scientist's vision of the future once again. Kurzweil's claim-to-fame is the “singularity”—his belief in exponential growth that will move technological expansion at an incredibly rapid, yet utterly predictable, pace. The... 2012-03-14 11:53:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lisa-shannon-beyond-kony-2012-hype.html Few people in the world know more about Africa's struggles than Lisa Shannon. The author of A Thousand Sisters and founder of Run for Congo Women, Shannon gave up her business and fiancé to dedicate her life to helping women in the Congo. While Invisible Children's Kony 2012 video (and its subsequent rounds of backlash) has dominated the headlines recently, Shannon's article in Nicholas Kristof's 'On the Ground' blog in The New York Times speaks out on the real issue at hand—the lives... 2012-03-13 14:17:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-virginia-heffernan-ron-paul-internet-president.html In a recent article for Yahoo! News, Virginia Heffernan profiled Ron Paul's unlikely online presence, and asked whether online support translates into real votes. Heffernan cites a study that found that during 2008's Super Tuesday week, the most popular online candidate wasn't Obama, Clinton, McCain, or Romney, but Ron Paul. Four years later, and Paul still seems to hold a cultural relevance that far outweighs his performance at the polls. He has over 900,000 Facebook fans, which Heffernan points... 2012-03-09 14:07:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-amber-mac-lose-twitter-friends.html Amber Mac didn’t get to over 66,000 Twitter followers by stumbling through social media. No—the consultant, TV host, and web-culture expert has often trailblazed the way for the rest of us when it comes to navigating a new, exciting, and powerful webisphere. In a new Fast Company blog post she continues to guide us away from social media pitfalls with a list of five key things you need to know to prevent widescale unfollows.Amber Mac’s five point as they appear in Fast Company: 1. ... 2012-03-08 12:58:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alexandra-samuel-preserving-online-memories.html If most of our memories involve physical locations and activities (such as walking through a city), then how will we remember the online experiences that increasingly occupy most of our time? This is the question Alexandra Samuel asks in a new blog post, “Towards a Geography of Digital Memory.” Spurred by a visit to her own hometown, Toronto, the Social Signal co-founder notes that "as our world and culture move online, it will be the digital experiences that take the foreground, and... 2012-03-07 13:13:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-salman-khan-keynote-lavin-speaker.html Lavin’s newest speaker is Salman Khan—a man Fast Company says is "on a path to become a central figure in national education-policy debates.” Khan is the founder of the Khan Academy, a non-profit that provides free, high-quality education to "anyone, anywhere" in the world through its library of over 3,000 online videos. The videos are used by over four million students a month. In new keynotes, Salman Khan explains how learning through video (coupled with more traditional means)... 2012-03-06 15:54:58 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-pinker-rebecca-newberger-goldstein-TED.html This week, David Lavin is in Long Beach, at the annual TED conference, where he gave a special workshop for TED Fellows. We'll also be highlighting the Lavin speakers who are presenting at TED 2012.Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker made his 4th appearance at TED this year, engaging in a Socratic dialogue with the novelist and philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein. Pinker and Newberger Goldstein, who are married, discussed reason, human nature, and empathy—pitting science against philosophy... 2012-03-03 9:41:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-ted-introvert-manifesto.html This week, David Lavin is in Long Beach, at the annual TED conference, where he gave a special workshop for TED Fellows. We'll also be highlighting the Lavin speakers who are presenting at TED 2012.Susan Cain grabbed the media’s attention last month when her first book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts In a World That Can't Stop Talking, debuted at #4 on The New York Times bestseller list. Now, Cain has made her mark at the world’s foremost speaking event, TED. The self-confessed introvert... 2012-03-02 9:40:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonathan-haidt-ted-2012.html This week, David Lavin is in Long Beach, at the annual TED conference, where he gave a special workshop for TED Fellows. We'll also be highlighting the Lavin speakers who are presenting at TED 2012.Moral psychology speaker Jonathan Haidt returned to TED this week, and asked the audience, “How many of you think of yourselves as religious?” This echoed his first TED talk, from 2008, in which he polled audience members on whether they considered themselves liberal. Between his two TED talks,... 2012-03-01 14:01:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dan-lyons-social-mobile-revolution.html Dan Lyons, the Newsweek Technology Editor whose keynotes are part tech coverage, part business primer, and part stand-up comedy, has a new speech on the social-mobile revolution. Perhaps best known for the Apple-centric blog that he wrote for many years, Lyons is equally adept at charting the way new technologies are intersecting with—and radically changing—our world on every imaginable level, and in real-time. Here’s his new talk: The Social-Mobile Revolution: The New Platform... 2012-02-28 11:38:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-charles-fishman-botted-water-bad-banning-worse.html Charles Fishman is now blogging about water for National Geographic--a move that makes perfect sense, given that his book The Big Thirst, just out in paperback, is the bestselling American book on water in the last twenty-five years. One of Fishman’s first blog posts exposes the hypocrisy behind banning bottled water on college campuses. While bottled water is environmentally ruinous, banning it, while doing nothing about other packaged products such as cookies and juice, doesn't make much... 2012-02-24 10:24:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rick-mercer-rant-online-privacy.html “The state has no business in the hard drives of the nation,” Rick Mercer said on his top-rated Rick Mercer Report this week. The Gemini-winning satirist was “ranting” about the controversy surrounding Vic Toews, the Minister of Public Safety, whose proposed Bill C-30 would allow the government, in Mercer’s words, to “peek into your hard drive” and gain access to all your online traffic, how much money you make, where you get your news, what you say to your... 2012-02-23 10:29:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cain-lehrer-groupthink-articles-introversion-brainstorming.html The concept of Groupthink—sometimes called brainstorming—is under serious scrutiny these days. Recently, Lavin speakers Susan Cain and Jonah Lehrer each published critiques of this popular default approach to idea-creation that, for the past half century at least, has held the corporate world in its grip. Cain, writing in The New York Times, argues that it is solitude, and not forced collaboration (the foundation of brainstorming), that is better for creativity. Cain writes: Our offices... 2012-02-21 12:18:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alexandra-samuel-unplug-the-atlantic.html In a recent Atlantic online article, Alexandra Samuel argues that the "Unplug" movement—the call to disconnect ourselves from social networks and give up the internet—is an unrealistic fix to the stresses of our online lives. The real solution, Samuel says, is to spend more attention to our online lives, and to "approach our time online with the same kind of intention and integrity we bring to our best offline interactions." "Unplugging" is not realistic because our online life and offline... 2012-02-20 10:02:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-reggie-love-irreplaceable-barack-obama-nymag.html Three months ago, Lavin speaker Reggie Love—the long-time personal aide to President Barack Obama—left the White House to pursue an MBA at Wharton. This week, New York’s Daily Intel went in search of Obama’s new personal aide, or “body man,” only to discover that “there IS no New Reggie.” Former West Wing staff members tell the magazine that Reggie’s previous duties will instead be filled by up to three staff members, at least for now.Here’s... 2012-02-17 10:34:49 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-laurence-smith-world-2050-new-speaker.html “Everyone wants to predict the future, but Laurence Smith actually does.” -Los Angeles TimesUCLA geoscientist Laurence C. Smith talks about why, in the next forty years, the north will become increasingly vital to global survival and economic prosperity. The Guggenheim Fellow's critically lauded book, The World in 2050, provides a bracing analysis of four major forces—demography, natural resources, globalization, and climate change—that will dictate what kind of world we'll... 2012-02-16 11:17:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonathan-haidt-difference-between-liberals-and-conservatives.html A new Chronicle of Higher Education article profiles Jonathan Haidt, and explores, in depth, his influential work on moral psychology and its impact on politics. For years, Haidt was a partisan liberal. But, frustrated by John Kerry's lackluster 2004 Presidential bid, he began researching the role of moral psychology in determining people’s political affiliations. What he found changed his political views: he "emerged a centrist who believes that 'conservatives have a more accurate understanding... 