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Be careful how you explain yourself, especially to yourself
I've always loved the Whitman quote, "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes." Once you accept the idea you have multiple identities, then you may have to get used to being unacquainted with some of them! We shouldn't rush to explain ourselves or have a reason…
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TFS: Instead of scanning the horizon, look for evidence to pile up
If you're a news junky as I am, you drink from a firehose of announcements every day. We hear 'this is changing, that's changing, watch out–so and so is going away.' I would like to suggest this: It doesn't matter. 95% of the news is useless. It's nice to know what's going on. But real…
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New things to do VS daily practice
I just finished reading two self-help books which are both quite enjoyable. Peter Bregman's 18 Minutes has many unusual tips about avoiding over-commitment and procrastination. James Altucher's Choose Yourself has the best creativity advice I've seen in a long time. Both these books are strong on the newest trend in self development: the daily practice. I…
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TFS: Beware the lucky dog
In making decisions, we avoid variance. We want to bet on a sure thing. And yet, our desire to win often overcomes us. We pick a stock or a job candidate or a restaurant because it was recently successful. We pay less attention than we should to its track record. We think we have this…
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TFS: Making up stories to remember the truth
Our brains are not wired to quickly grasp statistical realities. We crave cause and effect. Over the centuries some of our best thinkers have tried to help us grasp reality by inventing metaphors and stories that will stick in our mind, such as the "random walk." (Whether or not you believe that stock prices behave…
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Tell less and communicate more
I find one of the hardest parts of sharing good stories is to resist the temptation to tell too much. This Blog Sits at the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics: Branding and the future of advertising, 2013-May-30 by Grant McCracken The more credit and work we give the viewer, the more engagement, meaning and value…
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Seeing Houston as a work of art (in progress)
Creative Capital and the Warhol Foundation have gotten together to support writers who support contemporary art. They provide grants to accomplished writers such as Harbeer Sandhu, who says, The city of Houston, while offering artists much needed support in the form of work space, free time, gallery space, and even financial backing, lacks the supportive yet…
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Don’t swallow the story
The latest trend in advertising is to tell more stories. Of course, great advertising has always relied on stories, but direct marketing has often been very mechanical. Storytelling classes are now being promoted, and story templates can be purchased. Daniel Kahneman points out that plausibility often trumps logic. Our System 1 mind craves coherence and…
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If you believe in your business, you must be building content for it
The more you cherish your business, the more likely you are to be freaked out about the danger of saying the wrong thing. But you have to get over it, because you are just undermining the foundation of your marketing. The more is written about your business, the less important any single piece of content…
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TFS: Why you should think like a loser
Often, prejudicial thinking falls under the "Sin of Representativeness." We estimate the probability of success based on whether someone looks like a winner. How can you avoid prejudicial hiring? We are naturally drawn to likeable candidates that fit our expectations. Daniel Kahneman: Thinking, Fast and Slow: You surely understand in principle that worthless information should…
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