“It does seem to me that the story, not only of humanity, but of all of nature, of all of life, is one of mutual care and mutual interdependence to a far greater degree than we appreciate…” – Blaise Agüera y Arcas, fellow at Google Research He expands on this philosophy as follows: “And what […]
Correlation does not equal causation, but it may be enough to justify giving something a try.
Sometimes there is enough evidence THAT something is true that you may not need to wait for researchers to figure out WHY it is true. Your body can often tell you if it is true for you, so it may make more sense to just try it out for yourself while simultaneously managing risks. The […]
RACI and delegation are both means to an end, not ends unto themselves
According to Raphael Moutard, ”With Impact delegation, you define a threshold. Under this threshold, you delegate entirely the decision and every step of it.” Moutard suggests that we use impact delegation as an alternative to RACI, and explains what can go wrong when you use RACI incorrectly: “If you need to build a RACI with […]
You are a network within a network of networks (early draft)
We are accustomed to thinking of ourselves as one thing – a person, an entity with a unique identity. Because we have a persistent experience of continuous consciousness, which is by nature subjective, we also tend to think of ourselves as in some sense separate from the rest of the world. When we step back […]
To trigger genuine reflection, focus on feedback “loops” rather than feedback “delivery” (working draft)
Framing feedback as part of a reflection process in which you give conscious attention to “feedback loops” (like an engineer) rather than as a performance process in which you exchange “feedback messages” (like a manager or colleague) can profoundly change the way you think and talk about performance. There is no question that we need […]
Manifesting real results in the real world requires more than just telling yourself you deserve whatever it is you currently want
“I am well. I am opulent. I have everything. I do right. I know.” – Charles Benjamin Newcomb, author of 1897 book “All’s Right With the World” as quoted by Dr. Tara Isabella Burton in NYT editorial From Burton: ‘While the idea of manifesting may seem modern, the instinct to conflate spiritual forces, political and […]
Well-being is built on a solid foundation of inter-dependability
“New research published in the Industrial Relations Journal found no evidence that individual-level mental wellbeing interventions like mindfulness, resilience and stress management, relaxation classes, and wellbeing apps benefit employees.” — Some frame well-being as an individual challenge in which we liberate ourselves from the limitations and burdens others place on us. Another line of thinking places responsibility […]
Body language exists on the border between our internal and external worlds, but things don’t always translate clearly across the borders
Are you someone who has the habit of crossing your arms? Do you furrow your brow so you have RBF? Have others told you you need to work on your attitude? Does this describe something you see in your colleagues? When someone else crosses their arms or furrows their brow does it make you feel […]
Nouns or verbs? Labels and categories are easier to talk about than social dynamics and behavioral patterns, but what are the implications of relying on them too much to explain people’s bahavior?
Recently, I had a skeptical reaction to a TED talk in which Adam Grant seemed to be encouraging us to categorize each other into three categories of people: givers, takers and matchers. It was my sense that people’s behavior is probably too socially-embedded and fluid to be captured through this sort of categorization. I also […]
Don’t start your journey until AFTER you have made sure your elephant knows where it is supposed to take you
As human beings who sleep, wake up, do stuff, then go back to sleep, we all share a common dilemma: How do we make sure we don’t end the day feeling like it was a day wasted? Together with my colleague Andrea Konuma, I developed AFTER as a cuing mechanism I use at the start of […]