2012-02-15 13:23:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-neil-pasricha-awesome-realistic-optimism.html With his TED Talk inching toward one million views, Neil Pasricha—the #1 international bestselling author of The Book of Awesome series—continues to travel North America and speak to audiences about seeing the awesome in the everyday. Here’s Pasricha, talking about overcoming one's darkest moments at a recent university keynote: I don’t think it’s about forcing yourself out of dark spots, that isn’t realistic, it isn’t possible and I don’t think it’s... 2012-02-14 15:24:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kwame-anthony-appiah-national-medal-humanities.html Kwame Anthony Appiah is one of today's most nimble philosophical minds, and The White House has decided to honor him with one of the country's great accolades—the National Humanities Medal. According to the official website, the award is given to those "whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans' access to important resources in the humanities." The Los Angeles... 2012-02-13 9:50:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-water-crisis-video-shalini-kantayya.html Filmmaker, educator, and eco-activist Shalini Kantayya uses film as a tool to educate, inspire, and empower audiences. In the above clip, she talks about “a crisis of epic proportions,” and why so few people her age are taking action. “Two thirds of the world’s citizens—four billion people—will not have adequate access to water by the year 2027,” she says. Water scarcity is not just a problem in sub-Saharan Africa. It’s happening closer to home—in... 2012-02-10 12:50:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-pedro-noguera-bronx-school-education-video.html In this new video, Pedro Noguera, a leading voice on education reform, talks about a school in the South Bronx where the “culture of the school was more powerful than the culture of the streets.” Designed to serve young men who might succumb to gang violence, the school is an example of an educational model that can work. “You can take young people—young men—who have been turned off to school, and create a school setting that is so compelling that you can change mindsets... 2012-02-09 14:56:10 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-roger-martin-saving-capitalism-from-itself.html For its cover story this month, Toronto Life profiles Roger Martin—Dean of the Rotman Business School—who explains why our economic system and corporate culture need a serious tune-up. “Just as Michael Pollan articulated how our food system is broken and Bill McKibben became the go-to guy on the dangers of climate change,” the magazine writes, “Martin is now the economy's village explainer." Though the head of a prestigious MBA program seems an unlikely figure to strike... 2012-02-08 9:32:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-candy-chang-transforms-public-spaces.html The Lavin Agency would like to welcome TED Senior Fellow Candy Chang as our newest speaker. A former New York Times art director, Chang is an artist who uses bright graphics in public spaces to help us rethink the contemporary city. Her work, profiled worldwide, aims to reanimate the physical surroundings of dilapidated neighborhoods while simultaneously generating a sense of community among residents. For her latest project, ”Before I Die…,” Chang turned a decaying house in her... 2012-02-07 15:32:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-reza-aslan-jessica-jackley-community-social-change-social-media.html Lavin speakers Reza Aslan and Jessica Jackley recently delivered a joint keynote at Georgia Southern University on the social web's remarkable ability to build communities and incite social change. Jackley is the co-founder of KIVA, the world’s largest microlending website. Aslan is the founder of Aslan Media, which is altering perceptions of the Arab world through traditional and online entertainment. Aslan has traced the impact of social media in the Middle East, from the 2009 Iran uprisings... 2012-02-06 15:48:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lucy-p-marcus-yahoo-rim-boardroom-leadership.html Lucy P. Marcus was just named to the Reuters & Klout 50 list of “Most Influential Execs on the Web,” and for good reason. With few peers, Marcus has started and sustained a vibrant conversation about boardroom leadership at a crucial point in our economic recovery.  In a recent Reuters piece, Marcus outlines why, during periods of management turnover in major companies, many corporate leaders make the mistake of "'managing from the grave,' being more concerned about their own... 2012-02-03 11:27:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-quiet-bestseller.html Susan Cain's new book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, has the country buzzing about the many strengths of the quieter third of the population. In its first week, it is already #5 on Amazon. In Quiet, Cain argues that by forcing introverts to compete in a culture biased toward the “extrovert ideal,” we risk losing some of our best thinkers, leaders and workers. Cain will speak at TED 2012 in February. Until then, she is on an extensive media tour. In... 2012-02-01 15:00:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-reggie-love-obama-former-body-man-leadership-politics.html The Lavin Agency is pleased to announce as our newest speaker Reggie Love—a young man who, over the past four years, has arguably spent more time with President Barack Obama than anyone else on earth. Love held the highly coveted role of Obama’s body man, a position The New York Times describes as "personal aide, shadow, caretaker, basketball buddy and roving diplomat." Recently, Love, like many young people today, made the tough decision to leave his job in order to continue his education.... 2012-01-31 15:31:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-shannon-brownlee-escape-fire.html “30,000 Medicare recipients die each year from care they didn’t need,” Shannon Brownlee says in the new documentary Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare. “That’s the equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every week. If the aviation industry killed as many people, we’d be up in arms.” Escape Fire may be for health care what Charles Ferguson’s Inside Job was for Wall Street or Davis Guggenheim’s Waiting for Superman was for education:... 2012-01-30 13:46:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonah-lehrer-brainstorming-new-yorker.html In a major New Yorker story this week, neuroscience speaker Jonah Lehrer writes about what helps, and what hinders, the creation of new ideas. In his typically accessible and thoroughly researched approach, Lehrer takes down a boardroom staple: the brainstorm. In his debunking of brainstorming's merits, he does the very thing proponents of brainstorming specifically aim to avoid—he criticizes. “Criticism allows people to dig below the surface of the imagination and come up with collective... 2012-01-27 16:15:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lev-grossman-time-youtube-future.html In this week’s issue of TIME, tech writer Lev Grossman has an eye-opening piece on the growth of YouTube and its battle to replace television sets as the viewing destination of choice. Every minute, a whopping 60 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube, a site that Google paid $1.65 billion for in 2006, and which now attracts roughly 4 billion views a day. Grossman, a celebrated book critic and novelist who is equally adept at parsing web trends, delves into what it means that a large number... 2012-01-26 15:52:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-mitchell-joachim-smart-cars-green-cities.html Please welcome our new speaker Mitchell Joachim, an architect, designer, and TED Fellow whose projects are redefining our built environment and helping usher in the green cities of the 21st century. Joachim's vision is of a future where cities aren't just environmentally neutral—they're environmentally positive. Working at the intersection of biology and technology, he shuns the term sustainability, claiming that "it's not evocative enough." "You don't want your marriage to be sustainable,"... 2012-01-25 13:59:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-introvert-test-quiet-book-released.html In her Gladwellesque manifesto Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking, Susan Cain argues that our culture has been held sway by the "Extrovert Ideal" for over a century. Quiet, in stores today, is her soaring corrective--a clarion call to recognize and reap the abundant strengths and talents of the introverts among us. At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. And some of them don't even know it. By undervaluing introversion, we may be wasting the talents... 2012-01-24 9:41:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-daron-acemoglu-james-robinson-why-nations-fail-praise.html Harvard's James Robinson and MIT's Daron Acemoglu are set to release Why Nations Fail—a gargantuan book in the tradition of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel that explores why some nations are rich while others are poor. They boldly argue that strong institutions, and not geography, lead to thriving societies. The positive reviews are already pouring in. Among the people singing the book's praise are a who's who of leading thinkers, including Steven Levitt (the Freakonomics co-author who,... 