#13 - Feeding Frenzy

Feeding Frenzy is a weekly round-up of reading, listening, or watching that is worth your time. These posts will act as a weekly boost of signal above the noise that you can chew on over the week!

Worth Listening

Guys, We Have A Problem: How American Masculinity Creates Lonely Men - Hidden Brain

"It was a very lonely time. I did go to work and I did have interactions at work, and I cherished those," he says. "But you know, at the end of the day it was just me." - Paul Kugelman

This podcast is alarming on multiple levels. But feels par for the course to some degree. While I would say I have a strong social group, as is shown by how many of my friends partake in the podcast. I can see as we age the group getting more fragmented, and with time, the bonds we've share become weaker such is life. In many the case of the podcast, it is not uncommon for men once they go through a divorce their world shrinks. Their wives helped them schedule social events and connect with people. Society has a proclivity to look at older men trying to start a conversation as the "creepy/lonely old guy," which sometimes it is true. In any case, we are social animals; we need to connect, and it doesn't matter what age we are. I've thought about my trajectory at times, and my outside measure, I could be successful in terms of money, career, etc. The one thing that would lack in that scale would be my social circle. It has and still is very easy for me to be solitary. I am trying to develop social skills and communities so that I don't naturally tend to be stuck in my head. Thinking about this problem is one that needs to be tackled both at the community level, but also change the way we think men and boys can express themselves.

While editing this section, I thought of the book I Don't Want To Talk About It by Terrance Real. This book is a fascinating read on how depression is expressed covertly in men and due to inter-generational trauma. If you are a parent or interested in learning about different models, it well worth the read.

Worth Reading

Eric Fretz, Ph.D., Makes a case for old-fashioned pen and paper note-taking

"I tell them how much more poorly they'll do in the class if they're multitasking, which I refer to as 'continuous partial attention,'" - Eric Fretz

Dr. Fretz makes the case against multi-tasking, but as within in most learning environments allowing the student to experiment with a system that works best for them. If you're interested in learning more about Dr. Fretz and how he connects to students, listen to our conservation here.

Why Reverse Mentoring Works and How to Do It Right

As Estée Lauder's CEO, Fabrizio Freda, noted, the company "had come to a place where the future could not be informed by the past" and therefore decided to implement a reverse mentoring program.

I hadn't been exposed to the idea of reverse mentoring before. This idea has more worth exploring in this space, allowing both the previous generation and the next to gain valuable experience within their own viewpoints. In many situations, we have entered territory those before we have never been. For someone who has had a thirty-year career has seen massive shifts in their world. Even in my short view, I've grown up alongside much of the technology that infuses my life. For me, its second nature to use them, but for the next generation, it will be ubiquitous, meaning they will not know what it was like before them. This is a huge mindset change, not only the future of business but society as well.

Worth Watching

I Was the Fastest Girl in America, Until I Joined Nike | NYT Opinion

The dark side of elite sport is something that I've become more and interested in the past year. Much of us "normals" idealize the people who can push their boundaries who are attempting something that many of us only dream of. We look at what they are doing and say it must be nice to be them because they are doing something they love. But we forget there are costs of pushing the edge. Many times that cost invisible meaning psychological. We are at an intersection where reevaluating the needs of athletes so that recovery is a foundational aspect. So that athletes are not contorting themselves physically and mentally so they can still function without burning out from the pressure.

In general, I push this idea of physical and mental recovery to everyone. I’ve spoken about a high level outline of what daily recovery means.

Worth Pondering

"The written word is far more powerful than simply a reminder: it recreates the past in the present, and gives us, not the familiar remembered thing, but the glittering intensity of the summoned -up hallucination." - Northrop Frye from Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman Pg 12 -13

This week is a wrap and plenty to chew over for this week! Feel free to let us know any thoughts and suggestions that may contribute to these posts. It may pop-up on Feeding Frenzy or develop into a full-fledged post of its own.

Stay curious, and have a great week!

Previous Feeding Frenzies: #1, #2 , #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12