Almost immediately after I wrote my post on heteronyms – words spelled identically but with different meanings and pronunciations – I got an email from a reader suggesting I write a follow up on homophones. She pointed out homophones are much more difficult for non-native English speakers. My reader’s logic made sense. Because heteronyms are…
Why do people make decisions that don’t seem to make sense? Game theory provides a potential answer called the prisoner’s dilemma. The prisoner’s dilemma explains why people make decisions which are good for themselves but not for the team. Even if you didn’t learn about it in economics class, you probably recognize the prisoners’ dilemma…
There’s no doubt the headline stories for the Golden State Warriors this season have been the all-time best 73 wins in a single season and the almost-unimaginable 402 3-pointers for Stephen Curry. Much of the press frenzy has focused on the pursuit of the Chicago Bulls’ 72-win record. The Warriors opened the season with a…
During a recent interview, a non-native English speaker asked me how I have time to write. Unfortunately I misunderstood the question – or maybe I was too tired to think clearly – so I answered something like the following: I read around 30 books per year, mostly when I’m on planes. The interviewer seemed happy…
Herb Caen would have been 100 years old today. Don’t worry if you don’t recognize the name. ”Mr. San Francisco,” as he was sometimes called, wrote a Pulitzer-winning newspaper column for 60 years dedicated to his adopted hometown. Herb Caen was beloved locally but was largely unknown outside San Francisco. Caen’s influence was so great…
What’s up with how people act in elevators? When two people who don’t know each other find themselves alone in an elevator, they invariably stand as far away from each other as possible. They certainly don’t face one another, and it’s unlikely they make eye contact or speak. If the elevator is crowded, people stare…
When I first got into business, the HR manager asked me a series of informal questions which claimed to test my suitability for corporate life. As I recall, I didn’t do so well on the quiz but I’ve still managed to figure out the corporate gig. I recently came across the questions and started using…
No, this isn’t some new comic from Scott Adams about Dilbert interacting with Donald Trump – although I’m laughing about the possibilities. Instead it’s a central tenet of Adams’ most recent book titled How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. Adams relies on his trademark humor to describe “the strategies he has…
Matthew Frederick has a series of seven books titled 101 Things I Learned in (Architecture | Business | Culinary | Engineering | Fashion | Film | Law) School. They are self-described as “lessons and insights to orient the newcomer and inspire the experienced practitioner.” In each book, Frederick teams up with an expert practitioner to…
The odds are you’ve never heard of William L. McKnight. William McKnight joined Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) in 1907 as an assistant bookkeeper. At the time, the company was only five years old but had already pivoted from mining corundum to making sandpaper. Persistence and innovation was in the company DNA from the…