2012-01-20 9:40:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-margaret-atwood-payback-film-trailer-sundance.html The documentary film version of Margaret Atwood's highly-regarded non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, makes its world premiere at The Sundance Film Festival this month. The just-released trailer shows the project continues in the spirit of exploring “debt” through various human elements, in society, and throughout history. Also titled Payback, the film is directed by Jennifer Baichwal (Manufactured Landscapes) and produced by the National Film Board of Canada.... 2012-01-19 12:16:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sue-gardner-wikipedia-sopa-pipa-blackout.html "We want the Internet to remain free and open, everywhere, for everyone," writes Wikimedia Foundation Director Sue Gardner. It's her way of explaining why, today, visitors to Wikipedia are being met with an unfamiliar black screen in place of whatever factual tidbit they were expecting to find. That black screen isn't a bug or a server error. It's a deliberate shutdown—“an extraordinary moment,” according to The New York Times—in protest against two controversial anti-piracy... 2012-01-18 13:51:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-amber-macarthur-fast-company-personal-brand-tips.html “U R What You Tweet.” So says social media speaker Amber Mac in her latest Fast Company article about navigating the potentially treacherous—but rewarding—terrain of building an online personal brand. It’s a hot topic for 2012, and Amber, a TV host, consultant and bestselling author, offers five solid tips that, as with most of her work, should resonate with everyone from students to CEOs.Here are the steps and highlights from Amber's Fast Company piece: Have a home... 2012-01-17 14:24:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-introversion-groupthink-new-york-times.html In her New York Times Sunday Review cover story this week , Susan Cain warns us about the dangers of what she calls the "New Groupthink”—and explains that forced collaboration can often be less productive than solitude. In the op-ed, and in her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, Cain argues that it is introverts who are often more spectacularly creative—and who make better leaders—than their more lauded extrovert counterparts. When it... 2012-01-16 11:56:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonah-lehrer-grantland-football.html In a recent Grantland article, neuroscience speaker Jonah Lehrer looks at one of the most wrenching issues in modern sports: concussions. Only recently has the severity of sports-related brain injuries been brought to public attention, illuminated by, among other things, advances in neuroscience. While concussions at the pro level grab the headlines, the real concern, Lehrer writes, is at the high school and collegiate levels, where kids are "getting paid nothing and yet they are paying the highest... 2012-01-12 9:47:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sue-gardner-wikipedia-growing.html This week, Wikipedia announced that it had reached its fundraising goal of $20 million dollars (it takes $29.5 million to run the operation) in a mere 46 days. It's no small feat—and would have been impossible without Sue Gardner in charge. Gardner heads the Wikimedia Foundation (which oversees Wikipedia), and before she took the reigns, there were no fundraising drives, no clear strategy for growth, at Wikipedia. Well there were, but as we learned from this glowing Fast Company profile of... 2012-01-11 15:09:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-hooman-majd-view-sanctions-iran.html UPDATE: Hooman Majd talked to Foreign Policy about the impact of Iranian sactions on their society. Watch the video HERE.In a recent NPR interview, Hooman Majd discussed the effects of new economic sanctions on regular Iranian citizens. A frequent visitor to Iran and the author, most recently, of The Ayatollah’s Democracy, Majd is one of America’s foremost experts on U.S.-Iranian relations. On NPR, Majd spoke of new U.S. sanctions against Iran's central bank as well as a proposed ban... 2012-01-10 11:24:00 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alexandra-samuel-ten-reasons-stop-apologizing-online-life-tedx.html In her forceful and at times highly personal talk at TEDx Victoria, Alexandra Samuel spoke on the importance of online life, which is too often—and too easily—discredited as not being "real." We have even created an acronym (I.R.L.: "In Real Life") to further separate our offline selves from our online ones. Samuel, who is the Director of Social + Interactive Media Center at Emily Carr University, argues that we need to "get over this idea of I.R.L., and instead embrace R.L.T.—real... 2012-01-09 12:35:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-pinker-better-angels-gay-rights.html In his new masterwork, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker argues that we may be living in the most peaceful era of human history. Though the book is ostensibly about the decline in violence worldwide, a review in Xtra! points to the significance that Pinker’s work has for gay rights: “In one key chapter, The Rights Revolution, the straight-but-not-narrow Montreal native goes into detail about advances in understanding homosexuality.” From "Xtra! Canada's Gay and Lesbian... 2012-01-06 11:01:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-laurie-garrett-bird-flu-ethics.html In a New York Times interview, Laurie Garrett discusses the ethics behind the recent scientific creation of a form of the bird flu virus, and whether or not the findings should be published. As the only person to win the three "P's" of journalism—the Pulitzer, the Polk and the Peabody—Garett is one of America's most respected voices on infectious disease and prevention. The ethical questions that surround lab-created diseases are complex, the Times writes. Should information about their... 2012-01-05 10:35:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alex-steffen-foreign-policy-green-cities.html In a recent article for Foreign Policy's Economy Issue, Worldchanging founder Alex Steffen makes an impassioned case for green urban development as the remedy for a sagging global economy. The concept that reducing emissions and protecting the climate hampers economic development is an outdated philosophy, Steffen says. It was based on the false assumption that waste is growth, that massive industrialization was the end goal, and that wealth equaled pollution. Dense, urban areas are today's engine... 2012-01-04 9:55:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-e-o-wilson-new-book-the-social-conquest-of-earth.html E.O. Wilson is adding to his already astonishing body of award-winning work this April. Wilson's new book, The Social Conquest of Earth, promises to offer more of the big ideas that have made him a legend among his peers and a sought-after speaker around the world. In Conquest, Wilson focuses on how groups, and not family, are the main evolutionary driver of our species. Newsweek has listed the book (along with Jonah Lehrer's Imagine) among twelve must-reads of 2012. From the publisher: Where did... 2012-01-03 11:23:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-pinker-joshua-goldstein-new-york-times-op-ed-on-war.html In “War Really is Going Out of Style,” their bluntly titled and persuasively argued New York Times Op-Ed, Steven Pinker and Joshua Goldstein write that war is simply not part of the human condition and suggest that, as a species, we are moving away from armed conflict. “The invasion of Iraq was the most recent example of an all-out war between two national armies,” they write. “And it could very well be the last one.” Everywhere you look, war is on the wane. But... 2011-12-28 11:56:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alan-lightman-accidental-universe-best-essay-2011.html Scientist and novelist Alan Lightman’s "The Accidental Universe", an article published in Harper's this month, has just been chosen by the Sidney Awards as one of the best magazine essays of 2011. David Brooks, in his New York Times column, wrote of all the Sidney essays:  “Anybody interested in being a better person will click the links…and read attentively.” Here’s his helpful recap of Lightman’s expansive piece: Alan Lightman writes in “The Accidental... 2011-12-21 11:45:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-daron-acemoglu-inequality-economics-rich-poor.html Daron Acemoglu, an academic superstar and one of the world's most-cited economists, talks about economic inequality in a major Browser interview this month. The Why Nations Fail author addresses Occupy Wall Street, CEO wages, and the incredibly widening gap between what the rich earn versus what the poor earn—highlighting today’s complex wage realities.Here are five things we learned from the interview:Inequality has changed dramatically in the last thirty years and economists and laypeople... 