Back in the halcyon days of February, when healing America seemed like a figure of speech and indoor gatherings of more than two maskless people werent considered a biohazard, Wendy Davis addressed a 75-person crowd in the clubhouse of a gated community outside San Antonio. It was the third event in as many days for Davis, who was two weeks away from winning the Democratic primary to represent Texass Twenty-First Congressional District, a curiously drawn slice of the state that includes downtown Austin, the suburban sprawl of San Antonio, and a rural stretch of Hill Country. Davis delivered her standard stump speecha tight, policy-driven monologue that features the story of how she, a teen mom living in a trailer park, managed to make it to Harvard Law School, thanks to hard work, Pell Grants, and a Planned Parenthood around the cornerbefore fanning out to a case for stitching up the holes in todays social safety net. (Daviss granddaughters dont have the same opportunities she did, she said; we owe it to them to change that.) Afterward, a woman in her late 50s with a sensible brown bob and a faint twang pulled the candidate aside. I got an abortion, and I tell my Sunday-school class about it, the woman began, her voice cracking. I just dont believe in backing down. You just dont back down.

Davis nodded sympatheticallyshe gets this a lot. In 2013, Davis went from Texas state senator to feminist folk hero when she filibustered a bill to effectively close all but five abortion clinics in the state. Lean In feminism was sweeping the nation, and Sheryl Sandberg couldnt have asked for a better standard-bearer for her gospel of sharp-elbowed female empowerment. To avoid giving her (male) Republican opponents even the flimsiest reason to disqualify her, Davis followed Senate rules to the point of absurdityrefraining from sitting, eating, drinking, or using the bathroom (there was a catheter ) for 11 straight hours. The gladiatorial aspect of it all, plus the fact that Davis had done it in a pair of Mizuno sneakers that were an unapologetically girly shade of pink, captured the attention of tens of thousands on a livestream, among them President Barack Obama. When details of her biography surfaced the next day, Daviss cult status grew. Women sent macram uteruses to her office to express their gratitude. She was featured in the September issue of Vogue. Though her effort to kill the bill ultimately failed, she traveled throughout Texas on a Planned Parenthood bus, disembarking to choruses of young women chanting: Wendy! Wendy! Wendy!

A few months later, when she announced that she was running for governor, Davis wasnt expected to win, but that someone with her buzz was even seeking the office gave Democrats new hope for loosening the decades-long red chokehold on the state. Her campaign raised $40 million. Then what started as an exciting underdog effort became something like a disaster, paved with muddled messaging, accusations that shed embellished her origin story (she didnt live in the trailer for that long), and her campaigns release of a tasteless attack ad suggesting that her opponent, Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair, was a hypocrite for blocking disability-discrimination lawsuits as state attorney general. Davis suffered an embarrassing 20-point lossthe widest margin for a governors race the state had seen in almost two decadesand by the end of her campaign, her net favorability rating had cratered to negative 4. Apparently, most Texas voters didnt like her.

The arc of any good political story, of course, includes a comeback. When Davis announced that she was running for U.S. Congress in July 2019, Texas 21 wasnt especially high on anyones list of seats expected to flipthe district has been represented by a Republican since the 1970s. But she had a path to victory, albeit a narrow one. In recent years, the Twenty-First has experienced an explosion in population growth, with recent transplants skewing young, educated, and suburbana demographic that famously continues to drift to the left. It was an advantage compounded by the fact that the incumbent, Chip Roy, the former chief of staff to Senator Ted Cruz, is such a staunch far-right ideologue that he once blocked the passage of a disaster-relief bill that would have benefited Texas because it didnt contain sufficient funds for building President Donald Trumps border wall. In 2018, Roy topped the Democratic businessman running against him by only 2.6 percentage points.

Then came a national crisis that upended assumptions about likely winners and losers. In March 2020, almost every aspect of life became a campaign issue, even campaigning itself. In the ensuing five months, Davis held just a single in-person campaign event (outdoors, in a mask), while Roywho likened stay-at-home orders to laws in Nazi Germanyspoke with constituents in crowded restaurants and attended a large, lavish outdoor GOP fundraising gala that was investigated by the Travis County fire marshal for violating the governors COVID-19 protocols. The more daylight that shined between the candidates approach to the pandemic, the more the odds seemed to tilt in Daviss favor. (That the same dynamic was playing out on the national stage didnt hurt.) In July, following a surge of coronavirus cases in Texas, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report bumped up Daviss chances of winning, changing the Twenty-Firsts ranking from Lean R to Toss-Up. And in early September, after Obama endorsed Davis, her campaign disclosed the results of a poll it had conducted that showed the two candidates in a virtual tie. During an Instagram Live event with the actor Connie Britton, Davis appeared downright giddy about her chances of winning, letting out a Dont make a liar out of me! She was kidding, but there was also sincere trepidation in her voice. Davis, perhaps more than anyone, knows the dangers of getting swept up in the hype, and the heartbreak of assuming that this will be the year Texas turns blue.

Given that Davis staged what was essentially an 11-hour performance piece on the floor of the state Senate in 2013, you might expect her to be theatrical in persona wild gesticulator, or a master of dramatic pacing. You would be wrong. The 57-year-old lawyer has a regal mien that recalls a not-evil Claire Underwood (incidentally, a character who, like Davis, is a native Texan who lost her accent along the way). Daviss diction is ivory tower and her framing cerebral, even in the personal story she tells of discovering Planned Parenthood at 19, after giving birth to her first child, Amber: They made it possible for me to take control of my reproductive destiny, and that made it possible for me to take control of my economic opportunity. So I understand very deeply why that matters so much.

