Who Am I?

I am Dr. Nancy Bereman, retired after 33 years on the faculty at Wichita State University. I taught courses in Human Resource Management. In retirement, I do a little bit of everything. Writing in this blog is one of them. As my byline reads... Just my random thoughts about life, work, and play. You may contact me at my email address: NancyBereman@gmail.com.


Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Fallingwater

Frank Lloyd Wright is one of my favorite architects and this video illustrates the power of 3D animations. Enjoy! 

 
Fallingwater from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

A Message from a Teacher

It has been awhile since I have posted to this blog.  Frankly I haven't had much that I felt that I wanted to share with the big wide world. But I felt the urge to write about something that I used to do when teaching.  

In starting the topic of selection (selection of employees to be specific), I would start by asking for a volunteer in the class to talk with me... and that I promised not to embarrass them.  Once I got the volunteer (I'll call her Jane), I would begin.

Me:  "Jane, I'd like for you to think of someone that you consider a friend and that you know fairly well.  I'd like for you to pick someone that you are pretty confident that you will see tomorrow. Don't tell us their name, just keep them in your mind."

Jane:  Thinks for a moment, and then says "I've got someone." 

Me:  "Please describe them to us if you would.  What are they like when you see them?  How do they behave?"


Jane:  "He comes in every day with a smile on his face.  He sometimes even whistles.  He gets a cup of coffee and says 'Hi' to everyone and then goes to his cubicle.  He will usually talk with a few of us about the news of the day."  

Me:  "Great job, Jane.  You've painted a picture of him for us.  Now I'd like to paint another picture.  Imagine that tomorrow when you see him, he brushes past you and the others.  He goes directly to his cubicle with no comment to anyone and even ignores someone when they say 'Hello'.  What is your first thought?

Jane:  "I'd say that something is wrong.  Something has happened to him.  Maybe he had a car accident on the way to work.  Maybe his wife asked him for a divorce.  Something has happened for sure."

At this point, I turn to the class as a whole and ask them if they agree with what Jane has said.  They invariably agree and think something has happened.  A very powerful assumption has come into play.  Notice that no one says, well that just happens.  They immediately assume that some outside force has caused his behavior to change.  

This is a very powerful assumption that all of us use every day, and yet we don't always think of it when making decisions.  For instance, have you ever had a friend say, "Well when we get married he will change".  Believe me, he won't.

Sometimes this is called the Principle of Behavior Consistency and has been used to develop a type of interviewing style called Behavior Description Interviewing.  

I'd like to suggest that we use this in the current election style.  What you see and hear is what you will get.  Change will NOT automatically occur when someone takes the mantle of the presidency. 

 

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Musical Genres - Every Noise at Once

If you are like me, sometimes you will hear a reference to a type of music and you think "uh"?  What IS that?  Apparently Glenn McDonald has also wondered that.  I do not claim to understand what he has wrought in his "attempt at an algorithmically-generated, readability-adjusted scatter-plot of the musical genre-space, based on data tracked and analyzed for 1436 genres by Spotify".  

If you have an interest in exploring the different musical genre's, I recommend a journey to Every Noise at Once  .

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Victoria, British Columbia

A number of years ago, Richard and I visited Victoria in British Columbia. One of the most memorable things about that trip was the Ballet performed by the Water Taxis in Victoria Harbour. Recently I came across the video below of the 25th Anniversary Tribute Parade of Sail and Water Ballet. Watch and enjoy! And if you ever make it up there, the Water Ballet takes place on Sunday mornings. 


Friday, January 15, 2016

Cat Herding

Today I came across a video on my Facebook feed that is one of the best humorous videos that I have ever seen.  I would truly LOVE to know how this was filmed.



Cat Herding
"Herding Cats.. Don't let anyone ever tell you it's easy!" - Happy Friday Cat Lovers!
Posted by PocketVet on Thursday, August 27, 2015