2011-12-20 10:06:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-drew-dudley-tedx-mental-health-leadership.html In a recent TEDx talk, Drew Dudley, a charismatic speaker best known for his student leadership initiatives, opened up about a highly personal subject: the mental illness he has suffered from, quietly, for many years. His hope was to use his personal experiences to help others speak freely about their experiences, whether they suffer themselves, or know loved ones who do.Dudley paints a vivid picture of his life with bipolar disorder, a disease that he describes as making "my brain think that I am... 2011-12-19 11:35:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tzeporah-berman-greenpeace-unlike-coal-facebook.html Tzeporah Berman, co-director of Greenpeace International's climate and energy program, has some “Like”-worthy news. Speaking in The Guardian, the environmentalist says Facebook has shifted to favoring renewable energy for its data-centers instead of coal, a move that “sets an example for the industry to follow.” To set that example Berman and Greenpeace needed to nudge the social networking behemoth with a 700,000 strong “unfriend Facebook” campaign. It's a deal... 2011-12-16 9:36:46 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-arkadi-kuhlmann-corporate-culture-protest-generation.html Arkadi Kuhlmann—the founding CEO of ING Direct, and a champion of disruptive ideas within the banking industry—spoke to Forbes this week about how to adapt corporate cultures to the needs of the new "protest generation." When asked about Occupy Wall Street, Kuhlmann candidly addressed the criticisms of the movement: They’re really raising what you or I, and anyone on the planet, would consider legitimate concerns. What we all criticize them for is that no one has got an answer.... 2011-12-15 12:26:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tina-rosenberg-text-messaging-as-language-savior.html Pulitzer Prize-winner Tina Rosenberg says that text messaging may help near-dead dialects in the developing world find new relevance. (This is a nice rebuff to the argument that text messages are partly responsible for the decline of language.) Writing in The New York Times Magazine, Rosenberg details the emergence of N'Ko, a standardized written form of Mande, which is a collection of closely-related languages spoken by 35 million people in countries across West Africa. The operative word is “spoken.”... 2011-12-14 10:27:43 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-manjit-minhas-entrepreneur-success-story.html Last week, both The Financial Post and Calgary Herald ran features on Manjit Minhas, the young female entrepreneur and brewery owner who is making her mark in the lucrative—and traditionally male-dominated—beer and spirits industry. Based in Calgary, Minhas has done what few business observers thought possible: start from nothing and successfully compete within the hypercompetitive beer market.On the corporate front, The Financial Post wrote about how she’s making waves as a female... 2011-12-13 11:29:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-charles-fishman-best-selling-water-book-us.html After just seven months on the shelves, Charles Fishman's The Big Thirst is now the bestselling book on water in the U.S. in the last 25 years. It’s safe to say it has entered the pantheon of galvanizing water books, alongside, say, Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert, from 1986. Publishers Weekly calls Fishman’s book "a comprehensive, remarkably readable panorama of our dependence on—and responsibilities to—a priceless resource." It is now in a position to help shape thinking... 2011-12-12 14:45:26 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rob-walker-branding-anonymous-hacktivism.html In Slate this week, Rob Walker writes about Anonymous—the mysterious hacktivist collective that has been linked to the Occupy movement, various high profile cyber attacks, hilarious memes, and Scientology protests. Providing a great primer on the group, Walker examines how its “branding” efforts—including its headless man logo and its re-appropriation of Guy Fawkes masks from the movie V For Vendetta—has helped the collective permeate mainstream consciousness at this... 2011-12-09 14:20:39 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-introverts-define-happiness-differently.html Are extroverts happier than introverts? According to some studies, they are. But Susan Cain, writing on her Quiet blog, disagrees. She argues that these studies define happiness too narrowly. They fail to account for the types of happiness that appeal to introverts, who tend to prefer quiet, solitary forms of joy over louder, public and collective displays of celebration. To the outsider, Cain acknowledges, this makes introverts seem less happy—but that’s not the case. Here’s Cain,... 2011-12-08 11:12:57 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-margaret-atwood-payback-nfb-baichwal-film.html Margaret Atwood’s prescient non-fiction book Payback—a history of debt that was release in 2008 at the dawn of our current financial crisis—is now a documentary. It will make its world premier at The Sundance Film Festival in January. The book, which was the #8 Best Book of the Decade, according to the Times of London, was originally delivered by Atwood as a collection of five speeches in five Canadian cities, part of the esteemed Massey Lecture Series.The film version, also called... 2011-12-06 16:27:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gayle-tzemach-lemmon-tedx-women-triggers-worldwide-recovery.html Gayle Tzemach Lemmon kicked off last week's high profile TEDxWomen event with these words: “We do not invest in victims. We invest in survivors.” In a rousing opening keynote, Lemmon, the author of The New York Times bestseller The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, spoke about how women, especially in post-conflict zones, are the trigger for economic recovery. The theme of her talk was resilience.With palpable passion, Lemmon shed light on the incredible resiliency of women around the world,... 2011-12-05 11:19:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jessica-jackley-microloan-kiva-economist.html In a new video, Jessica Jackley talks about the role of microfinance to catalyze investments in U.S. entrepreneurship during a time of economic stagnation. Speaking with The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the KIVA co-founder and CEO of a new veture called ProFounder shares her extensive, and much publicized, experiences in bringing microloans to the masses. She also spoke of "the potential [an entrepreneur has]...to change things for the better." Jessica Jackley got her start in microfinance... 2011-12-02 9:31:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-douglas-merrill-smaller-companies-win-war-on-talent.html One of the striking difficulties for new companies is attracting top-notch talent. How can a start-up hope to compete with the Googles, the Facebooks and the Groupons of the world? In a recent blog post, Douglas Merrill—former Chief Information Officer at Google, where he oversaw 1,500 terrifically skilled employees—shares his tips for finding great talent.The first way is to simply grow top notch talent yourself. In the case of Merrill's new ZestCash, he "hired new grads fresh out of... 2011-11-30 13:30:03 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eaves-governments-social-media.html In our increasingly web-based work world, the question of how government employees should use the internet—including social media—is a pressing concern. In a recent blog post, David Eaves, one of the world’s leading open government advocates, reviews Canada’s new guidelines for web use by its public servants. What he found is that the country is still well behind where governments should be, and need to be, in order to stay competitive and transparent. One section listed "11... 2011-11-28 12:38:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lev-grossman-innovators-time-cover.html Bestselling fantasy author Lev Grossman has written the cover story for this week’s TIME magazine, the special “Invention Issue.” Fittingly, Grossman, who is also the magazine’s chief book critic and tech writer, introduces the year’s 50 best inventions—one-time fantasies that have become incredible realities. In “Reinventing the Inventor,” Grossman suggests inventors have been left at the wayside as a group that he calls optimizers took the spotlight.... 2011-11-25 11:09:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-joseph-heath-occupy-movement-misses-mark.html In a recent Uptown interview, Joseph Heath—the Rebel Sell co-author and fearless economics speaker—muses on everything from consumerism to the various Occupy movements, proving why he can lucidly explain economics to pretty much anyone. Talking about the Occupy movement, Heath argues that the Canadian versions are not as powerful as their American counterparts because they are protesting the wrong things. Here’s Heath: What’s going on in the United States is incredibly important... 2011-11-24 11:50:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-doug-stephens-retail-prophet-e-commerce-vacuum.html In a recent interview, Doug Stephens discussed Canada's dreadful e-commerce vacuum as well as—his favorite topic—the future of retail. As Stephens points out, 96% of Canadian households have high-speed internet access, yet only 8% of Canadian businesses do business online. This discrepancy is much higher than that of the U.S., where online shopping has completely changed the face of the retail business. (Stephens, in his role as founder of Retail Prophet, charts even the tiniest change... 