Two days before the stop in San Antonio in February, Davis attended an event at the Kerr County Democratic Party headquarters, in Kerrville. Kerrville is among the reddest parts of the district, so much so that six months later, Chip Roy would share a maskless fist bump with the towns former mayor, later shrugging off his behavior to a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman: When in Rome. The mostly white Boomers who came out for Davis were the areas committed Democratic minorityone man wore a MAGA-style hat that said Make Orwell Fiction Again. Most of their questions were about Daviss efforts to expand the electoratethis group loved her, but they couldnt see her convincing many more people from their demographic to vote for her. (Do you speak Spanish? one woman asked the candidate. Working on it, she replied.) Toward the end, a guy in the back about 30 years younger than nearly everyone else, with a smartwatch, a hipster haircut, and skinny jeans, raised his hand: Where did Davis stand on the Green New Deal?

Im for drafting the most aggressive billDavis pausedthat will pass in the Senate.

The question touched a nerve. Her thencampaign manager later told me that she thought the guy might have been a plant from a far left interest group. The campaign was almost certainly wary of a third-party candidate playing spoiler, as has happened in tight races elsewhere. Indeed, when a Green Party candidate threw his hat in the ring in April, Daviss campaign sued to keep him off the ballot because he hadnt paid the required filing fees. (She ultimately lost.)

Davis is not at all shy about being a moderate. In fact, she wants to lay claim to that designation, though she prefers the term mainstream. While health care is the centerpiece of her campaignand she will say approximately a billion times, to me, on Twitter, on the trail, presumably in her sleep, that Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people in the countryher solution is not Medicare for All. Rather, she prefers a competitive public option and expanding Medicare and Medicaid. Making sure every person in America has health care is a bold idea, she told me in February.. It doesnt mean were small thinkers if we dont think Medicare for All tomorrow is the correct path, right?

Her record is definitely on the mainstream side. The first political office she held was as a member of the Fort Worth city council, which didnt have party affiliations. During her time as a council member and later as a state senator, she championed a variety of causes, including commercial development in Fort Worth, protections against predatory lending, and regulation ofrather than a ban onthe nascent and booming fracking industry. (Davis even voted in several GOP primaries in the 1990s and, according to public records, donated to George W. Bush just before he announced his first presidential campaign.)

The problem is, as much as Davis and her campaign operatives believe mainstream is the way to go in a district that is purplish at best, and in a race where her opponent has given her the Trumpian nickname Extreme Wendy, the progressive faction of her party has more energy and influence than it has had in decades. She alienates the skinny-jeans set at her peril.

Its a strange spot for Davis to be in. Once described by former Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards as someone who makes people believe anything was possible, Davis now cant take for granted the support of her partys left flank. Shes been lapped by the new generation of progressive stars, with their full-throated denunciations of capitalism and inequality, of structural racism and sexism. Daviss challenge is one faced by Democrats across the country hoping to capture traditionally Republican seats: how to keep progressives happy enough to pull the lever and woo members of the opposite party to do the same.

Davis blames her poor showing against Greg Abbott on being overly message-managed. If, for instance, she had attempted to talk about the importance of gun controlsomething she has done often in her current racemy team would have told me I lost my freaking mind, Davis told me, beginning to sound almost wistful.For me, that race felt so big and so hard. I didnt trust myself as much as I had in other races.

Bob Stein, a political-science professor at Rice University, is less existential in his assessment. Lets just get honest here. She wasnt what Id call a great candidate, he told me. He thinks Davis miscalculated how much identity politics would motivate female voters, especially on the abortion issue. She felt there were white Republican women who were offended that white males wanted to tell them what to do with their reproductive rights, and there werent. Davis has been much more circumspect about the issue this time around. At the start of the pandemic, when the state halted abortions on the grounds that they were a non-essential medical procedure, Davis tweeted about the topic only a handful of times, using relatively measured language. This makes absolutely zero sense and makes women more vulnerable, not less so, she said in one tweet.

In late September, when Senator Bernie Sanders hosted a virtual town hall, cheekily titled As Goes Texas, So Goes America, with various Texas Democratsincluding Julie Oliver, running a tight race in the neighboring Twenty-Fifth, and Jos Garza, vying for district attorney in Travis County, which overlaps with the Twenty-FirstDavis was conspicuously absent. Less polarizing special guests like Julin Castro and Beto ORourke werent enough of a counterbalance, it seemed, for Davis to risk being perceived as even socialist-curious. (When I asked her about her decision not to participate, Davis claimed ignorance. I certainly dont remember making a decision not to attend it, she said. I may not even have known about it, and thats probably the case.)

On the drive back to Austin from Kerrville in the winter, along a stretch of Highway 290 dotted with peach stands and personal-injury lawyers billboards, Davis explained where she sees herself in the landscape of Democratic talent. It would not be AOC. It would be Amy Klobuchar, she said decisively. It would be the person who goes in, puts her head down, and just works with people quietly and gets it done, you know? And thats not to take away from AOC, because I know that shes working hard on the things that really matter to her, but thats just not me.

The irony is, despite Daviss efforts to distance herself from the younger progressives, theyve helped provoke changes in attitude that are making her life easier, especially with regard to feminism. For one thing, there is much more recognition now that concepts such as likability are polluted by gender stereotypesand Daviss likability, recall, was underwater by the end of the governors race. A major cause of Texans disenchantment with Davis was media reports that she had fudged parts of her biography: She only lived in the trailer for a few months, which critics deemed not long enough to mention at all. Most damning, though, was the revelation that her then-husband had paid her law-school tuition and cared for their two children in Fort Worth while she was studying at Harvardprompting Ann Coulter to call Davis a gold-digger who found a sugar daddy. As proof that beliefs have evolved, look no further than what happened in March 2019, when Daviss fellow Texan, Beto ORourke, made a passing reference while he was running for president to his wife assuming most of the parenting duties. That he seemed to take this arrangement for granted, without so much as an Im so lucky, incited a barrage of accusations of male privilege. (He later apologized.)

