Chesterton’s fence principle can be explained as follows: Don’t take down a fence until you know the reason it was put up in the first place. In other words, don’t be so quick to tear down things you don’t understand. G.K. Chesterton was an early 20th century English writer best known for the Father Brown…
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…
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…
The phrase ‘it is what it is’ has exploded in popularity. I might not have noticed except it’s a phrase my Mom has been using my whole life; I may be overly-sensitized to it. I first noticed a surge in popularity towards the beginning of the US pandemic-related shutdown when it became a popular meme….
Remember the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster? In 1986, there was an accident during a test at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Ukraine and the resulting explosion released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere. The radiation released was 400 times the radiation produced by the bombing of Hiroshima during World…
Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. This optimistic quote is frequently attributed to Theodor Geisel (aka the popular children’s author, Dr. Seuss). In fact, the saying likely pre-dates him by 100 years and should be attributed to the poet Ludwig Jacobowski. Regardless of the true origin, it’s a useful quote to pull…
The Lucretius problem is exacerbated by the fact data captured in the past is not necessarily as reliable or as complete as data captured today. As a result, historical data includes bias or variability.
As a way of encouraging my team to take more risks, I’ve been espousing the philosophy “Failure is the new black” and have been cataloging quotes on failure from famous people. But increased risk-taking doesn’t just come from pithy quotes, it helps to provide examples of people who failed… and thrived. Here are four such stories:…
I’m behind in my reading. More than 30 unread books are sitting on my office shelves and another one joins their ranks almost every week. In an attempt to break the logjam I opened one somewhat randomly and read this intriguing claim: “You can personally choose to become more successful by adopting five learnable habits, which, in…
For reasons I’d rather not go into, I decided to do a little research into food poisoning with a seemingly simple question: How does food get poisoned? It turns out most food-related illnesses can be separated into two types: toxins and infection. The traditional use of the term food poisoning stems from the existence of…