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Flickr Creative Commons
Today's infographic from StocksToTrade.com skips the silver bullets and "get rich quick" tricks to show the real habits of millionaires that have led to wealth accumulation over time.

Many of these habits are not particularly glamorous, but remain essential for the long-term success of entrepreneurs and investors. They tend to fall in categories such as: hard work, persistence, passion, acquiring self-knowledge, associating with the right people, and staying healthy.
Here are the most important statistics to consider:

88% of the rich devote 30 minutes or more each day to self-education or self-improvement.

76% of the rich aerobically exercise for 30 minutes or more, every day.

86% of the rich who liked what they did for work made $3.4 million in 32 years

7% who loved what they did made $7.4 million in 12 years.

92% of rich say good luck had nothing at all to do with their wealth. They just never gave up.

88% of millionaires believe relationships are critical to financial success.

94% of wealthy individuals read current events every day.

88% of the rich people say that saving money was incredibly important to their success.

93% of the self-made millionaires attributed their wealth to their mentors' help.

86% of wealthy, successful people associate with other success-minded people.

79% of the rich read educational, career-related material.

In other words, it's not a simple idea or plain old luck that leads to success.

The stats above show it is the daily habits and practices that count in the long run.

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Here are the top 10 habits of millionaires

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Today's infographic from StocksToTrade.com skips the silver bullets and "get rich quick" tricks to show the real habits of millionaires that have led to wealth accumulation over time. Many of these habits are not particularly glamorous, but remain essential for the long-term success of entrepreneurs and investors.

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The serious business of toys -- innovation through creation | Brian Kessler | TEDxChapmanU

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Negotiation Simulation

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Many of the negotiation simulations include general instructions, which can be read by all parties, and secret instructions, which are intended for one side only. Also, some simulations offer "instructor's notes" that provide more information on facilitating the exercises or their purpose in the course.

SES #

TOPICS

1

Introduction and Course Overview

We will discuss topics to be covered in the course, the Journal and the Separate Pages. You should write in the journal every week - see the assignments page for when written work is due - and write "separate pages," which are evaluations of the negotiations of classmates. Major concepts in negotiation will be presented. Negotiation simulations begin to illustrate factors that may affect your choice of strategy and tactics in negotiation.

Thinking ahead about the written assignments for session 2...

Handouts:

Butterfly View of 15.667 (PDF)

Thomas-Kilmann Questionnaire: Thomas, Kenneth W., and Ralph H. Kilmann. Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. Xicom, Incorporated, 1974.

Score Sheet for Thomas-Kilmann Questionnaire, by Prof. Mary Rowe (PDF)

Two Dollar Game:
Secret Instructions for the Two Dollar Game:

50 cents (PDF)

80 cents (PDF)

$1.00 (PDF)

$1.30 (PDF)

$1.60 (PDF)

Battle Ax (PDF)

Dependent (PDF)

High Tension (PDF)

Imaginative (PDF)

Public Figure (PDF)

Say Little (PDF)

Tape Recorder (PDF)

Untrustworthy (PDF)

Ten Minutes (PDF)

Another Chance (PDF)

Hard Time (PDF)

All Secret Instructions (PDF)

2

What Kind of Negotiator am I?

Case this Week: Stratego Aero I:
Handouts:

Ethics and Machiavelli Questionnaires and scoring sheets, pp. 264-269 and pp. 261-263, respectively, from: Lewicki, Roy J., David M. Saunders, John W. Minton, and Joseph A. Litterer. Negotiation: Readings, Exercises, and Cases (Instructor's Manual). Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1993.

Brainstorming Protocol (PDF)

Levels of Consensus (PDF)

3

Distributive and Mixed Motive Bargaining

In today's class we are concerned with ethics, and with classic, zero-sum negotiating problems - the gain of one is the loss of the other. Chapter 3 - be sure you have read it? - discussed the nature of distributive bargaining.

Case: Terry and Josephine at Navigational Systems. Discussion of the role of power in negotiation.

Video: Film clips from: Sebenius, James K. Negotiating Corporate Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1997. Should change be forced (distributively) or fostered (integratively), or is change a mixed motive process that requires both forcing and fostering?

Reframing Positions - An exercise in dealing with difficult tactics, related to the film clips (PDF)

4

Integrative and Mixed Motive Bargaining

Role-play: Barrister, Counselor, Solicitor and Avocat, (Hiring/Salary Case): Role-play: The Yearly Review (Performance Evaluation Case). Discussion of firing an employee.
Handout:

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare - Negotiating for Jobs, Salaries, and Everything Else (PDF)

Pick up copies of the Aggressive Competitive Negotiator and Tax Books cases to prepare for next week. Choose a partner for next week - the negotiation next week will be two on two.

5

Competitive and Cooperative Styles and Do Gender or Culture Make a Difference?

Case: Dealing with an Aggressive Competitive Negotiator

Dealing with an Aggressive Competitive Negotiator (PDF) - Paper courtesy of Prof. Mary Rowe and Amos Rogers, MIT Sloan School of Management.

Case: The TEAM Case

Discussion of dealing with an aggressive competitive negotiator:

Notes on Dealing with an Aggressive Competitive Negotiator (Especially If You are Cooperative) (PDF)

Negotiating with an Aggressive Competitive Negotiator (PDF)

Methods to Change the Game to Collaboration (PDF) - Paper courtesy of Prof. Robert McKersie and Prof. Mary Rowe, MIT Sloan School of Management.

