Notes

There’s too much focus on individual performance, not enough on group performance. However, the most challenging work today is done in groups because problems are too complex for one person. Cognitive Diverse Groups Perform Better Cognitive diverse groups have less blindspots We look at the world through limited frames (see [[Mental Model]] and [[Framing]]), which make our perspective uniquely biased and contain blind spots. We are oblivious to these blind spots (= perspective blindness), which makes us underestimate how much we can learn from people with different perspectives....

Book Cover Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? Why should suicide bombers buy life insurance? Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner answered such questions in their controversial books “Freakonomics” and “Superfreakonomics”. They have a unique way of looking at problems and often find surprising insights and solutions to common problems. In “Think Like a Freak”, they write about the principles and concepts behind their thinking....

Notes on The Knowledge Project podcast episode with Shane Parrish and Kunal Shah. Lessons to be learned from the Indian business cast Kunal: I think the first lesson was, they have much lower shame than the other communities. They have very little self doubt when it comes to being shameless. I mean, they’re very hard to offend. They’re okay even if you mock them. As long as you are giving them business, they’re okay with that....

This is an acronym I came across a lot in my studies. VUCA stands for volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. It’s used to describe the world we live in and was noted as the number one reason to why we need innovation. It’s also a useful reminder for any individual or organization to avoid overconfidence. The world is volatile. It moves unpredictably and doesn’t ever really trend in one direction for long....

If you want a successful and fulfilling life, you shouldn’t optimize for happiness. Instead, Richard Meadows argues that you should focus on increasing optionality. We think happiness is a state we can arrive at. However, happiness is always relative, and we have both external and internal reference points that guide our happiness level. Because of the hedonic treadmill, you’ll need newer and stronger “happiness kicks” to get to the same level of happiness than before....