The Hard Thing About Hard Things
The problem with most business books is they present a formula for problems that ultimately have no formula. You’re reading something with no practical value and you’re not really learning …
Organizations
Why Lazy and Smart People Make the Best Leaders
“You’re looking for three things, generally, in a person,” says Warren Buffett. “Intelligence, energy, and integrity. And if they don’t have the last one, don’t even bother with the first two.” …
The Unwritten Rules of Management
William Swanson’s unwritten rules of management is full of pithy advice. Swanson is the former chairman and CEO of Raytheon Company. Originally a part of a presentation to engineers and …
The Tyranny of Email — 10 Tips to Save You
I’ve been giving a lot of thought to my habits recently and how they affect me. One thing I’ve placed an increasingly watchful eye on is email. Email seems pervasive in our lives. We check email on …
Samuel Arbesman, Interview No. 1
Samuel Arbesman is an applied mathematician and network scientist. His recent book, The Half-life of Facts, explores how much of what we think we know has an expiry date. Samuel, who was happy to be …
Understanding and Diagnosing Problems
We all know one, the Monday morning quarterback. They walk into the meeting room primed and ready for action. Ready that is, to apply the knowledge they know now to decisions of the past. And too …
Pluralistic Ignorance: You’re Not Alone
Imagine you’re in a meeting with a lot of important people. The boss comes in, takes a seat, and starts talking “strategic market knowledge” this and “leveraging competitive …
Opinions and Organizational Theory
When I think about the world in which we live and the organizations in which we work, I can’t help but think that few people have the intellectual honesty, time, and discipline required to hold a …
Richard Zeckhauser on Making Better Decisions
Richard Zeckhauser, aka Mr. Probability, is a champion Bridge player and the Frank Ramsey professor of political economy at Harvard University. Speaking about Zeckhauser, Charlie Munger, the brilliant …
Matthew Crawford: “We’re not as free and independent as we thought.”
“We have a generation of students that can answer questions on standardized tests, know factoids, but they can’t do anything.” — Jim Aschwanden *** Despite the metrification of the …
Open-plan Offices Suck — Privacy Makes Us Productive
Working alone is out. Organizations, schools, and culture are in the thrall of what Susan Cain calls “the new groupthink,” which holds that creativity derives from our gregariousness. …
The Decision-Making Flaw in Powerful People
The paper below finds a link between having a sense of power and ignoring the advice of others. The authors argue that power increases confidence, which can lead to an excessive belief in one’s …
Promoting People In Organizations
In their 1978 paper Performance Sampling in Social Matches, researchers March and March discussed the implications of performance sampling for understanding careers in organizations. They came to some …
6 Must-Read Books To Help Navigate the Workplace
The challenges of climbing the corporate ladder are both fascinating and fluid. Whether you’re looking to improve your ability to influence or avoid some common pitfalls these books are a great …