Substantive Ideas for Dealing with Mr. Canny (from the ACN case) (PDF)

Discussion of the roles of gender and culture in negotiations:

Case: Tax Books by Prof. Gerald Williams, Brigham Young University. (negotiated two on two)

Pick up your role in Telemachus, for next week. Please prepare with someone who has the same role.

6

Negotiating in Context

Discussion of negotiation in a team setting and in coalitions.

Case: Telemachus Technology - All parts of this case courtesy of George P. Maxe and Ellen J. Waxman, MIT Sloan School of Management. Case: Coalition Game: Susskind, Lawrence. Three-Party Coalition Exercise. Available from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School Clearinghouse.

Coalition Exercise: Questions for Reflection (PDF)

Coalition Exercise: Instructor's Notes (PDF)

Building Coalitions (PDF)

Handout:
State of the Class Questionnaire (PDF)

7

Origins of Conflict - Dispute Prevention - Delegating Conflict Management to the Disputant

Class: Videos on Complaint Handling: The Lab Supervisor by MIT Center for Advanced Educational Services.

Discussions of dispute resolution systems, and discussions of "interests, rights and power" in the context of conflict management, raise serious ethical issues. Is it ethical to resolve criminal matters or public safety issues in an informal (problem-solving) fashion - without an investigation and without disciplinary action? At the other end of the spectrum, is it ethical to deal with conflicts involving free expression through disciplinary action? Through problem-solving? Only through problem-solving?

Do you believe complainants should have options with respect to harassment and discrimination? If so, should complainants always have options? When yes, and when no? What options should managers have and when? As you read these materials please ask yourself and tell me - is it possible for a manager to prevent reprisal against a whistleblower or other complainant - or a person who strongly dissents from a position taken by an important person in the workplace?

Case in Class: Stratego Aero II and discussion:

Case in Class: Manager's Dilemma - Eavesdropping. This is a discussion about someone with a painful problem who does not wish to use ordinary grievance channels.

Discussion of Apologies:

Instructor's Notes about Apologies (PDF)

Elements of an Effective Apology ( PDF) Paper courtesy of Marsha Wagner, Columbia University.

8

Your Employer's Dispute Resolution and Complaint Handling System

Class: Case examples and discussion.

Case in Class: An Alarming Night. Designing an internal dispute resolution system.

Case in Class: Designing an Internal Complaint System:
Handout:

Anonymous Questionnaire on Sources of Satisfaction and Sources of Disputes in the Workplace (PDF)

Options in a Conflict Management System ( PDF) Presentation courtesy of Robert A. Fein.

9

Conciliation and Mediation

Stratego Aero III:

10

Investigation, Arbitration and Exceptionally Difficult People
(Double Class, 6 hours)

Stratego Aero IV: Case: Certified Public Accountants, Inc. (Theft):
Discussion of Cases Distributed in Class (Drugs, Whistleblowers, and a Convicted Employee):

Safekeeping Corp - Drugs (PDF)

Global Mobile - Whistleblowers (PDF)

Construction International - Convicted Employee (PDF)

Handout:
Elements of Due Process or Fair Process (PDF)
Evening Discussion of violence and the fear of violence in the work place, with Dr. Robert Fein, forensic psychologist.

11

More Negotiating with Difficult People

Class: More discussion of difficult people and excerpts from a movie.

Case in Class: Getting the Package to the Airport

Video: The Story of Qiu Ju, Columbia/Tristar Studios (released with English subtitles), 1993.

Questions about Qiu Ju Video (PDF)
Handouts: Class Summaries:

Don't show me this again
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industrial relations and human resource management

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Many of the negotiation simulations include general instructions, which can be read by all parties, and secret instructions, which are intended for one side only. Also, some simulations offer "instructor's notes" that provide more information on facilitating the exercises or their purpose in the course.

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Define your Negotiation style (Harvard Business School)

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PON - Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School

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How would you characterize your negotiation style: Are you collaborative, competitive, or compromising? During any professional negotiation skills training, you're likely to find out your negotiating style when setting goals and revealing your negotiating personality.

But if you have trouble answering that question, you're probably not alone.
That's because skilled negotiators typically take on all these styles during a negotiation:

They listen closely and collaborate to create value.

They compete for the biggest slice of the pie.

They make compromises when necessary.

Putting labels on negotiation style can be a mistake in negotiation skills training, writes Marquette University Law School professor Andrea Kupfer Schneider in an article for the Washington University Journal of Law and Policy.

Schneider notes that when teaching negotiation in the past, she would educate her law school students on the most common negotiation styles, debate their merits, and then urge the students to build their negotiation skills so that they could draw on various styles as a negotiation unfolds.

By contrast, these days, Schneider introduces students first to the negotiating skills that support the various negotiation styles rather than debating the effectiveness of these styles.

Rather than beginning by teaching negotiation students about various styles, negotiation instructors should encourage them to cultivate five specific skills, writes Schneider.

Assertiveness

Empathy

Flexibility

Social skills, or intuition

Ethics

Adult professionals learn better by talking first about experiences and skills, and then focusing on framework or style selection, writes Schneider.

Labeling negotiating styles - such as distributive, integrative, problem-solving, conciliatory, and so on - can help us learn general differences in how people view negotiations and behave during them, she adds.

Labels also help negotiating researchers organize their thoughts around a shared language.

On the downside, however, labeling negotiation styles can be confusing in negotiation skills training, according to Schneider.

A student who is taught that an integrative (or value-creating or collaborative) negotiating style is superior to a distributive (or value-claiming or competitive) negotiating style may have a hard time understanding why both value creation and value-claiming behaviors are helpful in negotiation.

In addition, the labels that describe various negotiation styles don't map neatly onto the negotiation skills.