Beto-for-President seems like ancient history. So much has happened in the past year and a half, and those events are still reverberating in the contest between Davis and Roy. Even as Trumps poll numbers have fallen in Texas, Roy has not stopped praising the presidents handling of the outbreak or trafficking in conspiracy theories, such as speculation that Democrats will experience a magic awakening after the election and their fears about the coronavirus will vanish. (Roy did complain, however, that his comments about Nazi Germany were taken out of context, explaining that he was referring only to a specific policy in Maine related to travel restrictions.) Meanwhile, Daviss campaign has pronounced Roy the nations top coronavirus skeptic and a danger to Texas families. Im observing my opponent going on CNN and telling the interviewer that everythings just fine in Texas on the day that we actually had the highest number of deaths in our state that wed had to that point, Davis told me when we spoke in August.

The contrast between the two candidates responses to police brutality against Black people isnt quite as sharp. After George Floyds killing in May, Davis slammed the presidents response, tweeting, True leaders mourn with the families who have lost loved ones, and she held a virtual town hall on the topic of racial justice and trans rights on June 11. But the next month, after a protester was fatally shot in downtown Austin and the national call for defunding the police reached a peak, she lowered the temperature of her rhetoric, tweeting: The incident last night in Austin at the Black Lives Matter protest was horrific. As we await more info, let us reaffirm that the right to peaceful protest is sacred in America. No doubt, Davis, who supports reforms such as banning chokeholds but has stopped short of anything more radical, is aware of just how badly defunding the police plays with the suburban voters shes trying to get. This is not lost on Roy, either. He took a staunch law-and-order tack amid the tear-gas standoffs between protesters and police that rocked Austin and San Antonio over the summer. And in September, after NBA players boycotted a handful of games to protest police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin, he appeared on the floor of the House with a framed jersey emblazoned with a 43: the number of on-duty law-enforcement officers killed so far this year, he said. Where is the NBA on this issue? Roy demanded.

One of Daviss favorite pieces of political trivia is about how Ann Richards, Ceciles mother and the patron saint of female politicians in Texas, won her 1990 bid for governor. The prevailing lore is that Richardss opponent, Clayton Williams, immolated a winning campaign with a single bizarre joke about rape (comparing it to bad weather, he said, If its inevitable, just relax and enjoy it).

But it wasnt the rape joke that did it, Davis told me, offering a slightly more nuanced account. Williams actually blew it at a public event right before the election, when Richards extended her hand to him, and he refused to shake it. Had that happened on any other daytwo days prior, or three days latershe probably wouldnt have won, Davis said excitedly. It was perfect timing. Its a lesson about just how swiftly circumstances can change in a campaign. Its also about how, if youre patient as a candidate, you just might get an openinga once-in-a-century pandemic, sayto show voters what youre really all about.

Read the original here:

The Woman With the Pink Tennis Shoes Is Walking a Fine Line - The Atlantic

"Like I mentioned before, self-awareness is very important."

ODESSA, Texas (Big 2/Fox 24) Breast oncologist, Mary Grace Bridges, says staying one step ahead is key, especially for a disease where early-detection is fighting half the battle.

Like I mentioned before, self-awareness is very important, explained Bridges, If a woman ignores like a breast lump, doesnt get their annual screening mammograms, it can become metastatic and spread to the rest of the body. So thats the danger, not detecting it early.

With innovative treatments and early screening, many women are now beating the odds. But this means, keeping up with annual mammograms for women over 40. If you have family members who were diagnosed with the disease before the age of 50, you should start getting tested earlier.

Theres a lot of resources out there for women who think they cant afford it, said Bridges. It doesnt take very long. Id say at the most about 30 minutes?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 240,000 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Of them, about 40,000 will die from the disease.

Being overweight, smoking, alcohol any exposure to hormones that can increase a womans risk. Eating healthy, exercising regularly, avoiding alcohol and not smoking those are really the things that can, have been proven to, decrease those risks.

Bridges advises all women and men to be familiar with the appearance of their breasts and to monitor any changes.

Be aware if theres any changes to the skin or appearance of the nipples, or if they start having any abnormal discharge.

Bridges says most insurances cover the cost of mammograms, but many hospitals and clinics also offer discounts during the month of October. Whatever your reasoning may be to forgo a screening, Bridges says the benefit of getting one will always outweigh the risks.

SAN DIEGO (AP) Court-appointed lawyers said Tuesday that they have been unable to find parents of 545 children who were separated at the U.S. border with Mexico early in the Trump administration.

The children were separated between July 1, 2017, and June 26, 2018, when a federal judge in San Diego ordered that children in government custody be reunited with their parents.

Read the Full Article

WASHINGTON (AP) The United States and Russia inched closer Tuesday to a deal to extend their last remaining arms control pact, after U.S. threats to allow the deal to expire early next year.

The two sides signaled they are ready to accept compromises to salvage the New START treaty just two weeks ahead of the U.S. presidential election in which President Donald Trump faces a strong challenge from former Vice President Joe Biden, whose campaign has accused Trump of being soft on Russia.

Read the Full Article

DALLAS (NewsNation Now) With coronavirus vaccines in the works, the big question is: when will Americans have access to one?

This week, several states announced their plans for distribution once a vaccine has been verified. While so much is left to be figured out, the general consensus is that there will be an order, and front line health care workers are up first.

