Bringing scientific thinking to life


Book Description

FACING CHALLENGING GOALS AND UNPREDICTABLE PATHS? PRACTICE SCIENTIFIC THINKING! Your team’s ability to learn and adapt is paramount, and scientific thinking is the key to unlocking this invaluable skill. The bad news: It's not our natural default position as adults. The good news: There’s a simple and proven approach to developing it in any organization or team—including yours—called Toyota Kata. Professor Sylvain Landry lays out a straightforward management practice that enables each level of your organization to apply scientific ways of thinking and working, to achieve whatever goals you’re pursuing. “This book is that good!!! I can’t wait to have leaders read it! Sylvain shares his journey with Kata in a way that transported me into it. He brings a clear understanding and a powerful message on how to go about it, in a short and easy-to-read format. I consider this essential reading for anyone looking to start scientific-thinking practice in their organization.” – Tony Hren, Senior Director,Danaher Business System, Danaher Corporation “A practical and easily digestible book on Toyota Kata that’s perfect for our managers and their teams.” – Kasper Bødker Mejlvang, General Manager,Novo Nordisk Denmark & Iceland “If I'd had this book before I got into Kata it would have increased my understanding of how to get started. A great precursor to initial training and practice.” – Andrea Simpson, Senior Operations Director and Process Improvement, NEA Baptist Health System “As a leader of an organization, the challenge of improving is hard to sustain. This MUST-read book highlights how top organizations fuel their journey, and even enjoy the trip, by managers shepherding practice of scientific thinking in their teams.” – Dan Bergeron, President & CEO of SigmaPoint Technologies “A compact book every manager who wants to coach high performance should read. Take it along on your next flight.” – Professor Jeffrey Liker, author of the bestseller The Toyota Way “We develop many thinking habits at work, which makes the workplace the world’s largest classroom and managers its teachers. What skills and mindset are you conveying in your team? Read this book and realize how important your work with your team is.” – Mike Rother, author of the bestselling Learning to See,Toyota Kata and The Toyota Kata Practice Guide




The Toyota Kata Practice Guide: Practicing Scientific Thinking Skills for Superior Results in 20 Minutes a Day


Book Description

Take the Kata path to scientific thinking and superior results! In this long-awaited companion to the groundbreaking book Toyota Kata, Mike Rother takes you to the next level of developing business mindset and capability for the 21st Century. Much more than a list of management concepts, The Toyota Kata Practice Guide walks you through the process of making improvement, adaptation, and even innovation routine behavior. Designed to help a coach (the manager) and a learner work together for developing new skillsets, The Toyota Kata Practice Guide delivers the information, insight, and frameworks you need to: • Form habits that help you solve problems and achieve challenging goals • Modify the thought patterns that drive your behavior • Develop an organizational mindset that drives superior results The Improvement Kata gives learners the means to experiment their way through obstacles and achieve tough goals; the Coaching Kata gives managers the means to accelerate and cement their people's learning. In the new age of business, increasing efficiency and decreasing costs is no longer the end game. A manager’s job today is to develop patterns of thinking and acting in their people that lead to success with any challenge. Consistent, mindful practice is the best way to do it—and The Toyota Kata Practice Guide is the best way to get there.