A highly competitive negotiator may belie the stereotype of this style by having a friendly demeanor and a strong sense of fairness. Moreover, many of the negotiation skills that are commonly taught in the classroom, such as researching criteria to back up fairness claims, can be used in both competitive situations and collaborative ones.
Have you defined your negotiation style yet? Let us know how negotiation skills training has helped you in the comments. Originally published in 2013.
Related Posts

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Negotiation Skills Training: Define Your Negotiation Style - PON - Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School

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How would you characterize your negotiation style: Are you collaborative, competitive, or compromising? During any professional negotiation skills training, you're likely to find out your negotiating style when setting goals and revealing your negotiating personality. But if you have trouble answering that question, you're probably not alone.

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Lesson 4 Written Rules on how to create a board game

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Lesson 4 Written Rules on how to create a board game

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Introduction: Build Your Own Board Game

Hi Everyone!!!!

My name is Frank and I am a guy who likes board games.

The holidays are just around the corner. Which of course means spending time with family and friends. One of my favorite things to do with my family and friends is to play board games. However, we regularly get bored with the games in our current collection. This leads us to constantly having to locate and purchase new games to play. After years of constantly doing the same thing, I've realized that I'm tired paying for new board games but I still want to play them.

So this year I decided to do something different. Instead of buying a new board game I decided to make my own board game. But just creating my game doesn't help everyone else because my game may not interest you.

Inline with the holidays and this glorious time of year, I want to help those who love board games build their own board game. In this guide, you will be giving the tools and knowledge of how to build your own game. T

My game is called "Startup the Game" and I hope that through this instructable I can encourage others to build their own games and enjoy family meltdowns around their own games instead of the same boardwalk monopoly meltdown we see year after year.

Step 1: Pick a Game Style

To start building your game you need to first need to decide what kind of board game you want to build.

With the immense number of board games out there, this task does seem a little daunting. However it is not impossible.

Wikipedia has a list of every board game that currently exists. Looking at this list for inspiration you can create your own board game and even develop your own unique set of rules. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_board_games

My game is a mixture of Monopoly and Risk, my two favorite board games.

Step 2: Sketch It Out

After picking the style of your board game, the next step is to NOT to start crafting the board and pieces.

The next step is to sketch the board and trying to figure out the rules.

Figuring out the look and rules of your board game will provide you with the ability to carefully craft your perfect board game. The sketches can also act as a guide during your stage when you put your board game together.

The sketch can be a detailed or simple as you want. But laying out your ideas on paper will make building game easier in the long run.

Step 3: Build the Board, If Needed

Not all board games need a board but many do. There are a variety of ways that you can construct your game board from the simple printed out sheet to a crafted laser cut piece of wood.

1) Draw it out.

Using cardboard or paper found around your house you can design your board using simple tools such as pens, pencils, markers, and paint. You could even use glitter!

2) Print it out

Using a design software such as Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape you can design a board for your game with a little more precession. Using a design software also allows you to become more complicated or integrate board.

3) Machine it out

Laser cutters are awesome and can produce really cool designs in a variety of materials. I personally like to laser cut designs on Wood or fiber glass. I would start with cardboard until you are satisfied with your design, it's more cost effective in the end.

Step 4: Make Your Pieces

After your board has been finalized you need pieces to play your game. There are a varitey of ways to generate your pieces for your game.

1) Use existing board game pieces or things from around the house.

There is nothing wrong with using tools already available to you. Look to your existing board games or small items around your house to find the pieces of your game. My personal Favorite is discarded beer bottle tops

2) 3-D designs and printing

Thanks to the massive number of 3D printing companies the price of reliable 3D printers has dropped considerably. This makes 3-D printing objects in your own home feasible. Another great advantage of this is that you don't need to design the pieces yourself.

Thingiverse- game pieces is a great resource that has objects that makers, designers, and engineers have uploaded to the public domain

It is also possible to order prints of your design online if you do not have access to a 3D printer.

I have included my own design of piece using tinkered that will hold a picture or playing card. This way you can print out many of these pieces and give them a card or color to differentiate them.

Be creative with this process and remember to have fun designing or searching.

Step 5: Cast a Die

Not every board game needs them but let's face it many of them do. So let's figure out ways to get dice for your game.

1) Existing Die

Use die from existing board games. Resourceful but kinda lame.

2) Print or design your own die

Using your favorite modeling software you can always design your own dies to be as special as you want. Of course, if you don't have a design software but still want to print things out you can always use existing designs from online resources such as Thingiverse.

For a simple die design DB3JHF crafted a design that is print ready and easily solves all you six sided die needs.

3) Smart Phone die

The great thing about smart phones is that there are millions of applications, so luck beholds there is an app that turns your smart phone into dice.

IOS: Dice by Benoit Layer is a great allows you to ways play games even if you forgot the die.

Android: Dice by Teazel Ltd forfeits allows you to pay games without physical pieces.
* Note please do not throw your phone like a pair of dice. This will likely break your phone and make you look like an idiot*

Step 6: Playing Cards

Playing cards, the easier piece of any game to get destroyed or lost over time.

Again, not all games need playing or game cards. Still having a full tool set makes you a better Board Game developer

1) Hand made cards

Using paper, cardboard or any other household material you can produce your own playing cards. Simplicity at it's finest. I opted to make hand cut and designed cards for my game.

2) Printed Out Cards

Another option is to print out your cards. Using Microsoft word you can design your cards to be printed out on a basic. A design software, like photoshop or illustrator, will allow you to design more eloquent cards. The best part is that if you lose a card you can just print out a new one.