Read the Full Article

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Breast oncologist breaks down myths, prevention and tell-tale signs - FOX40

Paul Bradbury | OJO Images | Getty Images

As more Americans push for diversity, equality and inclusion in the world around them, financial advisors are finding ways to adapt.

The Black Lives Matter movement and nationwide protests have changed the dynamic, yet many financial firms are still dominated by White males. In 2019, 77.7% of those who worked in the management, business and financial operations occupations were White, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Yet to adapt, financial advisors need to do more than just checking off a box by hiring a person of color and then calling it a day, experts told CNBC's Sharon Epperson on Tuesday during the CNBC Financial Advisor Summit, a day-long roundtable for financial advisors.

They'll have to rethink their strategies and find ways to attract and sustain diverse new talent and clientele.

"If you are really interested in reaching a certain segment, it needs to be authentic," said certified financial planner Lazetta Rainey Braxton, co-founder and co-CEO of New York-based advisory firm 2050 Wealth Partners.

More from FA 100:CNBC ranks the top-rated financial advisory firms of 2020Stock market is 'OK,' right now, says top advisorAdvisors use tech to helps clients adjust to new environment

"It needs to be in your messaging. It needs to be in all your materials."

You also have to make sure your internal culture is ready for a different population. She suggests conducting a cultural audit of the firm. Look at your demographic balance, and put it all in one document.

Then, survey your workers to find out about the culture. Ask questions about whether they feel if they belong and how comfortable they are voicing contrary opinion, said Braxton, a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council.

You should also try to become aware of any unconscious biases you may have. Make a decision that it is an area you want to improve, said Winnie Sun, director and founding partner of Irvine, California-based Sun Group Wealth Partners

"Have that self awareness," said Sun, whose firm has a very diverse client base.

To attract diverse clients, take to social media, Sun suggests.

You can also look for referrals from current clients, said CFP Louis Barajas, CEO of Newport Beach, California-based MGO Wealth Advisors.

"Always be vulnerable and say you need help," he said. "There is nothing better than getting a referral."

When it comes to hiring new team members, Sun tries to do her best in terms of attracting someone from a different background.

"It means being very strategic and very mindful of this," Sun said. "It is OK to take a chance on someone who doesn't look like you.

"You have to find the similar value system."

Our industry has to change and unfortunately, in my opinion, a lot of cleaning house needs to take place.

Winnie Sun

director and founding partner of Sun Group Wealth Partners

To find new talent, you can look to becoming part of the community of advisors. For instance, you don't have to be Black to become a member of the Association of African American Financial Advisors, said Braxton, chair of the organization's board.

Also, be sure to give people you hire a chance to move up the ladder, otherwise they won't stick around.

"You have to give them the opportunity and the expectations what it takes to get to every level," said Barajas.

All three financial advisors struck out on their own after feeling their voices were not heard at their respective firms.

They believe there is still a lot of work to be done in the industry.

"What we see is a lot of succession planning still happening," Braxton said. "They are still grooming people that look like them.

"You have to take a chance, you have to expand your pool."

If they don't, other firms will be innovative and scoop up the talent being left behind, she added.

Sun concurred, noting that many firms still look one-dimensional.

"Our industry has to change and unfortunately, in my opinion, a lot of cleaning house needs to take place," Sun said.

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Why embracing diversity, equity and inclusion matters to financial advisor firms - CNBC

Crows, rooks, and ravens, a family of birds known as corvids, are pretty dang smart. In some ways, there are crows as smart as first graders.

In 2014, a famous ornithological accomplishment saw New Caledonian crows, who as outlined in Jennifer Ackermans brilliant work The Genius of Birds, are possibly the smartest of their race, and capable of passing newly acquired knowledge down to immediate offspring, completing the Aesops Fable challenge.

This famous test of intelligence and problem solvingwhich no animal had ever solved before, saw the crows drop stones into a water-filled tube in order to raise a floating platform of food high enough so that they could reach it.

More recently though, carrion crows have demonstrated that they can subjectively experience, process, and report on tasks or phenomena they have completed or seen.

RELATED: New Bird Song That Went Viral Across This Species of Sparrow Was Tracked by Scientists For the First Time

This type of behavior is associated with the cerebral cortex, a region of the brain which not all animals possess, including birds, and suggests, according to the scientists, not only empirical evidence of consciousness in birds, but that consciousness as we would understand it can arise from different configurations of the brain organ as a whole; potentially changing the understanding of animal intelligence and neurology.

Though the theory of what designs enable consciousness has moved on substantially from Descartes famous cogito ergo sum during the 1600s, the Latin phrase which translates to I think therefore I am, can be used to describe the recently reported performance of crows during a visual detection test.

Two crows, Ozzy and Glen, at the University of Tbingen in Germany were trained to peck at a red or blue target after they saw a light flash. Andreas Nieder, the scientist administering the test, then did something very difficult for even young children to grasp: he began changing the rules.

When at first the objective was to peck the red panel when a flash was detected, Nieder changed it to blue, which the crows picked up on and followed before Nieder changed it back to red. Furthermore, he would change the ruleafter the flash had already occurred or hadnt occurred,giving the birds a few seconds to review what they knew about the task and make the correct corresponding choice.

This meant that they not only attached a phenomenon to a physical motion, but were able to review that in their head, and apply the same (could you say logic, or inference?) to the task again to continue pecking the correct panel.

CHECK OUT: Heres How Thousands of Birds Are Being Saved From Flying into Toronto Buildings

These results suggest that the neural foundations that allow sensory consciousness arose either before the emergence of mammals or independently in at least the avian lineage and do not necessarily require a cerebral cortex, wrote Nieder et al. in their corresponding paper published inScience.

