One Day University

www.onedayu.com

Each time I attend a One Day University event, I walk away buzzing. Do yourself a favor - check out their website. Then after you attend your first event, share with me and others a few key takeaways as I have below.

* Yale professor Laurie Santos' lecture on the evolution of irrationality persuaded me I can remove some of the bias from my decision making. The book she recommended, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth & Happiness (2006) by Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein, is now on my list.

* In his lecture entitled "Thinking Creatively About Creativity" NYU's Peter Rajsingh suggested "...psychological androgyny is a key element of creativity...", a teaching point that really resonated with me. Professor Rajsingh also introduced me to "cognitive disinhibition", an elegant way to express how creativity flourishes when the mind is allowed to wander without constraints.

* polymath: a person learned in many fields. Two authors I greatly admire - Martin Amis & Christopher Hitchens - love the word polymath. The main character in one of my favorite novels - Renee in Muriel Barbery's Elegance Of The Hedgehog - is a polymath. In his lecture, Fairfield Professor Orin Grossman referred to Composer/Conductor/Pianist/Teacher Leonard Bernstein as a polymath. That word belongs to me now.

I love One Day University.