Which might be needed after your family tosses the board after a crushing defeat...

3) Virtual Application- Flash Cards

There are a number of flash card apps designed to help people memorize a certain subject. Using this existing technology you can produce your own game cards and cut back on paper waste.

App Advice has a list of the 5 best flash card application for mobile devices. Any of these applications will provide you the means of producing your own playing cards.

I went with Studyblue because of its easy User Interface(UI)

Step 7: Quick Wrap UP

By this point you have all the core pieces for making your own board game.

- The Rules

- The Board

- Player Pieces

- Dice

- Playing Cards

Note that not every board game uses all or any of these pieces.

So now you are wondering why did I read this. Honestly, I don't know but I'm betting you are a resourceful individual who is looking to add new skills to your board game development toolkit.

The idea is to make your own game fun and enjoyable without heading to the store.

Be as creative and innovative as you can be when you build your very own board game and show the world what you created.

I don't know about you but I'm ready to play some games and watch some hilarious board game fueled drama!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All!

1 Person Made This Project!

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The rules of improv

Being a fan of Matt Besser's Improv 4 Humans podcast, I was absolutely delighted with the special 2-part episode he posted that featured his fellow Upright Citizen's Brigade partner Ian Roberts giving a talk about the rules of improv. Specifically, Ian covered the debate in the improv community where some believe that the art form, by its very nature, should have no rules. He argues how rules are good for improv, or any artistic endeavor really, since they help build the tools and shared vocabulary you need in order to succeed and do your own thing with that art form. This is especially true with scenic improvisation, where you need to be working from the same baseline as your scene partners for your work to shine.

Ian, via questions from the audience, even gets into some of his improv teaching methods, which I found especially interesting, being a teacher myself. Also covered are his thoughts on improv structure, working with Del Close, and a little bit on sketch comedy. All in all, if you love learning about improv and working to get better at it, or if you teach it and want to get a bit "Inside Baseball" with the UCB, the two parts of this podcast are the best three hours you can spend to really get deep into your craft. It's kind of like a free 3-hour class from one of the legendary UCB Four!

You can find the two parts here:

Ask the UCB: Rules vs. No Rules w/ Ian Roberts (Pt. 1)
Ask the UCB: Rules vs. No Rules w/ Ian Roberts (Pt. 2)

Guidelines

As for my perspective on the rules of improv, I try to use the term "guidelines." I remember how one of the very first thing I heard about improv is that "there is only one rule of improv - there are no rules in improv." But then when you head into your level 1 or introductory improvisation class, you start hearing things like:

Don't ask questions!

Don't say no!

Don't try to be funny!

Establish where you are and who you are right away!

This seems contradictory to that "one rule/no rule" idea, and it's a lot to take in when you're just starting out. The idea that you shouldn't have any rules seems pretty enticing. However, you quickly learn that breaking these "rules" will often just as quickly cause your improvised scene to break down into confusion and/or chaos.

This isn't to say that you can't break these rules at some point later - veteran improvisers break these rules all the time. The difference between them and someone new to the art is that those with years of experience know how to avoid the pitfalls that come with breaking the rules. This is why I like to think of them as guidelines, rather than hard and fast rules. They exist to help you grasp good improv while avoiding the traps that you'll run into if you don't have a structure imposed on you as you learn.

For example, avoiding questions is really important at the top of a scene so that you're not leaning too hard on your partner to come up with the scene's material. Ask questions too often, and no one will want to improvise with you, since it makes everyone else's job tougher. That being said, as the UCB explain in their comedy improvisation manual, there is a point where asking questions in a scene makes sense, namely, once you find the first unusual thing that pops up, which then leads to the Game of the Scene (that's a whole other topic right there, but you can find out more by reading their excellent book and a tad bit in the above podcast).

Go listen to it!

Anyway, getting back to the Improv 4 Humans podcast, Ian points out that the idea of rules is somewhat semantic. They are a structure designed to help you learn and get better, and I think of them as guidelines since you should follow them as closely as possible, until you are confident you know what to do when you don't. And if you haven't yet, go listen to that podcast!

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Best discussion you'll ever hear regarding the rules of improv - Derek Slawson

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Being a fan of Matt Besser's Improv 4 Humans podcast, I was absolutely delighted with the special 2-part episode he posted that featured his fellow Upright Citizen's Brigade partner Ian Roberts giving a talk about the rules of improv.

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Boss: "Did you get all of that?"
(Your response, from an outside prospective)
"Uh, sure...yes!" *Confident Nod*
(Your response, from inside of your brain)
You:"Oh no, oh no, oh no! What did my boss just say? Who was I supposed to e-mail? Don't panic; just smile and nod..."

Boss: "Good. I expect an update first thing tomorrow!"

If this scenario brings back stressful memories for you, chances are you're not alone. In many high-stakes, results-driven work environments, active listening suffers. Once information overload sets in, even the most thoughtful employees tend to stop listening and start hearing just enough in order to craft an acceptable response. Unfortunately, this bare minimum approach towards engaging in conversation catches up with your work fast; if you're not actively listening, you could be missing important details, including emotional cues and body language.

Still listening? Great! Because just like any professional skill worth having, our listening skills can be sharpened with a little bit of practice (and it can even be fun!)

Here are three office-friendly improv exercises to try with your team that focus on active listening skills:
One-Word-Story
The objective of this exercise is to collectively tell a complete story as a group that makes sense. The catch is that it can only be told with one person adding one word at a time!