During the task hundreds of neurons were lighting up on monitors which tracked the activity of cells in the brain when the crows were acting on the flash, but when a light didnt go off, the neurons remained silent, i.e. no, I didnt see it.

The brilliant work of Glen, Ozzy, and Nieder was reported on by STATnews, who talked with Nieder about the study.

I think it demonstrates convincingly that crows and probably other advanced birds have sensory awareness, in the sense that they have specific subjective experiences that they can communicate, he said. Besides crows, this kind of neurobiological evidence for sensory consciousness only exists in humans and macaque monkeys.

Indeed crow brains can contain 1.5 billion neuronsas many as some monkeys.

MORE:This Hacker Built a Vending Machine for Crows as an Ingenious Response to a Cocktail Party Argument

With the possibility of crows, and perhaps other animals outside the mammalian order having complex if differently formed brains, it could change the way humans view our earthly neighbors and perhaps replicate the respect we have for monkeys and apes in other creatures.

Share This Fascinating Finding With Your Friends on Social Media

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New Research Shows Why Crows Are So Intelligent and Even Self-AwareJust Like Us - Good News Network

The importance of working together

Humble leaders are more effectiveand have better relationships with those they manage.Yet being humble and being a leader- can seem like oxymorons; leaders are expected to be dominant, charismatic visionaries, and that role appears to be the opposite of stopping to write letters to employees parents to thank them for the gift of their children, the action that Indra Nooyi took when she became CEO of PepsiCo in 2006.Yet during Nooyis twelve years ofleadership, PepsiCo experienced an 80 percent growth in sales.

As Jim Collins taught us two decades ago, great leaders embody both humility and drive.Humility allows them to focus on competing for market share, not competing with their workers for status. And humility may also be important for political leadership: Carly Fiorina explained that she is voting for Joe Biden and believes that he is a strongerleader because he hasdemonstrated humility, empathy,the willingness to collaboratewith others.

It turns out that humility can be learned, according to Marilyn Gist, an author, speaker, and educator.She defines humility as a tendency to feel and display deep regard for others dignity to recognize that every person has and needs a sense of self-worth. All it takes is reasonable self-awareness and an interest in learning, explains Gist, in her just-published book, The Extraordinary Power of Leader Humility.

With those building blocks of self-awareness and interest in growth, leaders can develop shared vision, accountability, and responsibility throughout their organizations.As Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Boeing and Ford, notes in the books forward, leaders with humility can promote inclusion, participation, commitment, innovation, safety, excitement, discipline, caring, adaptability, and continuous improvement and thats just the start.

In an interview, Gist suggested that there are six pillars for humility:a balanced ego, integrity, a compelling vision, ethical strategies, generous inclusion, and a developmental focus. She stresses that while humility does not involve arrogance, it does require being strong and confident. Leaders who lack humility focus on dominating other people and create toxic environments, while leaders who have humility focus on working together to create a better product.

To check on the status of your own humility, Gist provides a set of questions so that readers can evaluate themselves.See how you rate on the following list:

Do I talk about myself too much?

Am I known for doing the right thing?

Do I include people in conversations and meetings about issues when it really matters to them?

Do I dominate conversations, cutting others off?

Have I shared a clear and compelling vision for our work that shows how it supports the greater good?

Am I true to my word?

Do I openly express genuine concern to all stakeholders?

Do I listen?Am I open to ideas that are not my own?

Do I demonstrate concern for others long-term interests?

Do I interact with everyone in respectful ways?

Depending on your responses and how much you want to change there are tools for developing humility, including learning how to support others and ensuring integrity.

The ability to learn how to be humble may not be the real problem, however,according to a forthcoming paper.The problem may, instead, be that organizations do not select for humble leaders, but usecompetitive tournaments to select for corporate executives promising immediate results, explains UMKC School of Law Professor Nancy Levit.Since leaders with humility are better for their workers and their communities, we need more of them, and we need to create cultures that encourage their characteristics.

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How Leaders Can Learn To Be Humble And More Effective - Forbes

October 20, 2020 5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Why has emotional intelligence(EI) been a buzzword since the 1990s? Well, it can lead to a healthier, happierand more fulfilling life. Professionally, it can make improve your performance and productivity. But, how can you build an emotionally intelligent team?

I recommend checking off the following items.

Lets paint a picture here. You always wanted to be your own boss. Specifically, you wanted to be a gym owner. However, youve never obtained any sort of fitness certification even worse, you arent in peak physical condition. If you put yourself in someone elses shoes, why would they come to you? It just sounds like this would be a waste of time and money.

The same idea is true when it comes to EI. If you havent improved your own emotional intelligence, then how are you going to increase it among your team members?

If youre new to this, I would strongly suggest that you first dispel common myths regarding EI. Examples would be that its only about empathy and self-awareness. While both are important, EI is more complex than that. In fact, EI encourages behavioral changes that can influence everything from our decision-making to physical well-being.

From there, you can boost your EIand become a better leaderby:

Related: Use These 7 Emotional Intelligence Tips to Be a Better Leader

If you feel you don't have the chance toidentify your team'sstrengths and weaknesses, or allowyour team to voice their individual concerns, make sure youprioritize time with each individual team member. That may seem like a daunting undertaking. But, its possible if you block out time in your schedule for one-on-ones. During breaks, you could walk around and check-in with them. Or, invite them to have lunch with you.

You can also understand your team better by engaging in team-building activities, issuing surveysor having them create work-style tables.

Related: Creating a Business Culture That Values People

Stress, as you should know, can seriously put your health and well-being in jeopardy. Whats more, it can also damage relationships. Just recall any time that youve been stressed out and have been short or crude with a family member or colleague.