2011-11-23 12:34:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bruce-philp-consumer-republic-branding-airline-canadian-business.html In a recent Canadian Business article, branding expert Bruce Philp explains the vital importance of branding in the context of the airline industry, where "pretzels can make the difference between profit and loss." Philp, the author of Consumer Republic, is perhaps our most articulate proponent of the brand as a powerful and necessary tool for both consumers and corporations. In the article, Philp looks at Air Canada's struggle to define itself as a brand as they plan to launch a new lost-cost airline.... 2011-11-22 13:51:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kwame-anthony-appiah-obama-rating-poor.html In a recent interview with The Root, Kwame Anthony Appiah was asked to rate Obama's presidency from his inauguration to present day. A leading American intellectual, Appiah is also one of Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers, the author of several books on justice and society, and a professor at Princeton. Appiah begins the interview by stating that as President, Obama is actually quite restricted in what he can and can't do: "When President Obama was elected, I told my friends that we were going... 2011-11-18 11:03:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-joshua-goldstein-huffington-post-china-us-cold-war.html Preeminent IR expert Joshua Goldstein wrote the book on international relations. Literally. It's a textbook, aptly titled International Relations, used by thousands of university students. Goldstein is also a keen observer of America's current foreign policy maneuvers. Writing in the Huffington Post this week, he dissects a “pivot” being made by the Obama administration that could lead to deeper trade and cooperation if done correctly, or lead to a new Cold War with China, if bungled.... 2011-11-17 12:14:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-shannon-brownlee-treat-obesity-like-smoking.html In a recent TIME article, Shannon Brownlee makes a passionate plea for a more aggressive approach to lowering obesity. Obesity is a massive problem in the United States, and according to a report in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, as health hazards go, it now rivals smoking. Why is it, then, that proposals to fight obesity with the same methods that have helped lower rates of smoking — government health initiatives, higher taxes, and the outright banning of smoking in almost... 2011-11-16 13:29:53 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-daron-acemoglu-speaking-wage-gaps-lobbying-bad.html Daron Acemoglu, one of the world's foremost authorities on economics, feels uneasy about what's going on in Italy. “If Italy starts wobbling, it could be really bad news for the world economy,” he said recently to hundreds attending the 26th annual Henry George Lecture at the University of Scranton. The renowned MIT economist offered a clear and informed forecast for the world economy, which included concerns around income inequality, and the influence of lobbying on politics. “Those... 2011-11-15 15:06:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rahaf-harfoush-facebook-tracking-everything.html In the Mark this week, digital strategist Rahaf Harfoush has an eye-opening piece outlining Facebook's increasing appetite for collecting, and eventually sharing, your personal data. Harfoush disentangles Facebook's recently announced changes, which include tracking all of your Facebook actions, and quietly collecting data you might not be aware of—like whose profile you're viewing, and even what websites you visit when you're not logged into Facebook. The picture Harfoush paints is startling,... 2011-11-11 10:36:34 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonah-lehrer-why-we-eat-too-much.html Neuroscience speaker Jonah Lehrer has a knack for bridging academic papers and the realities faced by regular people. In his latest piece for Wired, Lehrer wrangles waistlines. More specifically, he highlights studies that show we are actually really bad at figuring out when we're full. It's a problem that affects more and more people in North America when you consider the fact that serving sizes have grown 40 percent in the last 25 years. Lehrer points to two studies: one shows that we'll unknowingly,... 2011-11-10 10:30:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-arkadi-kuhlmann-culture-driven-leadership-rock-then-roll-book.html As the chairman and president of ING Direct, Arkadi Kuhlmann is one of North America's most respected executives. In his latest book, Rock then Roll, Kuhlmann eschews the traditional model of top-down corporate leadership, championing the culture-driven leadership that helped ING Direct become one of the most disruptive market forces of the past decade. In an interconnected and ever-changing marketplace, business creativity is now the driving force behind bottom-line success. Archaic models of top-down... 2011-11-09 12:34:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-david-eaves-public-sector-work-innovation.html The perceived holy grail of public sector employment may not be all it's cracked up to be. In a recent Maclean's article, David Eaves, a renowned public policy speaker, explains why: Yes, there are good salaries, pensions, and job security in government jobs. But even if you're making good money, Eaves says, "if you feel you are making good money filling a hole you had to dig—that can actually be really frustrating.” Eaves concludes that many public servants are handcuffed to jobs they... 2011-11-07 15:11:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-schools-must-embrace-introverts.html Last week, Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, spoke to a capacity crowd of private school leaders and admissions directors in New York. Focusing on the natural strengths of introverts (and, specifically, introverted children), Cain's customized talk sought to change the way our educational institutions view kids who belong to the “quieter third of the population.” According to the Montessori Manhattan and Upper West Side Preschool... 2011-11-04 11:37:40 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dan-austin-cycling-developing-world-speaks-with-broken-foot.html Dan Austin—founder of 88 Bikes, the social enterprise that gives bicycles to impoverished youth around the globe—delivered an outstanding speech to students at St. Augustine last week. By outstanding we mean he was literally out standing in front of the students, just one day after tearing his Achilles tendon while playing basketball with the school team! (He finished his talk, with no visible drop-off in energy, and then checked himself into a hospital for emergency surgery!) Despite... 2011-11-03 11:36:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-shannon-brownlee-doctors-bad-at-talking-to-patients.html In a recent TIME magazine story, leading health care expert Shannon Brownlee tackles the under-discussed issue of doctor-patient communications, and highlights a counterintuitive approach to medical education—through the humanities. We've all been there: face to face with a doctor, nodding pleasantly while not understanding a word that's being said. It’s the dreaded 'medical mumbo-jumbo' that advocates like Brownlee hope to erase.As Brownlee points out: "When patients don’t understand... 2011-11-02 11:55:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonathan-haidt-occupy-wall-street-moral-makeup.html Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, whose work focuses on morality and emotion and how they vary across cultures, paid a visit to Occupy Wall Street in New York recently. He took with him a camera and something called the Moral Foundations Theory. His goal: to make sense of the OWS protesters' motivations. Writing about his findings in Reason, Haidt outlines the six moral clusters that people fit into (care/harm, fairness/cheating and liberty/oppression), then concludes that the protesters lean left... 2011-11-01 15:05:11 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeremy-gutsche-innovation-exploiting-chaos-free-online.html When Jeremy Gutsche’s award-winning book, Exploiting Chaos, was originally released, it won accolades for its beautiful design and for its clear-eyed elaboration on the idea that many great companies (Disney, HP, etc.) were formed during recessions. Now, the book has been completely updated with all new interactive videos that bring fresh life—and a new perspective—to the content. Better yet: it’s entirely free. The YouTube video above is just a silent tour; to flip through... 2011-10-31 14:28:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-alexandra-samuel-social-media-anxiety-government.html Social media speaker Alexandra Samuel has an insightful new video about how to cope with social media overload—a new phenomenon people are experiencing at work and even at home. In the short and snappy clip, Samuel, head of Emily Carr’s Social + Interactive Media Centre, also addresses the intersection of social media and government, discussing how the public sector can leverage new tools to embrace the changing face of popular engagement and interaction. A final section looks at the... 2011-10-28 15:35:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-amber-macarthur-social-media-cities-hamilton.html Amber MacArthur, host of national mobile tech TV show App Central and one of the leading voices of the web generation, knows her way around technology big and small. Each week she speaks to a mass audience through podcasts and broadcasts, but she's also busy delivering keynotes in front of various clients, such as the Hamilton Hive group—a speech that landed her on the cover of the Hamilton Spectator this week. In front of this group of under-40 professionals working to renew that city, MacArthur... 