Strategy

. . .  to help you avoid your biases Today’s Tuesday Reading turns again to focus on another aspect of bias, how to keep our minds from falling for bad advice.   In the March 6, 2018 Tuesday Reading Biases, we noted that an individual’s personal cognitive biases can be helpful and adaptive, and also that they may […]

. . . Between Work and the Rest of Your Life Many of us have a difficult time of putting down our work to turn to the rest of our lives – time with family and friends, attending sports or other activities our children participate in, taking a walk in the woods, …  It’s a […]

Today, in the United States some four out of every five individuals age 5 and older have some type of cell phone.  And, most of these have sufficient functionality to be called smartphones.  This is in stark contrast to the time when I was growing up in a small rural southeast Texas town.  Then and […]

Sometimes we need to react fast, automatically.  For example, as we see a large truck speeding towards us as we are standing in the edge of the street waiting for a traffic light to change.  Or, as we observe the subtle cues of a very dissatisfied client.  And, at a different time, we may find […]

Steven Westlund is the author of today’s Tuesday Reading.  He is the Director of Enterprise Applications Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis.  His essay first appeared as a leadership program reflection earlier this year.  [Steve may be reached at [email protected].]   A few weekends ago, my wife and I watched Alexandra Dean’s documentary, Bombshell: the Hedy Lamarr […]

… When Hiring Staff Last week’s Tuesday Reading focused on cognitive biases, forces that can influence an “individual’s personal construction of his or her social reality.” This personal construction and not the objective input received from your senses may dictate your behavior in the social world.  As a result, cognitive biases may sometimes lead to perceptual […]

… “If you have a brain, you’re biased.”1    The Cambridge English Dictionary defines bias as a “personal opinion that influences your judgment.”  We all have such personal opinions.   Cognitive biases2, 3 are systematic deviations from the norm as individuals create their own “subjective social reality” based on their perception of the information they are receiving from […]

Brian McDonald is the author of today’s Tuesday Reading. He is the president of MOR Associates an organization he founded in 1983 based on the belief that many organizations do not maximize the contribution most people want to make at work. More recently, he has led the development of the MOR family of leadership programs.   During […]

… Your Path to a Successful Day   The January 16th Tuesday Reading, Leveraging Practices, by Brian McDonald introduced the concept of a practice – “a bridge to help individuals travel from having aspirations to become better, to actually developing the new skills and behaviors to enable her or him to be more effective.  Practices are the […]

… the practice of being alone with your thoughts   When we think of solitude, if indeed we ever turn to that subject, we may be apprehensive and cringe at the thought of being alone and the silence that implies.  Researchers have noted that most people would prefer to do just about anything rather than […]