In short, you want to decrease stress levels among you and your team. One suggestion would be to partake in healthy outlets. Examples would be physical activity, meditation, journaling, or having a vent session.

You can also recommend tactics like:

Your mileage may vary here. But, in my opinion, this typically means fostering a positive work environment and encouraging social responsibility. When you do, youll be able to improve everyones well-being, forge stronger bonds, and improve your community.

In a Calendar article, Angela Ruth writes that this can be done via strategies like tapping internal networks like Slack or paying it forward.

Establish team norms

In Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups, Vanessa Urch Druskat and Steven B. Wolff state that in order to build an emotionally intelligent team there needs to be three conditions. These include trust among members, a sense of group identity, and a sense of group efficacy.

One effective way to meet these circumstances is by having rules in place that reflect your teams values. They should also make everyone feel valued.

Group emotional intelligence is about small acts that make a big difference, writeDruskat and Wolff. It is not about a team member working all night to meet a deadline; it is about saying thank you for doing so.

Related: Why You Need Diversity on Your Team, and 8 Ways to Build It

Despite the research, this is an area where businesses are still struggling, and thats a real shame.

One study from Erasmus University, Rotterdam found that diverse teams were more willing to learn than their homogeneous counterparts. Moreover, diverse companies are more innovative and creative. As a result, this can retain talent, fortify relationships, and even boost profits.

How can you construct a more diverse team? Well, recruiting and hiring the right people is an excellent starting point. For instance, you could use third-party websites and online job boards to cast a wider net. Additionally, you could take Harvards Implicit Association Test (IAT) to eliminate any unconscious bias.

From there, be willing to celebrate employee differences, and always stop to actually listen to what your team is saying.

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5 Strategies You Can Use to Build an Emotionally Intelligent Team - Entrepreneur

It can be tempting to look at the economic history of the last two decades and derive a certain lesson. That lesson being: The millennial generation is screwed. The Washington Post even tagged millennials as the "unluckiest generation in history."

It's understandable why the punditocracy would think this. Born between 1981 and 1996, millennials exited school and entered work right into the Great Recession. The recession forced many millennials to postpone financial milestones such as marriage, buying a home, retirement savings, or even reliable employment. That global setback quietly became a generational one. While the baby boomers and GenXers recovered their lost wealth relatively quickly, millennials couldn't and became the first generation with a standard of living lower than their parents'.

A decade later, millennials face the pandemic shutdown. Although we can't say with certainty how the pandemic will affect us in the long-term, early forecasts suggest millennials will again take the brunt. Pew Research Center data, for example, suggest that about a third of millennial-aged homes have had someone in the household lose a job, while Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data forecast millennials suffering longer stretches of joblessness.

"Millennials are in a fundamentally different economic place than previous generations," Reid Cramer, director of the Millennials Initiative at New America, wrote in "The Emerging Millennial Wealth Gap. "Relatively flat but volatile incomes, low savings and asset holdings, and higher consumer and student debt have weakened their finances. The Millennial balance sheet is in poor shape."

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How music therapy benefits the autistic brain - Big Think

Higher education institutions frequently offer mentored research experiences to increase undergraduate student interest, motivation and preparedness for research careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematic and Medicine (STEMM) fields.

However, for participating students from historically underrepresented groups, unaddressed cultural factors may hinder engagement and result in a less effective mentoring relationship.

Two recent studies led by University of WisconsinMadison researchers demonstrate the different ways mentors and mentees understand and experience race and ethnicity within the mentoring relationship, and how culturally aware mentoring (CAM) training may help improve mentoring efforts.

In the first study, published in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, the team conducted a preliminary qualitative analysis of a sample of 38 mentors and mentees who had participated in a biology summer research opportunity program.

They found that while mentors and mentees recognized that racial and ethnic diversity may play a role in the mentoring relationship, some perceived it as not relevant to the lab environment or to being a proficient researcher.

Some participants viewed race and ethnicity as separate realities outside of the mentoring relationship, reflecting a perception that science is beyond culture, said lead author Angela Byars-Winston, PhD, professor of medicine and associate director of the Collaborative Center for Health Equity at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Byars-Winston also serves as director of research and evaluation in the UW Center for Womens Health Research and is aninvestigator with the Wisconsin Center for Education Research'sCenter for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research.

Mentors and mentees had differing beliefs about if and how racial and ethnic diversity in the mentoring relationship should be addressed, with some reporting that it should only be addressed if a problem or issue arose.

Notably, while several mentors felt that the responsibility for bringing up the topic should be on the mentee, only one mentee echoed this statement.

This mismatch could become a source of discord in the research mentoring relationship, Byars-Winston noted.

Some participants suggested that discussions of race and ethnicity within mentoring relationships may introduce problems or discomfort, and others indicated difficulty managing those conversations sensitively.

Noting the overall culture of silence about the relevance of race and ethnicity in mentoring relationships, the authors advocated for further examination into the effects of checking ones racial/ethnic identity at the laboratory door.

Previous studies from other experts affirm that mentees from historically underrepresented groups benefit from mentors who address race and ethnicity, acknowledge their unique needs and allow them to bring their identities into the academic and research environment.

Moreover, efforts to improve diversity in STEMM fields typically focus on increasing the numbers of historically underrepresented students and faculty at educational institutions. But without also emphasizing inclusionfostering environments in which people feel welcome, valued, and have a sense of belongingthese efforts may fall short.

Other scholars have encouraged research mentor training that includes culturally sensitive practices, Byars-Winston said. Our study suggests that mentor training should include content targeting different experiences with and perceptions about racial/ethnic diversity.