Standing together as a group and, starting at one end, the first participant will say only the first word of the story. Then, the person directly next to them will say only the second word, and then pass it along. This continues around the group until a complete story is told. Not only do you need to remember what your immediate partner just said, but keeping in mind the entire story clues you into details about continuity and big picture ideas!
Circle Pass
This is a fantastic way to sharpen your nonverbal listening skills. Standing in a circle, the first participant will make a sound, accompanied by a movement. For example, a player might say "Honk honk" and rub his or her tummy. The person next to the initiator must then mimic the sound and action. Once done, that person then creates a new sound and action combo, passing it along the circle. The amount of nuance in each sound and action can be eye (and ear) opening!
Repeater
This exercise can be played with two participants at a time. The two players will make up a fictional conversation on the fly. However, a new line of dialogue cannot be started until the previous line was repeated.

For example:

Player 1: "Shark Week is scary!"

Player 2: "Shark week is scary! There should be a warning before every show."

P1: "There should be a warning before every show. I don't even want to go to the beach anymore."

P2: "You don't even want to go to the beach anymore. And I can't get a tan because of it!"

By repeating the entire previous phrase before crafting a response, participants must thoughtfully process and reflect on what was just said. The repetition may feel a bit silly at first, but this activity helps to break the cycle of, "passively hear, acceptably answer" and embrace the more effective tactic of, "actively listen, thoughtfully respond."

If you're still sweating missing the clues, take some time to focus on improving active listening with your coworkers. Who knows - you might just have some fun along the way!

"Did you get all of that?"

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Improv Techniques at Work: Active Listening - Medix

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Boss: "Did you get all of that?" (Your response, from an outside prospective) "Uh, sure...yes!" *Confident Nod* (Your response, from inside of your brain) You:"Oh no, oh no, oh no! What did my boss just say? Who was I supposed to e-mail? Don't panic; just smile and nod..." Boss: "Good.

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Improv Lessons for Business from The Second City

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Exercises are just what they describe. These are improv structures that help tone the improv brain and the creative juices to improve one's improv on stage. Many exercises are quite entertaining to watch, but entertaining an audience is not their main goal. One should always keep in mind which improv rules are being emphasised by the exercise and learning trumps entertainment. To do these without notes or side coaching kinda defeats their purpose.
Give me a random exercise.

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Exercises are just what they describe. These are improv structures that help tone the improv brain and the creative juices to improve one's improv on stage. Many exercises are quite entertaining to watch, but entertaining an audience is not their main goal. One should always keep in mind which improv rules are being emphasised by...

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By Lori Day - In mid-January, this article on The Huffington Post hit my Facebook newsfeed like a Justin Bieber deportation petition-it was everywhere. In it, HuffPost Family News Editor Jessica Samakow writes:
Pay attention, 2014 Mad Men: This little girl is holding a LEGO set. The LEGOs are not pink or "made for girls." She isn't even wearing pink. The copy is about "younger children" who "build for fun." Not just "girls" who build. ALL KIDS. In an age when little girls and boys are treated as though they are two entirely different species by toy marketers, this 1981 ad for LEGO - one of our favorite images ever - issues an important reminder.
Something about this piece with the iconic 1981 ad tapped the zeitgeist and it became one of HuffPo's more viral articles in recent memory, receiving over 60,000 shares. And along the way, the small world of Facebook led to a comment thread on my wall where someone, upon seeing the little red-haired girl holding her LEGOs, wrote, "Hey, I know her!" And now I do too, because that's the serendipity of social media. Her name is Rachel Giordano, she is 37 years old, and she's a practicing naturopathic doctor in Seattle, Washington. Giordano agreed to talk to me about her childhood and the ad, and to pose for a new Then & Now photo meme, which you see above in the lead image.

As I was planning my interview with Rachel Giordano, I saw this blog post by Achilles Effect, and knew immediately what Giordano should be holding in the new version of the photo. Enter the Heartlake City rolling beauty salon TV news van, one of the latest additions to the LEGO Friends line. Advertising copy lets us know what being a news anchor involves for minifig Emma:
"Break the big story of the world's best cake with the Heartlake News Van! Find the cake and film it with the camera and then climb into the editing suite and get it ready for broadcast. Get Emma ready at the makeup table so she looks her best for the camera. Sit her at the news desk as Andrew films her talking about the cake story and then present the weather to the viewers."
Cake? Seriously? And what-the-what is that when you look inside the news van? Where is the equipment? Is it behind the gigantic makeup vanity?

As Achilles Effect blogger Crystal Smith notes, "This toy had so much potential to inspire young girls who think journalism would be a cool career. Instead, they get the same message delivered just about everywhere else in the culture that surrounds them: look pretty and smile for the camera."

Children haven't changed, but adults who market to them have... What do we have to lose, besides stereotypes? So what did Rachel Giordano have to say about the LEGO news van when it pulled up to her medical office in Seattle via Amazon and UPS? First things first: she told me what it was like to be a child model for the Ford Agency in New York City, posing for print ads and performing in commercials. On the day she went into the studio to make the 1981 LEGO ad, she was given a set of original LEGOs and an hour to play with them and make her own creation-it is what you see in the ad. (And those were her own clothes-the comfy jeans and blue striped t-shirt and sneakers without a hint of pink that she wore in off the street.)

The news van kit struck her as really quite different. She does not have children, so the change in LEGOs represented by the Friends line was startling: "In 1981," explains Giordano, "LEGOs were 'Universal Building Sets' and that's exactly what they were...for boys and girls. Toys are supposed to foster creativity. But nowadays, it seems that a lot more toys already have messages built into them before a child even opens the pink or blue package. In 1981, LEGOs were simple and gender-neutral, and the creativity of the child produced the message. In 2014, it's the reverse: the toy delivers a message to the child, and this message is weirdly about gender."

