There’s an apocryphal story of an experiment that highlights how group norms form and stick around – with monkeys! Despite it likely being made up, I still love it. I think of it whenever I hear “that’s the way we’ve […]
I enjoyed this essay from Matt Ridley in the WSJ. “The scientific method remains the best way to solve many problems, but bias, overconfidence and politics can sometimes lead scientists astray.” | learn more
The author explains this popular concept from the political & nonprofit communities. “A theory of change is the opposite of a theory of action — it works backwards from the goal, in concrete steps, to figure out what you can […]
I appreciate how quickly this gets to the heart of the issue. “Carl Sagan’s rules for bullshit-busting and critical thinking.” | learn more
“Google productivity is down among its engineers during extended quarantine measures, especially among new hires, according to the tech giant’s own internal measures. After three months of working from home, Google engineers reported feeling less productive than earlier in the […]
“The Monty Hall problem is famously unintuitive. This post starts with an extreme version where the solution is blindingly obvious. We then go through a series of small changes.” | learn more
The term was popularized by Nassim Taleb and in this post Farnam Street explains the concept well. “Iatrogenics is when we cause more harm by intervention than we do good.” | learn more
I never grasped what “community” really meant nor its importance until recently. Maybe I still underestimate it. “[T]hree core elements that make an organization “church-y,” even if it doesn’t look like a traditional religious institution: contemplation, community, and contribution.” | learn more
In 2006, a Google researcher modeled the effects of their hiring strategy. In the 14 years since, we’ve seen its outcomes. “You know the Google story: small start-up of highly-skilled programmers in a garage grows into a large international company. […]
From Seth Godin: “All of us believe things that might be inconsistent, not based on how the real world actually works or not shared by others. That’s what makes us human.” | learn more