Biophilic Design


Book Description

"When nature inspires our architecture-not just how it looks but how buildings and communities actually function-we will have made great strides as a society. Biophilic Design provides us with tremendous insight into the 'why,' then builds us a road map for what is sure to be the next great design journey of our times." -Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chairman, U.S. Green Building Council "Having seen firsthand in my company the power of biomimicry to stimulate a wellspring of profitable innovation, I can say unequivocably that biophilic design is the real deal. Kellert, Heerwagen, and Mador have compiled the wisdom of world-renowned experts to produce this exquisite book; it is must reading for scientists, philosophers, engineers, architects and designers, and-most especially-businesspeople. Anyone looking for the key to a new type of prosperity that respects the earth should start here." -Ray C. Anderson, founder and Chair, Interface, Inc. The groundbreaking guide to the emerging practice of biophilic design This book offers a paradigm shift in how we design and build our buildings and our communities, one that recognizes that the positive experience of natural systems and processes in our buildings and constructed landscapes is critical to human health, performance, and well-being. Biophilic design is about humanity's place in nature and the natural world's place in human society, where mutuality, respect, and enriching relationships can and should exist at all levels and should emerge as the norm rather than the exception. Written for architects, landscape architects, planners,developers, environmental designers, as well as building owners, Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science, and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life is a guide to the theory, science, and practice of biophilic design. Twenty-three original and timely essays by world-renowned scientists, designers, and practitioners, including Edward O. Wilson, Howard Frumkin, David Orr, Grant Hildebrand, Stephen Kieran, Tim Beatley, Jonathan Rose, Janine Benyus, Roger Ulrich, Bert Gregory, Robert Berkebile, William Browning, and Vivian Loftness, among others, address: * The basic concepts of biophilia, its expression in the built environment, and how biophilic design connects to human biology, evolution, and development. * The science and benefits of biophilic design on human health, childhood development, healthcare, and more. * The practice of biophilic design-how to implement biophilic design strategies to create buildings that connect people with nature and provide comfortable and productive places for people, in which they can live, work, and study. Biophilic design at any scale-from buildings to cities-begins with a few simple questions: How does the built environment affect the natural environment? How will nature affect human experience and aspiration? Most of all, how can we achieve sustained and reciprocal benefits between the two? This prescient, groundbreaking book provides the answers.




Bringing Science And Mathematics To Life For All Learners


Book Description

Developing a positive attitude towards science and mathematics is essential to developing proficiency in these subjects. Recognizing this, Bringing Science and Mathematics to Life for All Learners provides interesting teaching methods and connects them to recent pedagogical approaches that span the scientific and mathematical curricula. It builds upon the expanding knowledge of what works in classrooms, and suggests how new approaches to teaching and learning can transform science and mathematics instructions.The book is designed to help students in learning science and mathematics. It has many research-based and standards-driven activities, lesson plans, and active learning techniques to reach diverse student groups. Active group engagement and continuity in scientific and mathematical experiences are stressed as motivating factors for students. Presented in a creative manner, the ultimate goal of this book is to deepen the collective conversation, challenge existing ways of thinking, and provide up-to-date tools for educators so that they can help improve the science and mathematics skill levels of others.




Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results


Book Description

"Toyota Kata gets to the essence of how Toyota manages continuous improvement and human ingenuity, through its improvement kata and coaching kata. Mike Rother explains why typical companies fail to understand the core of lean and make limited progress—and what it takes to make it a real part of your culture." —Jeffrey K. Liker, bestselling author of The Toyota Way "[Toyota Kata is] one of the stepping stones that will usher in a new era of management thinking." —The Systems Thinker "How any organization in any industry can progress from old-fashioned management by results to a strikingly different and better way." —James P. Womack, Chairman and Founder, Lean Enterprise Institute "Practicing the improvement kata is perhaps the best way we've found so far for actualizing PDCA in an organization." —John Shook, Chairman and CEO, Lean Enterprise Institute This game-changing book puts you behind the curtain at Toyota, providing new insight into the legendary automaker's management practices and offering practical guidance for leading and developing people in a way that makes the best use of their brainpower. Drawing on six years of research into Toyota's employee-management routines, Toyota Kata examines and elucidates, for the first time, the company's organizational routines--called kata--that power its success with continuous improvement and adaptation. The book also reaches beyond Toyota to explain issues of human behavior in organizations and provide specific answers to questions such as: How can we make improvement and adaptation part of everyday work throughout the organization? How can we develop and utilize the capability of everyone in the organization to repeatedly work toward and achieve new levels of performance? How can we give an organization the power to handle dynamic, unpredictable situations and keep satisfying customers? Mike Rother explains how to improve our prevailing management approach through the use of two kata: Improvement Kata--a repeating routine of establishing challenging target conditions, working step-by-step through obstacles, and always learning from the problems we encounter; and Coaching Kata: a pattern of teaching the improvement kata to employees at every level to ensure it motivates their ways of thinking and acting. With clear detail, an abundance of practical examples, and a cohesive explanation from start to finish, Toyota Kata gives executives and managers at any level actionable routines of thought and behavior that produce superior results and sustained competitive advantage.