2011-10-27 11:30:33 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-rick-mercer-rant-teen-bullying-viral.html On The Rick Mercer Report this week, Mercer turned his trademark Rant into a rousing call to action against the bullying of young gay people. Now, that video has gone viral. Best known for his political satire, Mercer was responding to the suicide of Jamie Hubley, a talented but depressed teenager who was relentlessly bullied for being gay. "It's no longer good enough for us to tell kids who are different that it's going to get better," Mercer said. "We have to make it better now."After learning... 2011-10-27 15:33:37 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kal-penn-white-house-acting-return-la-times.html What do the White House and a fictional youth's trip to White Castle have in common? Until recently, both could be traced to Kal Penn, the Harold and Kumar actor-turned-political staffer who made waves when he left the big screen to work in Washington. Now he's making waves on the way back. This week, The Los Angeles Times has a great look at the trajectory of the multi-talented and unorthodox actor, who put a successful career in entertainment on hold to campaign for the then-underdog Democratic... 2011-10-25 12:45:28 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-doug-stephens-retail-prophet-speech-apple-steve-jobs-video.html In a recent keynote, Retail Prophet founder Doug Stephens—one of the world's only retail industry futurists—offered a panoramic vision of retail to come. Armed with smart phones and other net tools, consumers are now capable of finding out everything about a product within a click or two. Retailers need to know how to navigate this changing power shift. We are, Stephens says, in the midst of a historic revision of retail in terms of information (what consumers know about brands), destination... 2011-10-21 11:46:02 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-bruce-mau-design-occupy-wall-street-guatemala.html For world-renowned designer Bruce Mau, design doesn't begin and end with aesthetics—it actually means changing the world. Mau's infectious optimism permeates his keynotes, and his vision for applying design to social problems is evident in a recent Toronto Standard interview that, among other things, asked Mau on his thoughts about the Occupy Wall Street Movement, which actually bears some similarities to a project he conducted in Guatemala with the aim to design a social movement. From Toronto... 2011-10-20 15:57:21 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-pinker-better-angels-of-our-nature-colbert-guardian.html The Guardian published a massive feature this week on renowned cognitive scientist Steven Pinker. In his latest, and arguably most ambitious, book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Pinker “challenges one of our deepest but unexamined assumptions – that current and recent times have been the most violent in human history.”Pinker explains the book himself, in a Q&A attached to the story: Believe it or not, violence has been in decline for long stretches of time, and we may be... 2011-10-19 13:20:04 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonah-lehrer-uniqueness-drive-identity.html The next time you're standing in line at your hip local indie coffee bar, Jonah Lehrer would like you to look around. The people surrounding you might very well look a lot like you—which defeats the impression of distinctiveness you were hoping to cultivate by eschewing more mainstream coffee options. That strive for uniqueness is the subject of Lehrer's latest Frontal Cortex post for Wired. “Our uniqueness (at least as consumers) is mostly a sham. Somehow, we all end up in the same place,... 2011-10-18 12:32:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-margaret-atwood-globe-interview-in-other-worlds.html Literary icon Margaret Atwood possesses an incredibly wide cultural range and impact—a fact that's abundantly clear in a new Globe and Mail story that spans her recent accomplishments, including a highly publicized push to save Toronto’s public libraries and the release of her new non-fiction book on science fiction, In Other Worlds. The piece gives an interesting glimpse into the mind of Atwood, from her quips about a crow's memory (they'll definitely remember you if you shoot at them)... 2011-10-17 14:43:42 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-matt-taibbi-occupy-wall-street-five-tips.html Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi has been combating Wall Street corruption for years now—through a series of provocative articles, and in his bestselling book Griftopia. So it makes sense that he’d make a trip to survey the scene at Occupy Wall Street. Simply put, he loves it, colorfully describing the movement as “the logical answer to the Tea Party and a long-overdue middle finger to the financial elite.” In this week’s Rolling Stone, Taibbi writes of how concerned... 2011-10-17 10:59:32 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-john-maeda-stem-steam-conference-core77-steve-jobs.html World-renowned artist, designer, computer scientist and educator John Maeda continues his push to include Art into an American education system seemingly focused only on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math better—known as the STEM model; he would like to turn it into the STEAM model. At the recent STEM to STEAM Forum, spearheaded by Maeda and Rhode Island Congressman Jim Langevin, Maeda made huge strides in garnering awareness. Earlier, in June, he drew national attention to the effort... 2011-10-14 16:11:19 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-lisa-shannon-sexual-violence-somalia.html There's a crisis in the Horn of Africa, and it's not just around food. Writing in The Guardian, grassroots activist Lisa Shannon alerts us to the dramatically escalating sexual violence spreading in Somalia—the silent catastrophe lost in coverage of the region's devastation. “Sexual violence is being de-prioritised as primarily a psychosocial issue. This is a deadly miscalculation. We cannot allow the crisis in Somalia to relegate women's security to an optional extra. As sexual predators... 2011-10-13 16:26:23 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jeremy-gutsche-financial-post-entrepreneur-profile.html In the Financial Post this week, Jeremy Gutsche talks about what inspired him to leave his cushy management consultant job at Capital One to concentrate full-time on Trend Hunter, the world's most influential trend website. As Gutsche tells the Post, his driving entrepreneurial spirit is second nature: "I guess I was always just an entrepreneur at heart—desperately looking for what my next big idea would be, and that started when I was just a kid. Pretty much every decision I made in life,... 2011-10-12 15:11:27 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-nathan-wolfe-pandemic-control-shift.html If you've got a pandemic on your hands, the person you'll want on your side is Nathan Wolfe. The founder of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative knows his way around contagions. In fact, he was a consultant on the recent #1 film Contagion, which deals with a fictional virus that's handled in real-world terms. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Wolfe now offers up a solution to finding real-world viral threats before they get too big. What Wolfe envisions is a shift in the medical community's... 2011-10-11 14:18:08 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gayle-lemmon-nobel-peace-prize.html Today it was announced that three women—Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakul Karman—would share the Nobel Peace Prize. The committee cited their "non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work." It’s a topic that Gayle Tzemach Lemmon has been covering for years, most recently at Newsweek, where she’s also a contributing editor. In her New York Times bestselling book, The Dressmaker of Khair Khana,... 2011-10-07 13:56:06 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonah-lehrer-why-some-people-are-better-at-learning.html Popular science prodigy Jonah Lehrer—who is always teaching us new things on his Wired blog—writes about learning itself in his latest column. Specifically, Lehrer focuses on the ways your brain reacts to and learns from your mistakes. Technically speaking, there are two signals that your brain sends out following an error, and the size of the spark relates directly to your ability to become a better learner. So, those with a desire to learn from mistakes have stronger reaction signals,... 2011-10-06 14:19:50 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-matt-taibbi-occupy-wall-street-keith-olbermann-countdown.html On Keith Olbermann’s Countdown last week, Matt Taibbi—the Rolling Stone writer and Griftopia author—gave a sober appraisal of the roots and potential effectiveness of the Occupy Wall Street protests. With his usual flair for metaphor and sharp eye for financial sector rumblings, Taibbi looked at what possible good might come as a result of these sit-ins.From Countdown: What this could do is provide the political support for those activists who are trying to change very specific... 