The original 1981 ad has been making the rounds in my girl empowerment blogging circles for the past few years now, symbolic of the nostalgia that ain't what it used to be when it comes to children's toys. The stereotyping of girls in their world of play is an issue close to my heart and one that I address in my book Her Next Chapter, because, as Maria Montessori notably said, play is the work of the child. [ Editor's Note: What most recent articles about this inspiring ad have left out, is the equally inspiring woman who created it. According to a January 21, 2014 Mashable piece, "The 'What is Beautiful' ad was created by Judy Lotas, who was the creative director at SSC&B, a now-defunct ad agency... She had two young daughters at the time, and gender equality was a big topic."]

Over at Princess Free Zone, Michele Yulo has been writing about the change in LEGOs since the new LEGO Friends line dropped anchor in girls' toy aisles all around the world. "Last year," says Yulo, "I did my own homemade version of the ad to show that it is not that kids have changed, forcing companies to adopt 'separate but equal' and 'pink marketing' strategies-in fact, it is the other way around. I didn't change the tagline except to say that 'What it is is still beautiful.' Because it is."

That's Yulo's daughter on the right side of the meme, holding her own unique LEGO structure built with regular-I mean boys'-LEGOs.

What's the problem with girl LEGOs? Why is everyone against pink?, ask many parents. I'll let Rachel Giordano answer that question: "Because gender segmenting toys interferes with a child's own creative expression. I know that how I played as a girl shaped who I am today. It contributed to me becoming a physician and inspired me to want to help others achieve health and wellness. I co-own two medical centers in Seattle. Doctor kits used to be for all children, but now they are on the boys' aisle. I simply believe that they should be marketed to all children again, and the same with LEGOs and other toys."

I couldn't help being curious about how Giordano's renewed fame first came to her attention and how it was affecting her. "I did so many advertisements as a kid that this LEGO ad did not stand out in my memory," says Giordano. "When it resurfaced on the Internet all these years later, I was totally surprised, and some of my friends asked, 'Is that you?' I'm super excited to tell my story!"

Giordano has grown up, but she's still the same cheerful and creative person you see in the original ad. As Yulo's meme suggests, children haven't changed, but adults who market to them have. And LEGOs? They sure are different. How about this? Let's give all children a world of play that includes all colors and all possibilities, and let's market it that way. What do we have to lose, besides stereotypes? Gender-segmented toys may double corporate profits, but always seem to result in for-girls versions that are somehow just a little bit less. I say, let's give girls more. Any reason not to??
About This Contributor
Lori Day is an educational psychologist, consultant and parenting coach with Lori Day Consulting in Newburyport, MA. She is the author of Her Next Chapter: How Mother-Daughter Book Clubs Can Help Girls Navigate Malicious Media, Risky Relationships, Girl Gossip, and So Much More, and speaks on the topic of raising confident girls in a disempowering marketing and media culture.

You can connect with Lori on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.
Photo Credit: 2014 image of Rachel Giordano was shot by Anita Nowacka

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The Little Girl from the 1981 LEGO Ad is All Grown Up, and She's Got Something to Say

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By Lori Day - In mid-January, this article on The Huffington Post hit my Facebook newsfeed like a Justin Bieber deportation petition-it was everywhere. In it, HuffPost Family News Editor Jessica Samakow writes: Pay attention, 2014 Mad Men: This little girl is holding a LEGO set.

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Lego Faces Are Getting Angrier, Study Finds

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LEGO CITY

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LEGO City Police Mini Movies Compilation Episode 1 to 6 | LEGO Animation Cartoons

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Руслана Веселова

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Roomies - LEGO Friends (SG) - Season 2, Episode 4

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LEGO LIKES WOMEN AGAIN

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Lego's new "Women of NASA" toy set went on sale for $24.99 on November 1.

The product, which a female journalist pitched to Lego, features four famous women from the US space agency who are scientists, engineers, astronauts, and entrepreneurs.

"Women of NASA" follows a powerful trend of Lego selling toys that are more female-inclusive.

Lego's new "Women of NASA" set is now available, and the product has already risen to the top of Amazon's list of best-selling toys.

The set of 231 plastic pieces costs about $25 and went on sale Wednesday morning. Its instant popularity is not surprising to those who have been following Lego's laudable - and presumably profitable - trend of selling toys that are more inclusive of women.

"Women of NASA" features four mini figurines of pioneering women from the space agency: the astronauts Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, the astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, and the computer scientist Margaret Hamilton.

Each figurine comes with her own backdrop of relevant NASA work, including a mini-space shuttle Challenger for the astronauts and a mini-Hubble Space Telescope.

The toy set has a grassroots origin story. Maia Weinstock, a deputy editor at MIT News, submitted her idea for the product to Lego's Ideas community in July 2016. Members on that site create and vote on other users' plans; if Lego picks the idea, creators get a 1% cut of sales and licensing revenue.

Weinstock's submission received more than 10,000 public votes - which led Lego to ultimately refine, manufacture, and sell the "Women of NASA" set. ( Lego's giant Saturn V moon rocket set, released in June, came about the same way.)

One figurine is missing from Weinstock's original kit proposal, though: Katherine Johnson, a mathematician at NASA whose remarkable story of working on the Mercury and Apollo programs was the focus of the film " Hidden Figures."

"In order for us to move forward with a partner we need to obtain approval from all key people, which was not possible in this case. We naturally fully respect this decision," a Lego representative told Gizmodo in an Oct. 25 story.