In a second study, recently published in PLoS One, Byars-Winston and a multidisciplinary research team from UWMadison, Northwestern University and the University of Maryland showed how the lasting impact of culturally aware mentoring (CAM) training on academic administrators and faculty can help improve diversity efforts in STEMM fields.

CAM training prepares faculty and staff who have existing mentorship roles to navigate the social and cultural dynamics that accompany a more diverse academic community.

By addressing the lived experiences and treatment of underrepresented individuals, this method can help counter biases and prejudices in the prevailing culture, and foster mentors who can effectively engage with and develop the talent of all individuals.

The team conducted follow-up interviews with a sample of 24 research mentors from three institutions who had participated in a day-long CAM training session 18 to 24 months earlier.

The training focused on intrapersonal awareness, interpersonal awareness and interactions, and skill building for behavioral change, as described in a related article. Participants immediate reactions to the training had previously been published in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science.

In the follow-up, researchers found that participants most frequently remembered activities that were novel or that had elicited an emotional response. These included the culture box, in which participants shared items representing their cultural identity; role playing; and the video A Tale of O, which highlights what its like to be the only visibly identifiable member of a specific group.

Over the long term, CAM training increased participants cultural awareness and deepened their understanding of cultural differences. This helped them better recognize and respect differences, make fewer assumptions about mentees and listen more closely to them.

In addition, participants said they were able to more effectively intervene when culturally insensitive comments arose, and in some cases, address broader dimensions of cultural diversity and inequalities in the training environment.

Mentor training targeted to cultural awareness through the entry point of personal cultural self-awareness and introspection, coupled with sharing these insights in community, can be effective in prompting changes, the authors wrote.

These findings are consistent with neuroscience research showing that self-reflection stimulates the same circuits that underlie compassion and sympathy.

Cultural self-awareness facilitated through CAM training may increase [mentors] ability to have empathy toward their historically underrepresented students and their attention to cultural dynamics in their mentoring relationships, the authors concluded.

Its remarkable that 18 to 24 months after the training, participants were able to recall concrete takeaways and start to change their behavior with mentees and colleagues, reflects Byars-Winston.

In addition, because the original training and the current follow-up study are both grounded in scientific, validated approaches, the results provide evidence that CAM training can be incorporated into existing mentor training programs.

Not all diversity and inclusion training uses a systematic approach, added Byars-Winston, whose work also includes leading the national committee that developed The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM, a 2019 report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Our goal is to elevate competency-based, evidence-informed mentoring practice thats effective and that makes a difference in the success of trainees and early career professionals.

Byars-Winston and collaborator Richard McGee, Jr, PhD, associate dean for faculty recruitment and professional development and a professor ofmedical education at Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine, have recently joined with Sylvia Hurtado, PhD, a professor of education at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies to lead a five-year, National Institutes of Health-funded project to further test the impact of the CAM training on individuals and institutions.

As part of Phase 2 of the NIH National Research Mentoring Network, the new study uses a randomized control design to investigate the impact of the length and dose effect of CAM training on faculty mentors in doctoral training programs in the biomedical sciencesand how that may spur institutional change.

The long-term goal of this body of work is to further the science and practices of mentoring, thereby improving the training environment for students from underrepresented groups and ultimately, advancing their success, said Byars-Winston.

By Andrea Schmick

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UW studies investigate need for and impact of culturally aware mentorship training - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Self-awareness is a trait far more attractive than height. Photo by Emma Hitchcock | The Cavalier Daily

Height is a touchy subject for many men. Unlike many causes for our insecurity, this one is immutable and completely out of our control. Like men with erectile dysfunction, the short kings among us need to be lifted up. This is not the place for that, however. I am going to be brutally honest here, but self-awareness is a trait far more attractive than height. Here we go, gentlemen the implications of your stature

5 feet This is nothing short of an anatomical disaster. At least you are designed to bench press a lot of weight, but dont gloat over 315 for reps when your arms are shorter than a loaf of bread.

5 feet, 2 inches Your peers secretly refer to you as the manlet. Yes, the giggles are about you. This is a demoralizing situation to be in, but hey, you can now ride every attraction in an amusement park.

5 feet, 4 inches Clearly self-conscious about your height, or lack thereof, you frequently reference your personality on the dating front. But I am really down to earth, you often say. We know you are you dont have to remind us.

5 feet, 6 inches You actively try to elevate your height by employing some well-known strategies. You opt for a high sole in your footwear and resort to lift inserts for your flat-bottoms. When it comes to pictures, get off your tiptoes and tilt your chin back down.

5 feet, 8 inches This is 1 inch shy of the average height for a man in the United States, but it is average or even above average for men in many parts of the world. So bolster your ego by studying abroad. Im willing to bet that your height is inaccurate on your passport, though.

5 feet, 10 inches You identify as five-eleven, but you are not. Take it up with a measuring stick.

6 feet Congratulations, you are officially in the enviable six club. I bet it feels good not having to lie about it. The true five-eleveners will try to claim youre one of them. When that argument erupts, youll just have to go over their heads.

6 feet, 2 inches If you have an attractive face, too, youre basically Mr. Dos Equis. Regardless, the musculoskeletal genetics you carry are admirable. Youve got one lucky kid swimming around in your balls. Get them involved in sports early.

6 feet, 4 inches Even if you are plagued by excessive shrinking later in life, you should still die at a commendable height. Thats assuming you dont live to be 120 or so. A once striking presence, Noah was a miniscule two-foot-four when he died at the age of 950

6 feet, 6 inches At this height, you are very tall, but not so tall that a basketball career was inevitable. Therefore, your shameful no, in response to the Do you or did you play basketball? question tells us everything we need to know about your athleticism.

