Survivorship Bias: The Tale of Forgotten Failures
Survivorship bias is a common logical error that distorts our understanding of the world. It happens when we assume that success tells the whole story and when we don’t adequately consider past …
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How Performance Reviews Can Kill Your Culture
Performance reviews are designed to motivate and bring the best out of our teams, but they often do the opposite. Here’s how to bring out the best in your people. *** If you ask people what’s wrong …
Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Constantly Changing World
The less rigid we are in our thinking, the more open minded, creative and innovative we become. Here’s how to develop the power of an elastic mind. *** Society is changing fast. Do we need to change …
Signaling: The Language Peacocks, Gazelles, and Humans All Speak
Signaling and countersignaling are hidden methods of communicating with each other. We do it all the time as a way to “prove” we are who and what we claim to be. *** The Basics We are constantly …
Illusion of Transparency: Your Poker Face is Better Than You Think
We tend to think that people can easily tell what we’re thinking and feeling. They can’t. Understanding the illusion of transparency bias can improve relationships, job performance, and more. *** “A …
How to Use Occam’s Razor Without Getting Cut
Occam’s razor is one of the most useful, (yet misunderstood,) models in your mental toolbox to solve problems more quickly and efficiently. Here’s how to use it. *** Occam’s razor (also known as the …
Ayn Rand on Why Philosophy Matters
Nearly four decades after her death, many of Ayn Rand’s works remain controversial and divide people into two camps: love them or hate them. Her lesser known book on philosophy provides broad, …
Focused and Diffuse: Two Modes of Thinking
Our brains employ two modes of thinking to tackle any large task: focused and diffuse. Both are equally valuable but serve very different purposes. To do your best work, you need to master both. As …
The Best of Goethe’s Aphorisms
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s (1749–1832) Maxims and Reflections is a terrific source of philosophical wisdom. The German writer, statesman, lawyer, playwright, and polymath was brilliant at distilling …
Externalities: Why We Can Never Do “One Thing”
No action exists in a vacuum. There are ripples that have consequences that we can and can’t see. Here are the three types of externalities that can help us guide our actions so they don’t come back …
The Evolutionary Benefit of Friendship
Healthy friendships offer far more than a reliable person to share a beer with. Research shows they can make us healthier, wealthier, happier and overall more successful. Here’s how. *** Is friendship …
The Power of Questions
The quality of the answers we get are directly correlated with the quality of the questions we ask. Here’s how to improve your questions. *** When we run our once-a-year Re:Think Europe event, 10 …
The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness
The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness is the business philosophy handbook from the marketing, advertising, and PR firm Ogilvy & Mather. The book serves as a roadmap for the desired organizational …
The Danger of Comparing Yourself to Others
The most important things in life are internal not external. “The big question about how people behave,” says Warren Buffett, “is whether they’ve got an inner scorecard or an outer scorecard. It …
Jeff Bezos: Big Things Start Small
An interview with Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos touches on the timeless lessons he’s learned for business success. The three big ideas are (1) thinking on a different timescale, (2) putting the …
Resonance: How to Open Doors For Other People
It’s only polite. Hold the door open for others, and they will open doors for you. We are far more interdependent than we would like to admit. We biologically need to connect. “Limbic resonance” is a …