Psychiatry's latest guide on mental disorders falls short, experts say.

Even the chairman of the task force making the revisions to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (D.S.M.) of Mental Disorders found the new version wanting, according to a story in The New York Times by Pam Belluck and Benedict Carey.  Here's why.

In this century, no one is normal.  "Disorders" increasingly are being found to be "differences."  The factory model is no longer functional, not for the factory and not for mental health.

Research into the brain will eventually help us all understand more about mental differences.  But keep in mind that just one difference, now labelled a disorder, can be the foundation for a career for an individual using that difference as talent.  It's a new world. I know, I am a father of someone who sees his own difference as a gift, not a disorder.

Yachats in Oregon. Photo by NineShift staff photographer Doyle Darvis.

Here's a great chart showing the decline of suburbs.

Kat Cannella, NineShifter from Columbus, Georgia, sent us a link to a story on the decline of suburbs, with this nice compliment, "More evidence that the wonder futurist duo is on the money."   Thanks Kat!

Here's the story, with lots of charts and pictures.

Gen Y is travelling more than previous young generations, not less.

The media and public still believe Gen Y is travelling less. Gen Y is indeed driving less. But they are riding trains, pushing train ridership to ever higher record ridership levels.

So we wondered if Gen Y is flying more, or less, than previous young generations. The answer is MORE.
Julie Coates found data that Gen Y takes 3.9 leisure flights a year. That's even higher than 40-45 year olds, who take 3.5 leisure flights a year.  One study of airline flight attendants found their "ideal passenger" is a Gen Yer.  And Gen Y accounts for the biggest growth segment in plane passengers right now. 

Would Betty Friedan be fighting for boys today?

On the 50th anniversary of the Feminine Mystique am reading Friedan, the last great feminist, again.

In one chapter she wrote, "The proportion of women attending college in comparison with men dropped from 47 per cent in 1920 to 35 per cent in 1958."   That's what's happened to boys in the last 30 years. Almost the exact same percentages too.  The mother of boys, am thinking Betty might just be fighting for both women and boys today.

Betty Friedan was right. Gloria Steinem was wrong.

My brilliant co-author Julie Coates keeps finding more research literature that confirms the neurological origin of gender behavior.  Last week she cited research by Israeli scientists Reuwen and Anat Achiron that if you do a regular ultrasound examination when a woman is 26 weeks pregnant, you can distinguish a female brain from a male brain.

Julie working with participants at our Institutes training program in Fort Lauderdale this month.

Source: Reuwen Achiron, Shiomo Lipitz, and Anat Achiron. Sex-related differences in the development of the human fetal corpus callosum: in utero ultrasonographic study. Prenatal Diagnosis, 2001, 21:116-120. This in utero study confirmed the findings of a previous anatomical study in which investigators examined the brains of babies which had died before birth. See: M. de Lacoste, R. Holloway, and D. Woodward, "Sex differences in the fetal human corpus callosum," Human Neurobiology, 1986, 5 (2):93-6.

Slowly the intangible economy is getting more notice.

Last year economist Robert Reich gave it minor notice. The New Geography of Jobs gives it more credence, though author Enrico Moretti misnames it the "Innovation" economy.  But here The Christian Scientist Monitor gets all 3 things right: 1) there's a growing intangible economy, 2) it's where the good jobs are, and 3) you need a college degree.

Data a little old, but it shows the trend: investments in intangibles are now exceeding investments in tangibles.

Does physical location matter in today's economy? 

Does where you live, and where your company is headquartered, matter economically for both your work organization and for you?  Enrico Moretti, author of The New Geography of Jobs, says yes.  We're skeptical. Our initial reaction: he's wrong.

Here's what Moretti writes, "Where you live matters more than ever. Whether you work inside or outside the innovation sector, whether you are self-employed or work for others, where you live greatly affects all aspects of your life, from your career to your finances, from the kind of people you meet to the values your children are exposed to." 

He dismisses telecommuting as "incredibly rare," without citing any statistics to counter the data that telework is growing each year. He dismisses cities like Cleveland and Milwaukee, that while overall are clearly rust belt, nevertheless having growing downtown hubs of urban professionals.   What do you think?

 
Moon over Minneapolis.  LERN staff from five states met in our annual retreat in this 21st century. Moretti and NineShift both agree Minneapolis a 21st century city.

A new book, The New Geography of Jobs, by Enrico Moretti, has great data supporting our 9 major Nine Shift predictions.

Moretti's basic contention, which we reported several years ago, is that there's a huge migration of young people going on right now in the U.S. to new economy cities, what we sometimes call 21st century cities. Moretti's underlying 'force' in this migration is a college education.  College educated young people are moving to new economy cities, and those cities are doing great. Cities with fewer college graduates are not doing very well.  Flint, Michigan, for instance, has only 12% of its population with a college degree.

There are 15 cities whose population is 40% or more with college educations. Six of the 9 NineShift 21st century cities are on that list. The other 3 not far behind. These cities are where the economic action is today.

Fascinating data, all supporting NineShift.  Check it out. 

The American media, and thus the American public, just does not get why Gen Y is driving less.

One example: Stuart Elliott, writing about how Gen Y and teens are driving less in The New York Times, again cites theory and not facts about why Gen Y is driving less. Without evidence, he gladly quotes an auto exec (huge bias there!) saying that Gen Y is staying home and not travelling, logging onto Facebook etc instead.

The evidence is all to the contrary. Gen Y is travelling all over the place. They are the biggest growth segment for airlines right now. A recent airline magazine article cited the "ideal" air traveller as single and in his 30s.  Gen Y is flying more, not less, than previous generations of young people. In the U.S. they fly for leisure 3.9 trips a year, far more than older people.

And the primary reason Gen Y is driving less is that they are taking trains.  Gen Y is creating record ridership on trains. Amtrak has recorded record ridership in 9 of the last 10 years.  The American Public Transportation Association attributes the biggest factor to Gen Y riding trains. If you visit a train station, you will see for yourself.  The reason for driving less and taking trains: you can work on a train. Time is so valuable for knowledge workers we cannot afford to waste 2 hours a day driving around. 

Photo: Kids streaming into  Union Station in Chicago last month

My brilliant co-author Julie Coates has found a National Science Foundation study from 2011 on why women do not go into STEM.  The NSF study supports Coates' evidence that women choose not to go into STEM.

The biggest reason female engineering graduates don't go into engineering- - they don't particularly like engineering.  The third biggest reason- - they would have to do "engineering tasks." 

The NSF study tries to lay blame on a male dominated work culture, the standard lame excuse that just does not have any validity.  We are now supposed to believe that "making money" is a bad male value, for instance.

It IS true that the professions that women go into have a different corporate culture and often different values. Making money not as highly valued in education, non-profits and health care (if you work there, not if you own).

America continues to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Feminine Mystique by dismissing Betty Friedan's quite correct understanding that men and women are different, and equal.

Nice job Julie!  Photo: Julie Coates explaining gender and STEM to senior administrators at the College of DuPage last month.