Did you go through hair disasters during your childhood? Whit three older sisters, I sure did!
Anyway, last week-end I seriously felt I needed to do something with my hair, either to structure it and allow it to grow or to cut it short again. So I took matter into my own hands and looked for reviews and best hairdressers in Paris on the web and found a very skilled and nice one for an affordable price. (Do I still need to emphasize that reviews, references and articles on internet are very important?).
I went there confident that I would have a great experience. Indeed, I had a wonderful time and a great haircut. We discussed what where my options and decided on going shorter. I didn't realize though how short we were talking about. Don't get me wrong, the hairstyle does suit my face shape, so it's very positive. Does it fit my personality? Well, it is quite edgy and I think of me rather as a nice but normal style person. So here is my dilemma: I have this super edgy hairstyle so how should I wear it?
I am sure  people see me differently. It is one thing to have short hair and a complete different one to have a "kinda Miley Cyrus" hairstyle!
I am amused because it's bold, it's almost a statement, so I am not really worry about people's judgement.
However as long as we would like to think appearances do not matter, they actually do!
Regarding this topic, did you see lately a video regarding people helping -or not- a man that falls on the ground? If not, it means you haven't been surfing the web for too long!
So here I share one of the many versions for you. All about appearances and judgements.
Manage your brand image and yours as if tomorrow it were to fall and you would want people around to pick it up. 

Today I have started an online course from France Business School about Design Thinking. As a massive open online course (MOOC), it is free and open to everyone but it's in French.
If many people might be familiar with this topic, it is indeed pretty interesting to learn more about it and of course, apply the new knowledge and techniques practically. I am always curious so it should be an interesting experience. (full disclosure: I'm promoted neither the course nor the school; I am merely describing an activity I have just started today).
On the other hand, I am learning Portuguese with Duolingo. It is a free language learning application that I use on my phone, one session per day. To complete the learning process, I watch Youtube videos (I subscribed to a channel I found by browsing the YouTube trending dashboards) from Brazil and movies in Portuguese from time to time. I am still a beginner of course, but, in a year from now, I can picture myself speaking Portuguese!
I don't really know how people feel about online education. I have the sensation that many disregard it as being a "lazy" and/or not viable educational option. Personally, I find it very hard as it requires strong motivation and self discipline and that is why I admire and respect people following massive open online courses.
At the beginning of this year, I read this article on LinkedIn about a woman doing an MBA for less than US$ 1,000 thanks to MOOCs. I find her brilliant and really hope she will rock her professional life.
I am not sure that traditional ways of teaching, once transposed online, will do better to prepare us and/or kids. Still, it is time for us to open up to new learning processes and realize that it is not by sitting on a chair at an educational institution that we will learn more or better. In my opinion, it is the access to the right resources and our motivations that make us learn, improve and grow in any given situation.
Let's keep learning no matter how!

When you are a woman, people assume you will reach an age when you have to get pregnant. Don't you dare saying you don't want children or you will automatically receive negative feedbacks and judgements. Even a taxi driver can give you his opinion and try to convince you to have children, true story. (yes, when it comes to women's reproductive choice everybody is entitled to express their thoughts/opinions on the matter as incredible as it is!) 

So, for those women that don't want children, just say "I am not ready YET" or a simple "I don't want children FOR NOW". The adverbs of time reassure people that their vision is "the norm" and that it's just not the time for you, yet.

Same thing applies for different topics. Well, not really similar, but I needed an introduction that catch your attention!

Last weekend I went to a party and I have to say it was really fun.

Lots of people go to the gym for group sessions: from kick boxing to zumba, you have such an array of choices.
Gyms use very rhythmic songs, some of them you also listen to in clubs. This is actually how the fitness clubbing was born, here you have a youtube promotional video for Denver Fitness Clubbing.

Interesting, isn't it?
It's a simple but efficient idea combining two elements.
So now, what about a Karaoke Fitness Class?
Wouldn't it be cool to dance on Riri or Queen B while singing one after another (not the whole song yourself, it would be too tiring!)  with the promise to have their endurance and physique at the end?
There is already Karaoke yoga and last but not least, the Zing method!
Karaoke fitness might be the next big thing, who knows?

I usually try hard to find an interesting topic, until I realize that it is generally the most simple and day to day things that make great content. Maybe not great content, but short and sweet stories.