You can take a close-up look at the "Women of NASA" set, who it features, and what it includes in our preview of the product.

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Lego's 'Women of NASA' toy set is finally on sale - and it's already Amazon's best-selling toy

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Lego's new "Women of NASA" toy set went on sale for $24.99 on November 1. The product, which a female journalist pitched to Lego, features four famous women from the US space agency who are scientists, engineers, astronauts, and entrepreneurs. "Women of NASA" follows a powerful trend of Lego selling toys that are more female-inclusive.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Lego's new "Women of NASA" toy set went on sale for $24.99 on November 1.

The product, which a female journalist pitched to Lego, features four famous women from the US space agency who are scientists, engineers, astronauts, and entrepreneurs.

"Women of NASA" follows a powerful trend of Lego selling toys that are more female-inclusive.

Lego's new "Women of NASA" set is now available, and the product has already risen to the top of Amazon's list of best-selling toys.

The set of 231 plastic pieces costs about $25 and went on sale Wednesday morning. Its instant popularity is not surprising to those who have been following Lego's laudable - and presumably profitable - trend of selling toys that are more inclusive of women.

"Women of NASA" features four mini figurines of pioneering women from the space agency: the astronauts Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, the astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, and the computer scientist Margaret Hamilton.

Each figurine comes with her own backdrop of relevant NASA work, including a mini-space shuttle Challenger for the astronauts and a mini-Hubble Space Telescope.

The toy set has a grassroots origin story. Maia Weinstock, a deputy editor at MIT News, submitted her idea for the product to Lego's Ideas community in July 2016. Members on that site create and vote on other users' plans; if Lego picks the idea, creators get a 1% cut of sales and licensing revenue.

Weinstock's submission received more than 10,000 public votes - which led Lego to ultimately refine, manufacture, and sell the "Women of NASA" set. ( Lego's giant Saturn V moon rocket set, released in June, came about the same way.)

One figurine is missing from Weinstock's original kit proposal, though: Katherine Johnson, a mathematician at NASA whose remarkable story of working on the Mercury and Apollo programs was the focus of the film " Hidden Figures."

"In order for us to move forward with a partner we need to obtain approval from all key people, which was not possible in this case. We naturally fully respect this decision," a Lego representative told Gizmodo in an Oct. 25 story.

You can take a close-up look at the "Women of NASA" set, who it features, and what it includes in our preview of the product.

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Lego's 'Women of NASA' toy set is finally on sale - and it's already Amazon's best-selling toy

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Lego's new "Women of NASA" toy set went on sale for $24.99 on November 1. The product, which a female journalist pitched to Lego, features four famous women from the US space agency who are scientists, engineers, astronauts, and entrepreneurs. "Women of NASA" follows a powerful trend of Lego selling toys that are more female-inclusive.

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LESSON 2 LEGO HAS A SEXISM PROBLEM

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While LEGO has continued to hold a steady course on the polarizing seas of genderized toy marketing, its latest TV ad appears to have momentarily - 60 seconds to be exact - steered the brick maker toward Eureka, an island of enlightenment just off the coast of Girls Have Brains, in the province of And Know How To Use Them Too!

"I don't always want you to help me. Do you know why? I want to figure it out on my own."

Punctuated by a carefully scripted voiceover delivered by a confident sounding young girl to her mother, the brand's new, emotion-driven TV ad shows girls using their own imaginations to create interesting worlds and scenarios with LEGO bricks, while embracing design snags as opportunities to retool and build something even better... all by their capable selves. Empowered girls are the primary focus, not the product.

With that, the ad offers a refreshing portrayal of girls as independent thinkers, creative dreamers, and inventive builders, as opposed to pink-thirsty princess zombies that are all mindlessly drawn to the faintest hint of sparkle. What a welcome creative departure from other LEGO TV ads that have specifically targeted girls.

Take this LEGO Friends commercial from 2012. It centered on Heartlake City, a fictitious place that LEGO designed for girls where it apparently rains glitter. In this ad, you don't see actual girls doing anything, except making heart shapes with their hands. It features passive play: Dear girls - Please build (term used loosely) what we tell you to build, then follow the parameters of the vacuous storyline we've already crafted around our toy set. Sincerely, LEGO

What you do see in this spot are LEGO Friends characters - Stephanie, Olivia, and Emma - cruising in a pink convertible, chillin', getting styled at the beauty shop, baking cupcakes, and feeding giant, genetically modified carrots to a horse ( random), all en route to the "coolest spot" in town. Where's the thinking, dreaming and building in that?

Though the new 2014 TV ad is a step in a much better direction, we still prefer the LEGO of 30-some odd years ago, when they didn't separate the girls from the boys... rather, they marketed their iconic bricks to ALL CHILDREN.
PS - The little girl in the 1981 LEGO ad is all grown up and she's got something to say about this too.
Left: Print ad from 1978 - "The feeling of accomplishment children get from building with LEGO Brand Building Sets is something no child should miss."

Right: Print ad from 1981 - "It's a look you'll see whenever children build something all by themselves."

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Eureka! New LEGO TV Ad Shows Girls As Independent Thinkers, Creative Dreamers, Inventive Builders

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While LEGO has continued to hold a steady course on the polarizing seas of genderized toy marketing, its latest TV ad appears to have momentarily - 60 seconds to be exact - steered the brick maker toward Eureka , an island of enlightenment just off the coast of Girls Have Brains , in the province of And Know How To Use Them Too !

