Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite estimated to infect ~10% of the U.S. population and perhaps as many as half in other countries. Few infected people exhibit symptoms, as a healthy person’s immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness. However, toxoplasma infection has been linked to a wide variety of outgoing and risk-seeking…
After I watched Top Gun: Maverick, I called a Navy Pilot friend to ask what he thought about the movie. His response: “At the end of the film, there’s no way the F14 could have gotten airborne with such a short run. Without a catapult, it needs about half a mile (2500 feet) to take…
One of the advantages of living in Silicon Valley is you get to meet some amazing people. A recent meet-up with a friend reminded me of the time we got to meet Robert Joss, Dean Emeritus of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. During his career, Professor Joss researched how people can be developed into…
Businesses should stop glorifying cheerful superheroes and emphasize the quiet safeguarder. Cheerful superhero is my term for those people who sweep in to fix a problem after it’s occurred, often with a loud noise and a smile on their face. They don’t complain about cleaning up other peoples’ messes, partly because they thrive on restoring…
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…
The theory of post-traumatic growth (PTG) suggests people who go through psychological trauma can have positive growth as a result. Developed by psychologists in the mid 1990’s, PTG is a process by which people develop new understandings of themselves and the world they live in, making it easier for them to face the future and…
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…
There’s a classic story called ‘prepare three envelopes’ which provides advice on leadership transitions. There are versions which apply to business, government, and sports teams but they essentially all have the same advice. Here’s a version: A new executive is hired to take over a struggling business unit. During the handover meeting, the previous executive…