I recently had Laura Clydesdale come on the podcast to talk women’s leadership, her philosophy on failure, grit and teaching children how to take risks¹. Laura speaks elequently on a variety of topics around parenting and it was a pleasure to explore strategies with her. Her main focus as a blogger is writing and teaching about girl’s leadership.

I knew we would have a great conversation when I read some of her thoughts on teaching leadership to girls and woman ². Like it or not (I don’t) society teaches leadership differently to girls than boys.

Laura and I confabulate³ on how girls are taught to be assertive much differently than boys, girls tend to apologize even when they have done nothing wrong or as a disclaimer. When girls in leadership share their point of view it can be perceived as “bossy” instead of a leadership quality. And many other leadership issues from being “smart”, being assertive, showing confidence and avoiding conflict.

Raising daughters is as important as ever. Especially in this day and age. The world is at their fingertips and we need to make sure the playing field is level. If you have a daughter make sure to read Laura’s thoughts on teaching leadership. If nothing else, reading her words will reinforce and solidify your approach to parenting.

To learn more about Laura, follow her on Twitter @l_clydesdale or read her blog at <www.lauraclydesdale.com>.

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It’s not every day you get to sit down with a developmental psychologist from Penn State…but when you do, well then it’s time to hit the record button and share it with the world.

Sarah Stephens came back on Mindsoak for the first episode of Psychobabble, our appropriately named segment for any time we talk. We get a much needed update on her dog Jasper, the editing process of her novel and meander through a couple other tangental topics.

But more importantly we talk developmental psych. We talk grit and how how to teach it to our kids. We talk about avoiding unnecessary over-indulgence of our children and how to teach personal responsibility and natural consequences. We walk through the notion of teaching our children how to be empathetic. We babble about the idea of “growth mindset” when it comes to assisting our kids in learning more about their strengths.

We also talk about video games, cell phones and social media and the impact Sarah believes they have on our kids, both positive and negative. It was a great reinforcement for my own parenting that Sarah and I seem to agree on everything when it comes to these two areas of our kid’s lives.

Sarah and I definitely have strong opinions about all these topics…but remember, they are just that…opinions. I know this sounds very liability-ish¹, and it is², but more importantly it’s a reminder that our opinions don’t represent everyone or every situation. If it sounds like some of our opinions won’t work in your family then don’t try them. Or, even better, if you feel you may need some assistance you can always try a local developmental psychologist. If you live in the Penn State area I may know someone you could call…³

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I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with Jenn Duong about virtual reality (VR), establishing equal opportunities for the under represented in the VR space and the many roles she plays as the Director of Virtual Reality at 1215 Creative and the Founder of SH//FT.

I’ve been fascinated by VR and AR for many years. So far, like the promise of flying cars, VR has underwhelmed. Like I mention in the episode, I remember driving to Davenport, Iowa as a teenager to check out their fancy arcade with the new VR machines. I walked in ready to be amazed. I walked out nauseated and completely disappointed.

The big idea in VR is no longer just video games. It’s also movies and television. With the advent of 360 degree cameras we will soon be living in a world where the director doesn’t always get to tell us what to focus on in any scene, we can decide to look wherever we want. While fascinating, you can imagine there are a lot of bugs to iron out…as well as new storytelling mechanics to think through.

Although Mindsoak is not a tech blog, I am fascinated by tech. But having a podcast just about VR didn’t seem like a prudent thing to do to my listeners.¹ But once I read Jenn’s bio I knew she had just the right mixture of tech and Mindsoak-iness to bring her on to discuss this new realm of tech.

SH//FT Is a nonprofit organization which looks to both represent equal opportunities for groups and individuals who don’t have the same access and opportunity to get in the VR space for a career. Not only that, but they also are planning to sponsor individuals, decreasing the ceiling that has existed for many.

I appreciate Jenn letting me take a journey with her through what she considers the future applications of VR and where you and I as consumers should be spending our money right now if we’re interested in jumping in to the VR space.

To learn more about Jenn you can follow her on Twitter at @jenndefer. Or you can find her doing her work on SH//FT.

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