Nassim Taleb: How to Not be a Sucker From the Past
The fact that new information exists about the past in general means that we have an incomplete roadmap about history. There is a necessary fallibility … if you will. In The Black Swan, Nassim …
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Stephen Hawking Explains The Origin of the Universe
The Origin of the Universe, a lecture, by Stephen Hawking According to the Boshongo people of central Africa, in the beginning, there was only darkness, water, and the great god Bumba. One day Bumba, …
Kyle Bass: How Freediving Enables Better Decision Making
Below find an excerpt taken from an interview between Raoul Pal and Kyle Bass (a hedge fund manager based out of Texas.) What resonates with me here is the need to find a way out of a world where we …
A Successful Businessperson Has to Learn to Say No
“The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It’s very easy to say yes.” — Tony Blair Tony Blair isn’t the only one who thinks that. So does Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett. …
Overconfidence: How to Fail Spectacularly
“What a Man wishes, he will also believe” – Demosthenes Bias from overconfidence is a natural human state. All of us believe good things about ourselves and our skills. In Seeking Wisdom, Peter …
The Lucretius Problem: How History Blinds Us
The Lucretius Problem is a mental defect where we assume the worst-case event that has happened is the worst-case event that can happen. In so doing, we fail to understand that the worst event that …
Stephen King Shares His (Long) Reading List
At any question and answer session, a reader inevitably asks Stephen King what he reads. Everyone, myself included, wants to know what’s on Stephen King’s reading list. Now we know. In On …
The Last Thing We Need Right Now is a Vision Statement
In this excerpt from Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?, Louis V. Gerstner Jr. says something I wish tech companies would heed. I said something at the press conference that turned out to be the …
David Foster Wallace: The Mortality Paradox
David Foster Wallace, in an interview with Larry McCaffery, found in Conversations with David Foster Wallace, comments on our dread of both relationships and loneliness. It’s always tempting to …
Miracle Grow for Your Brain
Right now the front of your brain is firing signals about what you’re reading and how much of it you soak up has a lot to do with whether there is a proper balance of neurochemicals and growth factors …
The Reasons We Deny Luck
One of the reasons that we deny the role of luck is that it acts as a cold counterbalance to the notion of hard work. At every stage in our lives, we are taught that the best way to make our way in …
How Successful People Increase Productivity
People ask me about productivity habits all the time. I’ve packaged most of that advice in a productivity webinar available to members but I wanted to tell you one counter-intuitive strategy …
David Foster Wallace on The Moral Clarity of the Immature
David Foster Wallace, who brought us gems such as This is Water and insights into ambition and perfectionism, was the guest editor of the 2007 edition of Best American Essays. His introduction …
Seymour Schulich on Deals, Business, Decisions and Life
Seymour Schulich, one of Canada’s most successful businessmen and author of Get Smarter: Life and Business Lessons offers some indispensable business wisdom. Business is a means to an end not an …
Six Common Strategy Traps
Strategy could be the most over-used word since leadership. How many strategies can one organization have? A lot of people say “strategy” when they really mean a goal or objective. This is …
Andy Warhol: Don’t Make a Problem of your Problems, How a Person Gets Disciplined, and The Value of Time on Values
In The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again), Warhol advises us not to make a problem of our problems. Everybody has problems, but the thing is to not make a problem about your …