No good metaphors for the brain, yet the brain is a metaphor making machine

May 17th, 2013 — tonymayo   Email This Article Email This Article

 

 

Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. (‘What else could it be?’) I was amused to see that Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought that the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electro-magnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill, and I am told some of the ancient Greeks thought the brain functions like a catapult. At present, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer.

–John R. Searle,
MINDS, BRAINS AND SCIENCE, p 44

 

Published in 1984. I would update Searle with, “At present, obviously, the metaphor is the Internet, the brain as a complex network of adaptive connections.”

Problem is, the brain is not very similar to anything. Comprehension is further hampered by the fact that “the brain” has no clear boundaries. Its behavior requires a body and an external environment. Not to mention the recursive challenge of the brain being the primary tool used to comprehend itself.

 

 

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© Tony Mayo except as otherwise noted
For Executive Coaches.

Real Education

May 9th, 2013 — tonymayo   Email This Article Email This Article



A foundation distinction of executive coaching, from a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace.




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© Tony Mayo except as otherwise noted
For Executive Coaches, For Executives.
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Workplace Passion

October 27th, 2012 — tonymayo   Email This Article Email This Article

Passion is not something you follow. It’s something that will follow you as you put in the hard work to become valuable to the world.
…
The traits that lead people to love their work are general and have little to do with a job’s specifics. These traits include a sense of autonomy and the feeling that you’re good at what you do and are having an impact on the world. Decades of research on workplace motivation back this up. (Daniel Pink’s book Drive offers a nice summary of this literature.)

These traits can be found in many jobs, but they have to be earned. Building valuable skills is hard and takes time. For someone in a new position, the right question is not, “What is this job offering me?” but, instead, “What am I offering this job?”

–Cal Newport, Ph.D.
New York Times
September 30, 2012

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© Tony Mayo except as otherwise noted
For Executive Coaches, For Executives.
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A conversation with executive coaching client Ron Dimon. Part 4

January 17th, 2012 — tonymayo   Email This Article Email This Article

 

 

Click here for Tony Mayo's podcastThis latest podcast is part four of a funny and useful conversation between top executive coach Tony Mayo and his longtime client Ron Dimon. Ron is an expert on the use of information by executives of large organizations. Listen as two experienced business people play with useful ideas in this episode including;

  • Low stress mindset for high performance on a variety of unstructured and unpredictable tasks
  • Meditation & centering for executives
  • Transforming overwhelm into flow
  • Procrastination
  • Creating vs. fixing
    • “Something’s wrong, & it’s me!”

Just click here and either listen through your computer or subscribe through iTunes to have this and all new episodes placed on your device as they become available.

You may also set up an automatic “feed” to non-Apple devices by using this link: click here for other devices.

 

 

See free, easy Meditation Instructions on this blog.

 

 

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© Tony Mayo except as otherwise noted
For Executives, Videos & Podcasts.
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Peace and Acceptance

October 9th, 2011 — tonymayo   Email This Article Email This Article

 

 

 

Living apart and at peace with myself, I came to realize more vividly the meaning of the doctrine of acceptance.
 
To refrain from giving advice, to refrain from meddling in the affairs of others, to refrain, even though the motives be the highest, from tampering with another’s way of life – so simple, yet so difficult for an active spirit.
 
Hands off!
 

– Henry Miller

 

 

 

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© Tony Mayo except as otherwise noted
For Executive Coaches, Quotes and Aphorisms.
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The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

October 4th, 2011 — editor   Email This Article Email This Article

 

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for,
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

 

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,
for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

 

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon.
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or
have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!

 

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own,
without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

 

I want to know if Read the rest of this entry »

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For Executive Coaches, Quotes and Aphorisms, Recommended Books.
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Tony Mayo, Top Executive Coach, is located in Reston, Virginia 20190