Arts and Cultural Production Account for 3.2 Percent -- $504B -- of GDP in 2011

National Endowment for the Arts’ Sunil Iyengar discusses a government report on the value of arts and culture. He speaks with Adam Johnson and Trish Regan on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart."

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and National Endowment for the Arts Release Preliminary Report on Impact of Arts and Culture on U.S. Economy:

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released prototype estimates today from the new Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA). This is the first federal effort to provide in-depth analysis of the arts and cultural sector's contributions to current-dollar gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of the final dollar value of all goods and services produced in the United States. According to these new estimates, 3.2 percent -- or $504 billion -- of current-dollar GDP in 2011 was attributable to arts and culture. In comparison, BEA's estimated value of the U.S. travel and tourism industry was 2.8 percent of GDP.

What Drives Success?

Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld, in The New York Times, shared likely controversial research about success in America: 

It turns out that for all their diversity, the strikingly successful groups in America today share three traits that, together, propel success. The first is a superiority complex — a deep-seated belief in their exceptionality. The second appears to be the opposite — insecurity, a feeling that you or what you’ve done is not good enough. The third is impulse control.

Any individual, from any background, can have what we call this Triple Package of traits. But research shows that some groups are instilling them more frequently than others, and that they are enjoying greater success.

It’s odd to think of people feeling simultaneously superior and insecure. Yet it’s precisely this unstable combination that generates drive: a chip on the shoulder, a goading need to prove oneself. Add impulse control — the ability to resist temptation — and the result is people who systematically sacrifice present gratification in pursuit of future attainment.

Simon Sinek: Leadership Is Not a Rank, It's a Decision.

In this in-depth talk at the 99u Conference, ethnographer and leadership expert Simon Sinek reveals the hidden dynamics that inspire leadership and trust. In biological terms, leaders get the first pick of food and other spoils, but at a cost. When danger is present, the group expects the leader to mitigate all threats even at the expense of their personal well-being. Understanding this deep-seated expectation is the key difference between someone who is just an “authority” versus a true “leader.” 

For more on this topic, check out Sinek’s latest book Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t and his last 99u presentation. 

Demands

In the end, getting what you demand always costs more than getting what you need.

— Lee Clow’s Beard (@leeclowsbeard) December 4, 2013

Talk Less, Do More

Discovered The Little Book of IDEO today and it led to a series of films created by various teams around the world to represent the company's culture and values. The above is one of my favorites and a philosophy I'm embracing this year. 

The Little Book of IDEO: Values from Tim Brown