2011-10-05 13:02:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-arlene-dickinson-toronto-star-persuasion-interview.html Arlene Dickinson has a successful track record of picking companies on the rise. A master entrepreneur with a keen eye for ideas that get results, she relies on instincts for zeroing in on emerging trends and sound investments, a skill exemplified in her role as a panelist on the hit series Dragons' Den. A recent interview in the Toronto Star, keyed to the release of her first book Persuasion, sheds like on Dickinson's personal thoughts and business beliefs.Some things we learn about Dickinson from... 2011-10-04 11:39:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-daron-acemoglu-economist-questions-solutions.html One of the world’s most cited economists, Daron Acemoglu has made tremendous strides in answering the big economic questions that have obsessed us for generations. In a far-ranging interview with The Region, he provides a roadmap of fascinating recommendations for today's deeply troubled global economy. Why Nations Fail, Acemoglu’s forthcoming book, co-authored with James Robinson, is shaping up to be one of 2012's most anticipated titles—a major work of historical, political, and... 2011-10-03 12:20:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-susan-cain-quiet-introvert-manifesto.html For nearly a century, Susan Cain points out, our society has been held captive by "The Extrovert Ideal." We've given an inordinate amount of favortism, public trust, and plum jobs to aggressive go-getter-types. In the process, we've downplayed or just ignored the many strengths of the introverts among us. In her forthcoming book, Quiet, Cain convincingly argues that introverts make better decisions, become better leaders, and spark innovation at a faster rate than extroverts. And in her talks, she... 2011-09-29 15:14:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-reza-aslan-mother-jones-interview-middle-east.html For insights on everything from 9/11 to Arab Spring, those in the know go to Reza Aslan for answers. A recent profile of Aslan in Mother Jones shows readers where he stands on hotly debated Middle East issues. One thing that's clear: Aslan doesn't tiptoe around when it comes to the region. His television appearances, speeches, interviews, and writing, particularly the recently re-released bestseller No god but God, offer an unheard of level of clarity on one of the murkiest areas of geopolitical... 2011-09-28 11:45:29 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-marcelo-suarez-orozco-illegal-immigrants-study.html In a recent New York Times story, Marcelo Suarez-Orozco reveals the results of a study he conducted—the first of its kind—which paints a bleak portrait of life in America for the children of illegal immigrants. In the United States, nearly five million children, affected by their parent’s illegal status, are at risk of “lower educational performance, economic stagnation, blocked mobility and ambiguous belonging,” Suarez-Orozco writes. "[Illegal status] affects cognitive... 2011-09-23 12:06:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-joshua-goldstein-winning-the-war-on-war-five-things.html Our new speaker Joshua Goldstein has just released a breakthrough book, Winning the War on War, which centers on the global factors—such as the success of the United Nations—that have led to the most peaceful era in modern human history. Steven Pinker, praising the book, says it "reveals the greatest untold story of the past two decades—that contrary to popular impressions, war has become substantially rarer and less dangerous. This book could change the understanding of policy... 2011-09-21 14:07:22 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-sue-gardner-wikipedia-spark-interview.html There's no Wikipedia page devoted to the fact that for every five male editors, the collaborative encyclopedia only has one woman. But, if Sue Gardner has her way, they won't need that article. The matter-of-fact Executive Director of Wikipedia has already introduced major initiatives focused on organizational maturity, long-term sustainability, and the quality of the Foundation's free-knowledge projects. Now, she's turning to female participation. Interviewed on CBC's Spark, Gardner explains why... 2011-09-20 16:06:31 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-blake-mycoskie-start-something-that-matters-huffpo-qanda.html According to The Huffington Post, Blake Mycoskie's new book, Start Something That Matters, is perfect for the disillusioned cubicle jockey looking for something meaningful. It's easy to see why. The first book by the founder of TOMS serves up inspiring tales of success from both the non-profit and for-profit sectors (including case studies from method and charity:water), while folding in everything Mycoskie’s learned from developing his One-for-One giving model. In the article, Mycoskie announces... 2011-09-19 15:12:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-gayle-tzemach-lemmon-clinton-apec-women-economy.html At The Daily Beast, Gayle Lemmon argues that increasing women’s roles in the international marketplace will help breathe life back into our ailing global economy. In a powerful piece on Hillary Clinton's APEC speech about women and the economy, Lemmon looks at the damage that has been done to the global marketplace by keeping women out of it. A recent UN report, she points out, revealed that “the Asia-Pacific region is 'losing $42 to $47 billion per year because of restrictions on women's... 2011-09-16 15:58:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-arthur-caplan-bioethicist-michelle-bachmann-vaccine.html UPDATE: Caplan appeared on Anderson Cooper's 360 to further explain his challenge.Republican Presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann stirred controversy this week by claiming, on national television, that injecting girls with a preventative vaccine against the human papillomavirus virus (HPV) can lead to mental retardation. The medical community has fired back with a passion. Arthur Caplan, Director of the Center of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, has offered $10,000 to a charity of Bachmann’s... 2011-09-16 12:46:14 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tom-wujec-innovation-lavin-agency-talk.html Last month at Lavin’s annual get-together, staff from New York City and Toronto shared stories and laughter, and talked about the year ahead. Pretty standard annual meeting stuff, right? Not quite. This year, Tom Wujec also led us in one of his famous “visualize your business” sessions, in which he helped us to “see” our company with a fresh perspective. Tom has been a Lavin friend and speaker for years. He’s currently a Fellow at Autodesk, which is the Oscar-winning... 2011-09-15 14:52:47 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonah-lehrer-upcoming-book-creativity-imagine.html It may be the eternal question, in both business and the arts: Can we learn how to be more creative? As it turns out, we can, says Jonah Lehrer. Lehrer is the journalist whose writings on neuroscience—for Wired, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine, among others—become immediate flashpoints for discussion. In his upcoming book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, Lehrer, the bestselling author, most recently of How We Decide, shows us that creativity is not some near-mystical trait... 2011-09-14 14:20:36 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-arlene-dickinson-persuasion-book-marketing.html Anyone can be persuasive. Disagree—says Arlene Dickinson in her new book, out now, fittingly titled Persuasion—and you've already shown how good you are at the art of sway. In her much-anticipated first book, Dickinson showcases the same unique combination—warmth and razor sharp business acumen—she conveys on television, where she’s a judge on the top-rated Dragons' Den. Through compelling entertaining personal stories, Persuasion is Dickinson’s primer on how to... 2011-09-13 8:53:09 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-colum-mccann-911-video.html The New York Times released a series of touching clips, titled 'A Cultural View', detailing the effects of 9/11 on the lives of eight New York artists. Colum McCann was one of those eight. McCann starts out by recalling his experience, and how, as a writer, even the seemingly insignificant elements of New York suddenly took on meaning. He goes on to say that 9/11 wasn’t just one event, but a repeating moment in time: “It continually happens, and therefore we have to react to it.”... 2011-09-12 14:35:52 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-andrea-elliott-generation-9-11-muslims-today.html In The New York Times this week, Andrea Elliott writes about the generation of Muslim Americans who came of age in the decade following 9/11. Drawing on a polyphony of voices, Elliott discovers that, in the ten years since September 11th, some of this country's young Muslims have embraced their faith with a new-found vigor. Others have left it behind. In 2007, Elliott won the Pulitzer Prize for her three-part investigative series “Muslims in America,” an engaging look at the contemporary... 