While talent, hard work, and passion are important characteristics for high performance, business success is increasingly dependent on how employees interact with others. In a team environment, so-called negotiated givers might be the best employees. In the best-selling book, “Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success,” Wharton professor Adam Grant describes three different workplace…
We know software development is a male dominated profession but it’s difficult to gauge how bad the imbalance is. Nearly 92% of the 82K developers who responded to a 2021 global survey reported being male but that could be due to a response bias. Separately, an on-going yearly survey shows about 21% of computer programmers…
In the middle of a wide-ranging conversation about remote work and creative collaboration, a friend blurted out “The pencil proves remote collaboration works!” It was an esoteric claim but one that makes a strong case. Let’s call it the pencil collaboration. Way back in 1958, an economist named Leonard Read wrote an essay called ‘I,…
It’s important to understand the difference between speed and velocity in business. In physics, velocity and speed are different things. Speed refers to how fast an object is moving; the rate at which an object covers distance. Velocity refers to the rate and direction at which an object changes its position. As an example, consider…
I have a bias for action. When a problem crops up, I quickly gather information and compare potential solutions. I use decisions-making tools to avoid paralysis by analysis. To no surprise to anyone who has worked with me before, I want to do something. My bias for action can be a strength when others are…
The debate on whether it is better to be a specialist or a generalist might never be resolved but competitive sports provides us with a useful insight: If you choose to specialize, be careful to keep your options open. We can learn this lesson from renowned strength coach Shannon Turley. During Turley’s 7-year tenure with…
While it’s natural to try to learn from success, it can provide a skewed outlook. We need to understand survivorship bias to make better decisions. Survivorship bias happens when we base our understanding only on the experiences of those who succeed or are highlighted in some way, and do not take into account others who…
We sensationalize innovation as moments of eureka leading to novel ideas but most innovation comes from exploring the adjacent possible. The concept of the adjacent possible originates from Stuart Kauffman’ work on biological evolution. Kauffman’s theory is biological systems morph into more complex systems by taking small, incremental steps rather than extreme jumps or more…
Even though I’m in the sports & entertainment industry, I worry that using sports jargon in business can get in the way of clear communication. As I’ve written about before, not everyone has a sports background and some of the phrases can be confusing. One of the most overused corporate clichés comes from hockey: “Skate to…
According to the theory of risk compensation, people adjust their behavior in response to perceived levels of risk; they are careful when they sense heightened risk and less careful when they feel more protected. As a result, attempts to increase safety can have the opposite effect. For example, the much-cited paper “The Effects of Automobile…