Fear is a powerful motivator, but one thing that fear can’t fuel is creative projects. Nothing will mute or silence your creative instincts quite like the fear of failure. And it can be difficult for high achievers in particular to let go of the exacting standards they adhere to in their work. According to author Elizabeth […]
Food for Thought: The Mindless Mishap that Unraveled Brian Wansink’s Bestseller
Is there any story more delicious than a proud man’s fall from grace? Discredited food psychologist Brian Wansink, a Cornell professor and formerly the head of the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and promotion, built his career by fanning the flames of public interest in his gimmicky food lab projects. As a frequent fixture in […]
Choosing Ease Over Excellence
Customer service is hard to get right. When customers have a terrific experience, they might mention it to a few friends. But research shows that negative experiences tend to stand out more in people’s minds—and those unhappy campers have tools like Yelp and Twitter to amplify their grievances. Authors Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick […]
How to Formulate a Battle Plan
Military strategy isn’t just for wars. It’s also a useful set of tools that can help us face life’s more mundane challenges, like meeting an ambitious sales quota. To win any battle, you’ll need more than positive affirmations and good instincts, according to self-help guru Robert Greene. The key to success is methodical planning. In THE […]
Insights on Mindset The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, written by psychology researcher Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., uncovers the differences between two core mindsets, the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. Through analysis of research and real-life accounts, Dweck examines the two mindsets and discusses why one, the growth mindset, tends to lead to a more successful and […]
The Art of Perfect Timing
As any athlete knows, it is difficult, if not impossible, to overcome an early disadvantage. In WHEN, author Daniel Pink writes about how perfect timing is often a matter of optimizing the beginning, middle, and end of projects. One of Pink’s most important observations is that getting off to a bad start is likely to […]
What to Do When You Can’t Relate
When you find it difficult to connect with someone, try to see the world from their point of view. Empathy is easy enough in theory. But in practice, the act of imagining the world through someone else’s eyes doesn’t always come naturally. Usually, the more distant and different a person’s life is from your own, the […]
A Tour of Silicon Valley
For some, Silicon Valley is a place to live and work. For others, the Valley seems so alien that it might as well be another planet. This rift has perhaps never been so clear as it is in a trio of pieces in the New York Times that ran this week about how parents in […]
Walter Isaacson’s Renaissance Men
Walter Isaacson was once labeled a “protean biographer” by the New York Times. The phrase was a clever reference to the way his writing style shifts to accommodate the demands of a given subject. As a professor of history, a journalist, a network news leader, and the head of a respected think tank, Isaacson is […]
Four Myths About Launching a Startup
Starting a new business is difficult, and it seems like every successful entrepreneur has his or her own recipe for success. But if you’re deep in the process of developing (or running) a new company, all those books about other people’s experiences may seem more overwhelming than useful. To help entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs make […]