6 feet, 8 inches Youre the asshole people dread seeing in a theater, stadium or other seated venue. And please, if the audience is not situated on a slope, go stand in the back.

6 feet, 10 inches Now the basketball questions are ineluctable. They are going to come up in just about every social situation, so I hope you at least played Division II to avoid complete humiliation. You better have a really good excuse if you didnt.

7 feet A true marvel, you are now taller than 99.9999 percent of humans worldwide and 74 percent of humans in the village of Bibwaclanda.

Michael Lindemann is a Humor columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at humor@cavalierdaily.com.

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A guide to male height - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Months before Ovie Soko applied to be a contestant on hit reality show Love Island, he set himself a goal. Im a huge believer in manifesting stuff. You know that if I write it down it will happen, the 29-year-old says. So I wrote in my journal: Provide a service or a product that helps people feel better about themselves and it will reach millions of people. I hadnt a clue how I was going to do that. So to go on to Love Island later and get that reception, well, it was nuts. Blew me away. Still does. I dont really get it but nonetheless, I do appreciate it.

Previously only known to basketball fans (at the time he was signed to Spains CB Murcia), Soko was instantly catapulted to fame. Almost overnight, he earned millions of fans who were struck by his self-possession and chilled personality in an environment where bravado and insecurities reign supreme. He became known for his wise words of comfort and advice to the other contestants, including pulling other men up on any disrespectful behaviour toward the women on the show (and there was a lot). It is in this vein that his debut book You Are Dope (subtitled Let the power of positive energy into your life) continues, offering guidance, advice, and inspiration on how to become the dopest person you can be.

So what is dopeness? Dopeness is innate, and its in everyone, reads the book. Youve probably been dope for a lot of your life and didnt even realise it. Remember the time you did the washing-up for your mum and dad without them even asking? Dope. Broadly speaking, dopeness is a feeling of contentment, self-awareness and self-acceptance that isnt reliant on money or social status.

When my management first said publishers were interested in me writing a book, I thought of course not, Im not an author, says Soko, who co-wrote the book with Guardian journalist Lanre Bakare. But maybe people took a liking to me because they saw me as being a bit different on the reality TV setting. And I just think hold on, all you guys are different, too! Everyones different. And thats something that should be celebrated, not just because someones on reality TV. You should celebrate yourself, not what is sold on Instagram.

For Soko, helping others be grateful and happy through the book is his way of giving back to the many people who have been so warm toward him since his appearance on the show, and is a particularly personal undertaking as an avid reader of self-help books himself (he says they helped me advance my life.). His book is similarly bright and accessible, coming with worksheets to help readers organise their thoughts, and packed with anecdotes from Sokos own life. Learning to overcome doubt through professional basketball, dealing with social media pressures after Love Island, or navigating two cultures, as a young man raised by Nigerian parents in London but its not a memoir, he insists.

Im not going to write a memoir, I havent lived long enough, he says. The book has stories about me, and lets people into my life, but the goal is to show people how I dealt with certain situations. Theres lots from my life that isnt in the book.

Soko joins a roster of personalities Fearne Cotton, Russell Brand and Chidera Eggerue to name a few who have entered the self-help space, a genre that has seen sales boom by 20% to reach 30m a year. The book is not explicitly written for men (I think men and women can benefit from this material, says Soko) but with chapters on masculinity, and the lessons hes learned from his romantic relationships with women, You Are Dope will have a very strong appeal to men, especially young men.

Self-help books for young men have come under scrutiny in recent years as some of its most popular authors are accused of repackaging alt-right ideologies and misogynistic thinking in the guise of self-improvement. Perhaps the most famous example is Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychology professor who ostensibly gives out tough love to disaffected young men, but whose classically influenced philosophy champions strict social hierarchies, including along gender lines.

Against this, Sokos book is a breath of fresh air. He describes a masculinity that can be soft, and urges the reader especially young black men to resist social pressures. And instead of laying out a sweeping philosophy to inform a fixed code of conduct or way to live, he urges the reader to use their own inner compass to figure out what is right or what is dope for them. In many respects its a progressive answer to the demand for mens self-help, but without ever using the word feminism. Would that have been a step too far? Or was he simply playing it safe?

I think it takes more guts to live by your own internal compass than to live within the safety of what everyone else thinks, says Soko, who argues that the personal growth he wants to help his readers experience can be hindered by labels. In politics, everyone wants you to take a side. But if you think about what you actually believe in, youll probably not fit fully into any one specific political group. Maybe you agree with most of it so you put yourself in that box, because were trained to think that if you dont fit in a box, youre weird.

But hold on its a bit weird that you want to be put in a box. Everything about our lives since we were born, systematically as a society, is to train us to believe that you must fit inside the box. Your house is a box. We drive in a metal box. We go to school and sit at square tables. Well how about you think outside of the box? he exclaims. Weve all been given the mind that enables us to, but the older we get, the more we get used to just trying to fit into the parameters created by those who run the society which is obviously a tool used to control the masses and the more we feel alienated by our own intuition. Our own intuition becomes foreign to us, and it becomes madness. Dont do that to yourself! Youre selling yourself short.

Does Soko think hes now living to his full potential? In addition to writing a book, earlier this year he became the face of Diet Coke and finished filming a new BBC documentary exploring life after reality TV. He has also launched a fashion line for Asos, all while continuing to play professional basketball in France.

I do have goals. I want to do stuff in fashion, and maybe do some more TV. So Ill just keep on knocking down little milestones, he says. But the overall goal, the main goal of my life is to be happy and give back. Help other people be happy. And if you ask me, thats a life well lived.

Link:
Love Island's Ovie Soko: 'It takes guts to live by your internal compass' - The Guardian