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LESSON 2 LEGO OUCH

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Lego Film Advert By Socialab: Building Memories | Ads of the World™

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Film advertisement created by Socialab, Greece for Lego, within the category: Toys.

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The LEGO Movie - Funniest Moments from the animated comedy movie

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Lesson 2 Intermediate Advanced Lego activity

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Lesson 2 Intermediate Advanced Lego activity

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6 legos, baggy/team

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This activity takes Lego building pieces as the point of departure to encourage student conversation and improve precision writing skills. Thanks to John Middlesworth for contributing this lesson plan! If you have any lesson plan favourites that you would like to contribute to the site for other teachers to use please visit this submission page.

Aim: Conversation and Writing Skills

Activity: Descriptive and instruction writing for constructions with the Lego building pieces

Level: Advanced
Outline:

Form the class into groups of three. If possible, have each group sit where they're somewhat isolated from the other groups.

Give each group a small bag with six assorted Lego building pieces in it (assorted in shape and color works best).

Explain that the pieces can be combined to form an object that resembles something in a very abstract way (a person, a bridge, etc.).

The groups are each to decide upon a design, give it a description (a name), and then write down step-by-step instructions for how another group could construct the same design from the six pieces. The actual name for the design (house, car, whatever) the group should keep secret and not make part of their instructions. For instance, they can't write "to form the walls of the house . . . " but they can write "place red green blocks around the edge of the flat green piece . . . ."

Once the groups have finished writing their instructions, they take all the Lego blocks apart and return them to the bag, along with their instructions.

The bag is then given to another group and they are to recreate the design based upon the instructions. That group then completes the exercise by correctly guessing what the initial group intended the design to represent.

Allow 45 minutes to an hour for the entire sequence to be completed. This is a great exercise in writing with clarity and precision.

This activity promotes an enormous amount of discussion within the groups during the instruction-writing phase, and even though only six blocks are used, you should expect the instructions to take around 30 minutes to complete. What can be particular fun in this activity is to take a design that you know was completed incorrectly to the initial group to show them what their instructions produced.

Back to lessons resource page

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Advanced Writing and Conversation with Legos for ESL

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This activity takes Lego building pieces as the point of departure to encourage student conversation and improve precision writing skills. Thanks to John Middlesworth for contributing this lesson plan! If you have any lesson plan favourites that you would like to contribute to the site for other teachers to use please visit this submission page.

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23 ESL Speaking Activities for Adults: Free Their Inner Kids | FluentU English Educator Blog

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ESL activities for adults are a great way to build your students' speaking confidence. Read this guide to find out about 23 great activities, including "Sentence Auction," "Video Dictionary," "Running Dictation," "News Brief" and more. Our complete guide has all the instructions you need to get started!

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The Lego Challenge

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Lego isn't just about fun and games. For team building exercises, working with Lego helps enhance creative and critical thinking skills while giving employees an opportunity to -- at least to some degree -- act like kids again. In fact, development coaches have been using Lego for years in team-building exercises.

Basic Tower Challenge

Divide your group into equal teams of three to five people and give each team the same number and sizes of Lego pieces. Whichever team can build the tallest free-standing structure in a set time period, like 10 or 20 minutes, wins the challenge. The towers must stand on their own for 60 seconds. To make the challenge more entertaining, have them accomplish the task without speaking, or specify that the tower must be built on an inverted object like a coffee cup or water glass.

Tower Challenge With Profit

A variation of the tower challenge, described by development consultant Nick Heap, is to add a profit element into the construction. Each group gets time to plan and then to construct the tower. A dollar value is given to the height of each tower. Planning time costs $3 per minute. Construction time costs $5 per minute. Each block used costs 50 cents. Heap's challenge has each tower worth $3 per centimeter, or roughly $9 per inch, so making a profit is challenging. You can use any dollar value you wish.

Adaptive Projects

Have the teams do building projects that lead to another. For example, you could ask each group to make an animal, like a dog or a fish, from the Legos. When that is complete, have them incorporate the animal in a tower project. After the tower is done, have them transform the tower into a bridge. This presents a new dynamic to the challenge since the teams must adapt their previous project into a new one.

Business-Related Play

In some cases, it may be more worthwhile to have teams work on projects directly related to work situations. For example, one company used a Lego team-building exercise to have employees work on interpretive models describing real-life problems between two departments. Groups of two to four people were given 10 minutes to create three-dimensional "screenshots" representing the problems they faced, which were then used for idea generation and problem-solving activities.

Lego Serious Play Kits

There's no need to limit yourself to the standard Legos available in toy stores. Lego also makes "Serious Play Kits" designed especially for team building. For example, the Lego Serious Play Starter Kit comes with an instruction booklet on basic skill-building with the pieces. Each kit comes with 214 pieces, including wheels, windows, trees, mini figures and globes.

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Team Building Activities With Lego Bricks

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Lego isn't just about fun and games. For team building exercises, working with Lego helps enhance creative and critical thinking skills while giving employees an opportunity to -- at least to some degree -- act like kids again. In fact, development coaches have been using Lego for years in team-building exercises.

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youtube Song with lyrics

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Counting Crows - Big Yellow Taxi with Lyrics

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lyrics only

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"Big Yellow Taxi" is a song written, composed, and originally recorded by Canadian ... The song is known for its environmental concern - "They paved paradise to put up ... There are various slight alterations of the lyrics from different versions.

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what I like and loathe about my

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An illustration depicting a selection of Australian New York Times reader-submitted explanations of what they love and loathe about their country. This was developed into a digital feature, produced by Scott Blumenthal, Antonio De Luca, Agnes Lee, and Umi Syam.