Warren Berger’s Three-Part Method for More Creativity
“A problem well stated is a problem half-solved.” — Charles “Boss” Kettering *** The whole scientific method is built on a very simple structure: If I do this, then what will …
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The Four Tools of Discipline
“The life of wisdom must be a life of contemplation combined with action.” *** Life is full of problems. We can moan about them, or we can solve them. Scott Peck argues in The Road Less …
Why Are No Two People Alike? (Part 2)
(This post is the second in a two-part series on the work of Judith Rich Harris. See the first part here.) As we concluded Part 1 of our exploration of Judith Rich Harris’s work on human …
Atul Gawande and the Mistrust of Science
Continuing on with Commencement Season, Atul Gawande gave an address to the students of Cal Tech last Friday, delivering a message to future scientists, but one that applies equally to all of us as …
Why Are No Two People Alike? (Part 1)
“My solution to the mystery is that three perpetrators are involved: three mental systems that go about their business in different ways. Together, these three can answer the hows, whys, whens, …
Homeostasis and Why We Backslide
At some time or another, we’ve all sought to make big changes. And almost of all of us have, after making grand plans, discovered that changing some aspect of our lives or organizations, whether …
Eric Hoffer and the Creation of Fanatical Mass Movements
What is the nature of a true mass movement? In 1951, the American philosopher Eric Hoffer attempted to answer this, and published his first and most well-known work: The True Believer: Thoughts on the …
Lee Kuan Yew on the Proper Balance Between Competitiveness and Equality
Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime Minister of Singapore and the one responsible for its rise from third world to first in only a generation, is a great source of wisdom. In this excerpt from, Lee Kuan …
7 Things I Learned in Architecture School
“Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context —a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.” — Eliel Saarinen *** …
Ego is the Enemy: The Legend of Genghis Khan
In his book, Ego is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday tells the story of Genghis Khan and how his openness to learning was the foundation of his success. The legend of Genghis Khan has echoed through history: A …
George Washington’s Practical Self-Education
Our first President and Commander-in-Chief, George Washington, is not known as an intellectual, the way Ben Franklin, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and some of his other Revolutionary counterparts …
Life Advice: Be Careful of Life Advice
Nassim Taleb, the modern philosopher best known for his ideas on Randomness, The Black Swan, and Antifragility, gave his first commencement address at an American University in Beirut. Like him or …
Sol Price: A Fiduciary Relationship with the Customer
Sol Price is a legend in the retail business. Price founded one of the first discount retailers, FedMart, in the 1950s, and then later the pioneer warehouse club Price Club, which he later sold to …
The Value of Grey Thinking
One of the most common questions we receive, unsurprisingly, is along the lines of What one piece of advice would you recommend to become a better thinker? The question is kind of cheating. There is, …
Ben Franklin and the Virtues and Ills of Pursuing Luxury
In a letter written in 1784 to his friend Benjamin Vaughan, Ben Franklin has a very interesting cogitation on the aggregate effect of the pursuit of luxuries beyond our needs. Franklin displays a …
Architect Matthew Frederick on the Three Levels of Knowing
Architect Matthew Frederick draws our attention to the three levels of knowing in 101 Things Things I Learned in Architecture School. Simplicity is the world view of the child or uninformed adult, …