To celebrate this I’ve embedded a couple of great presentations below.

This first embed is a short video I originally saw on Robert Scoble’s blog. It’s about a study that found what we thought motivates people at work actually isn’t what motivates people at work (at least for tasks that take cognitive ability):

The second is an internal presentation from Netflix. It’s about their values and culture as a company. It shows a non traditional way of getting the best out of employees:

1) Doing two (or more) things AT THE SAME TIME.

Many people incorrectly identify fast movers as multitaskers, but if you look closely you’ll see they’re not doing two things at once. Instead they’re doing a little bit of a thing, then doing a little bit of another thing, then a little bit of another thing, and then maybe a little bit of the first thing. This is not true multitasking. It’s more like rapid small bite unitasking. When I was walking to work and cutting my fingernails I noticed I was truly multitasking: legs moving while clipper clipping, body getting closer to the office, fingernails getting shorter: at the same time.

2) Get two things done at once: slower.

It took longer to cut my fingernails while walking than had I cut them sitting on my porch. I also had to walk slower than usual in order to not fall on my face. The question about multitasking efficiency is: would I have gotten to work in the same amount of time had I cut my fingernails first then walked? And the answer is… No. Both activities take about five minutes. In sequence both would have taken 10 minutes. Doing them simultaneously took 7 minutes.

3) Quality goes down, but it’s good enough.

I didn’t do as good a job cutting my fingernails while walking, but I got them cut, and they look just fine thank you very much. I also got to the office.

4) The risks are greater.

The likelihood of tripping and falling is greater. The likelihood of snipping a hole in my skin while checking both ways before crossing the street is greater. This time… I succeeded.

5) Requires a larger burst of energy.

Sitting on the porch cutting my fingernails takes X energy. Walking to work takes Y energy. Doing both at once takes X+Y energy. You do the math. There’s also extra energy required to monitor the success of multitasked activities. In my case, I noticed my eyes were getting tired from constantly switching between the ground in front of my feet, other people and large metal objects on the road, and the placement of the clippers on my fingernail.

6) True multitasking takes skill, and wisdom.

Many people multitask because they have little self control and patience. They’ll be doing a thing, then another thing comes along and they can’t contain themself from doing it too. But, they may not even be truly multitasking. They might just be jumping from rapid small bite to rapid small bite. True multitasking can save time, but the risks and quality are matters to take into account. And while in the same amount of time it can accomplish more, it also costs more energy. Uncontrolled multitasking can be risky and yield low quality results. Smart multitasking, with the right variables and in the right context, can save you three minutes on your walk to work.

Lessig (who pioneered Creative Commons content licensing) spoke at the TEDxNYED conference. His talk about fair use, openness, and the roles played by industry and government  (about 20 minutes long) is well worth the time:

We talked about a number of elements including the paradigm shift we’re currently in the middle of, how the fundamental way that knowledge is managed is changing, and how businesses are using social media to maintain customer relationships. And chiefly, we discussed the hurdles our schools are facing when integrating social media into the classroom in an attempt to better prepare students for the “real” world they’re about to enter.

The slides below provide visual support for the discussion. This talk also borrows heavily from Larry’s Lessig’s TED talk “How Creativity is Being Strangled by the Law” (embedded below).

And here’s the TED talk by Larry Lessig:

Here’s a Wordle made from the ASTE 2010 preconference and conference sectional descriptions, the ASTE webpage, and keynote/speaker biographies. [Click to enlarge].