Biology! Bringing Science to Life


Book Description

This introductory biology text relates biology to issues students confront in their daily lives - health, environmental and societal - and emphasizes the use of critical thinking skills.




The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth


Book Description

Conniff tells the story of bold adventurers who risked death to discover strange life forms in the farthest corners of planet Earth.




This Will Make You Smarter


Book Description

Featuring a foreword by David Brooks, This Will Make You Smarter presents brilliant—but accessible—ideas to expand every mind. What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit? This is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, posed to the world’s most influential thinkers. Their visionary answers flow from the frontiers of psychology, philosophy, economics, physics, sociology, and more. Surprising and enlightening, these insights will revolutionize the way you think about yourself and the world. Contributors include: Daniel Kahneman on the “focusing illusion” Jonah Lehrer on controlling attention Richard Dawkins on experimentation Aubrey De Grey on conquering our fear of the unknown Martin Seligman on the ingredients of well-being Nicholas Carr on managing “cognitive load” Steven Pinker on win-win negotiating Daniel Goleman on understanding our connection to the natural world Matt Ridley on tapping collective intelligence Lisa Randall on effective theorizing Brian Eno on “ecological vision” J. Craig Venter on the multiple possible origins of life Helen Fisher on temperament Sam Harris on the flow of thought Lawrence Krauss on living with uncertainty




A Public Sector Journey to Operational Excellence


Book Description

Lean management can lead to operational excellence, but toward what end? This book examines the power of linking Lean government operations with purposeful public policy. When Lean process improvement principles and techniques entered the public sector after decades of proven effectiveness in private industry, they brought the same transformative potential. These programs can improve public services, boost employee morale, and free up previously underutilized capacity. The freed capacity can then be applied to accomplish important societal objectives. This book has four parts: Part 1: The Foundation of Continuous Improvement (CI)—The reader is introduced to the field of CI and to Lean principles and techniques as applied to public sector organizations. CI initiatives can improve services, boost employee morale, and free up previously underutilized capacity. This part includes an overview of best practices and strategies for overcoming common challenges. Part 2: Lean Public Policy—Discussion of both purpose and function. Lean practitioners are systems thinkers. Viewing disparate processes as components of a whole, we seek to integrate functions across silos to maximize value, quality, and efficiency. It would be great if public programs could be designed for optimal functionality. If that were the case, then Lean practitioners would simply apply the Plan-Do-Study-Act/Adjust (PDSA) cycle for ongoing improvement. In the real world, policy making tends to be ad-hoc and reactive. This part explores impediments to Leaning existing programs and considers what Lean public policy would look like. Government regulatory functions and health care policy are used as examples. Part 3: Operational Excellence—Pulling policy and administration together by introducing John M. Bernard’s concept of three levels of maturity in government. Part 4: Putting it together—"What to do, how to do it, and who can get it done." A summary and overview of CI methodology and the prerequisites for the implementation of policies that will lead to progress on societal goals. Drawing lessons from practitioners striving for Level 3 maturity in government, the book closes with a series of recommendations.




Mind, Life and Universe


Book Description

Nearly forty of the world's most esteemed scientists discuss the big questions that drive their illustrious careers. Co-editor Eduardo Punset—one of Spain's most loved personages for his popularization of the sciences—interviews an impressive collection of characters drawing out the seldom seen personalities of the world's most important men and woman of science. In Mind, Life and Universe they describe in their own words the most important and fascinating aspects of their research. Frank and often irreverent, these interviews will keep even the most casual reader of science books rapt for hours. Can brain science explain feelings of happiness and despair? Is it true that chimpanzees are just like us when it comes to sexual innuendo? Is there any hard evidence that life exists anywhere other than on the Earth? Through Punset's skillful questioning, readers will meet one scientist who is passionate about the genetic control of everything and another who spends her every waking hour making sure African ecosystems stay intact. The men and women assembled here by Lynn Margulis and Eduardo Punset will provide a source of endless interest. In captivating conversations with such science luminaries as Jane Goodall, James E. Lovelock, Oliver Sachs, and E. O. Wilson, Punset reveals a hidden world of intellectual interests, verve, and humor. Science enthusiasts and general readers alike will devour Mind, Life and Universe, breathless and enchanted by its truths.