2011-09-09 14:05:48 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-laurie-garrett-contagion-global-health-heard-the-sirens-scream.html Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Laurie Garrett served as a consultant on Steven Soderbergh’s new film, Contagion, in theaters today, about a team of doctors racing to stop the spread of a deadly airborne virus. It’s a subject for which Garrett, author of the bestselling book The Coming Plague, is an authority. At premiere of the film, which stars Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, and Gwyneth Paltrow, Garrett was a surprise hit—drawing endless questions about the likelihood of a real... 2011-09-09 15:27:56 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-randall-kennedy-race-america-obama-cnn.html With the 2012 election looming, Randall Kennedy appeared on CNN to discuss whether Barack Obama's presidency has been clouded by racially charged distractions from his opponents. Put another way: is Obama less respected than any other previous president because he’s black? The answer, Kennedy says, matter-of-factly, is yes. Kennedy’s new book, The Persistence of the Color Line, deals directly with race and politics during Obama's time in office. During the interview, Kennedy said... 2011-09-08 15:32:25 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-blake-mycoskie-new-book-start-something-that-matters.html UPDATE: Start Something That Matters is now #1 on Amazon!Start Something That Matters, Blake Mycoskie's first book, is now on shelves. Start Something That Matters, which took two years to write, aims, in Mycoskie’s words, “to influence other people to go out into the world and have a positive impact, to inspire others to start something that matters.” And the book doesn't just focus on TOMS, it also features an A-list peer group of social entrepreneurs such as Zappos... 2011-09-07 12:46:55 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-tina-rosenberg-somalia-camps-self-settlement.html Refugee camps are virtually synonymous with humanitarian crises these days. In Somalia, for instance,  the worst drought in 60 years has led to over 400,000 people jamming into a refugee camp built to hold 90,000 in Dadaab, Kenya. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tina Rosenberg says it doesn't need to be this way. In her New York Times Fixes column last week, she argues that “enforced idleness and dependency” in places that are “one step removed from hell” no longer works,... 2011-09-07 12:30:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kal-penn-new-show-united-nations.html Kal Penn's latest television project will have him playing a role he’s familiar with: an employee of the U.S. government. Penn, who just finished a three-year term as Associate Director of the White House’s Office of Public Engagement, is slated to star as a “key assistant to the U.S. ambassador” in the yet-to-be-titled comedy. The show is set at the United Nations, and according to Paste magazine, will likely use Penn’s “own experiences as story arcs.”Set... 2011-09-06 14:53:30 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jessica-jackley-kiva-microloan-video.html Five years and four million Kiva microloans make for a gorgeous and inspiring time-lapse video—one of the most persuasive information graphics ever. But not only is the video a stunner, so, too, is the story of Jessica Jackley, the co-founder of Kiva. The video, played out against a map of the world, begins with a hesitant volley of tiny projectiles moving from lenders to borrowers: each small dot represents one loan. The beginning of the video, which is sparsely dotted, coincides with Jackley’s... 2011-09-06 15:31:24 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-salman-rushdie-memoir-film-emory-professor.html Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie has just been named University Distinguished Professor at Emory University, where he's served as Distinguished Writer in Residence for the past five years. The new job means, “Rushdie's teaching role will expand to include participation in courses across the university and engagement with faculty in areas of mutual interest.” The position, big news in and of itself, is just the latest in a series of exciting developments for Rushdie.A man about... 2011-09-01 13:35:16 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-blake-mycoskie-toms-olsen-mary-kate-ashley-honduras.html TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie knows how to inspire. Since creating his influential One for One business model—in which TOMS gives a pair of shoes to a child need for every pair it sells—the tireless social entrepreneur has inspired others to take up his cause. Joining Mycoskie for a recent shoe drop were fashion icons Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. In a touching video, shot in Honduras, they talk about what it means to put shoes on young children who need them. Says Mary-Kate: “I think... 2011-09-01 15:56:12 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-stephen-prothero-religion-natural-disasters-belief-blog-irene.html How many Americans think Hurricane Irene—or any natural disaster—is God’s doing? This is the question Stephen Prothero, a religious expert and repeat Colbert guest, tackles in his latest post for CNN’s Belief Blog. Riding out the storm in Cape Cod, Prothero writes, “American society as a whole no longer interprets natural disasters as signs of some coming apocalypse or evidence of some past misdeeds. And those that do ([Pat] Robertson, for example), we generally regard... 2011-08-31 11:54:17 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jared-diamond-e-o-wilson-books-time-one-hundred-best.html TIME has just released its list of the 100 best non-fiction books of all time—a grand compendium that includes titles by two Lavin exclusive speakers. Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel was included in the social history section, while Edward O. Wilson's On Human Nature made the science section. Both books, incidentally, also received the Pulitzer Prize.TIME had this to say of Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel: In 1532, when Francisco Pizarro met Incan emperor Atahualpa in what would later... 2011-08-31 15:16:59 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-virginia-heffernan-reality-tv-reality-check.html “Reality television needs reformation,” says Virginia Heffernan, whom Ad Week recently called “the best media writer at The New York Times.” An admitted fan of low-rent reality shows, Heffernan drops the gloves in her latest Op-Ed, declaring the genre damaging to lives, the TV business, and the public trust. She argues that there needs to be a clearer divide between what is real and what is skewed. “Like game-show contestants,” Heffernan writes, “most... 2011-08-30 13:02:07 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jonah-lehrer-convocation-speech-grit.html Neuroscience speaker Jonah Lehrer delivered a convocation speech at Earlham College, and unlike the kind of 'follow your dreams' motivational fare you'd expect, he made a special point of telling grads that their dreams weren't necessarily going to come true. Based on Angela Duckworth's grit personality trait measurement, Lehrer suggested those armed with high grit have an ability to select the right goals from the get-go. He presents a benchmark test that involves underpants. Basically,... 2011-08-29 15:38:41 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-kal-pen-late-late-show-obama.html Kal Penn, who recently left his post at the White House, hasn't fully shed his Office of Public Engagement skin just yet. In an interview with Craig Ferguson on The Late Late Show, Penn talked about the Obama administration and the current economic state of America. “The president kind of saved us from a second Great Recession—a huge economic collapse, but things are still not good enough. The fact that they could have been worse is not something that people can still rally... 2011-08-29 15:36:01 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-matt-taibbi-obama-easy-on-banks-election.html Matt Taibbi's not letting up with his onslaught on banks, whose scheming, he says, “led to millions of people losing their homes.” Following his ground-shaking SEC exposé last week, the Rolling Stone writer takes aim at none other than President Barack Obama. Taibbi suggests that Obama is working with banks and state officials to cook up a “seriously discounted” fine for all the banks' financial misdeeds. The fine is in the neighborhood of $20 billion, a sliver of the... 2011-08-26 13:51:54 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-dan-lyons-lev-grossman-alan-deutschmann-steve-jobs-apple.html It's the end of an era for Apple. Steve Jobs, arguably the most influential business leader of our time, has stepped down as the company's CEO. Noted tech scribe Dan Lyons, who made waves with his penetrating and satirical blog Fake Steve Jobs, has a good Daily Beast story on the closing of this important chapter. Lyons doesn't exactly predict a doom-laden future for Apple, but he does raise some questions around the company's significant loss. Remember, Apple did fire Jobs once, and it was only... 2011-08-25 11:48:15 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-jessica-jackley-social-entrepreneur-profounder.html Gathering up venture capital for your brilliant idea just got a lot easier thanks to another brilliant idea from Jessica Jackley. The founder of Kiva, the foremost microlending website letting users lend as little as $25 to entrepreneurs in developing nations, is at it again with ProFounder. The service collects and organizes capital from entrepreneurs ponying up as little as $1,000. This model works with the understanding that upstart projects are predominantly funded by creators' families and friends—a... 2011-08-24 13:02:51 http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-steven-pinker-new-book.html Whenever Steven Pinker, the “hyper-articulate” Harvard psychology professor, releases a new book, the media—and, more importantly, the public—takes notice. Following up on his book The Stuff of Thought, about how language helps shape who we are, Pinker is set to release The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declin