So, today, I really wanted to watch Bob Hoffman's speech at the Advertising Week Europe 2014. Bob Hoffman is, quoting from his blog, "The Ad Contrarian. Bob is an author, speaker, and partner in Type A Group, a consultancy to agencies and marketers. Bob is author of "101 Contrarian Ideas About Advertising" which is the #1 selling advertising book on Amazon. Bob is also author of the book "The Ad Contrarian" and "The Ad Contrarian" blog, which was named one of the world's most influential advertising and marketing blogs by Business Insider. In 2012, Bob was selected Ad Person of the Year by the S.F. Advertising Club. Bob was previously chairman/ceo of Hoffman/Lewis advertising, one of the West's largest independent advertising agencies. He was formerly ceo of MOJO USA and president and creative director of Allen & Dorward. Bob has created advertising for McDonald's, Toyota, Shell, Nestle, Chevrolet, Pepsico, Bank of America, AT&T, and more companies than he cares to remember. He has served on the board of the Advertising and Marketing International Network. Bob has also been a middle school science teacher and served as Special Ass't to the Executive Director of the California Academy of Sciences."

Bob is indeed a person you want to listen to, especially when his speech title is The Golden Age of Bullshit. And for the first 10 to 15 minutes I was really into it, and then, I lost interest, not in the topic though, but  in the way it is delivered.

I will definitely give it another shot later and I encourage you to watch it. Still, it is a  good reminder that as interesting as your content is (and Bob will hate that word), if the way of delivering it is not "great", then you can loose your audience.

Watch it, it is an amazing topic and it's good to have contrarian perspectives on the business!

[edited May 27, 2014]
I watch it entirely and again strongly encourage you to do it

Last Sunday was Paris marathon.
This year, the runners were lucky: not too hot, not too cold and no rain. 
I was with Chicagoan friends cheering all the runners, yes, all of them! If you have ever done a marathon (full disclosure, I haven't), you know how a "bravo" or a "you can do it" or simple clapping are important. My marathon runner friends emphasized that the cheering is the little extra making you go on with your race.
Then, it was very surprising to see the spectators not encouraging the runners. One of my friends running the marathon even told me it felt like they were there just to view and judge and the difference with marathons in other cities was huge.
So, what happens with the "French" crowd? 
Are French not cheerleaders at heart? ;)
I assisted to the Chicago marathon last year and it was a great experience to be in a spectator, everybody was encouraging the runners, yelling names, countries, etc...
So, this Sunday, I was confused to see how little cheerful the crowd was. And I can't imagine it's a cultural thing because
I do remember going to see bicycle races when I was little with my father, and all kind of them: male, female, pro, amateurs, the crowds were always motivating and cheering the bikers. And what about the Tour de France? Spectators cheering on cameras, crazy advertising cars throwing goodies, it's all a big "fiesta".
So I'm confused about the 2014 Paris marathon and I want to think that indifferent and boring are just adjectives and feelings people will give to the French spectators only temporarily.
Cheers up!

We all have principles and values. 
We, individually or as a society, tend to judge other people on their values and opinions.
Certain principles make us feel uncomfortable and we might even confront people on them. 
Nevertheless, as the Pilion Trust campaign below shows us, between our principles and our actions, there is a huge gap. Caring for something doesn't mean helping the situation get better.
Plenty of other examples can be mentioned, specially with the environment, so how can we make people care enough to take actions?

When you have different prototypes, you usually want some quick insights on them. Even if you will conduct a thorough market research, you still want opinions, so you ask the first people surrounding you, colleagues, family, friends.
For instance, my brother in law was figuring out which cover to use for a part of a product its company was about to produce.
He then asked me and my sister to be "guinea pigs".
He asked me to feel 3 sticks covered with different materials, we will call them stick A, B and C.
So he first asked me to pick the material I preferred from stick A and B. I was confused because they felt kind of the same, but I did pick A. Then, he introduced stick C and  asked me the same. The touch and feel for me was better with A, smooth and even, so I staid with A.
He then asked my sister what she preferred between B and C, to what she answered "C" with no hesitation, and added "you want a good grip from wheelbarrow handles, and this one feels it won't slip or anything like it".
Interesting, isn't it?
Would I have picked this one as I had known the purpose of the cover - to be on the handle on wheelbarrows? Stick A and B were actually the same, no wonder why I doubted myself!
If your guinea pig don't know what he is testing for and looking for, it's hard to tell what would be the best, but then, sometimes, we need "blind" tests.
Treat answers you get with caution, knowing that sometimes your questions were not given in a good context and the person giving them to you is not your target customer.

It feels good to be right for little or big issues. Right answer at a Trivia night, right spelling at a word game, argument with a member of your family?! Yes, it usually feels good.

However, being right doesn't always mean winning the game. Sometimes, even if you know you are right, you have to let go and say, "my bad", "I'm sorry", "it's a misunderstanding".

It's always important to think ahead and evaluate if being right is worth loosing a customer, a business partner, a colleague or any kind of fruitful relationships you worked hard to establish.

Business relationships are like any other relationships, to make them strong and long lasting, you have to make compromises from time to time. Because, at the end, what' s the point of being right if no one is on your side?