The composer Igor Stravinsky, when he got stuck in the middle of creating one his innovative modernist compositions, would take a break to stand on his head. (This story, along with many other accounts of the work routines of creative individuals, can be found in the book Daily Rituals by Mason [...]
Have you had the experience of being skeptical about something until someone you respect causes you to change your mind? I have been a little suspicious of the notion of “wearable tech” (c’mon, my phone isn’t enough of an intrusion on my peace of mind?). But my colleague Chris Cancialosi of [...]
You’re probably not any keener than I am to think of yourself as an overgrown rat in a lab, obsessively pushing buttons to get rewards and avoid punishments. Of course that’s not all we are (otherwise I couldn’t type this and you couldn’t read it), but there are substantial portions of our [...]
Seattle has grown nearly 20% since 2010. This change has all sorts of consequences, but the one that may affect me the most is a collective breakdown in the civility of driving behavior. When I moved here from San Francisco in 1989, the driving customs seemed almost quaint. Getting through a 4-way [...]
Change is hard. Hermits sitting alone on a mountaintop for decades, attempting to perfect their souls, know this. Sports teams trying to improve their records know this (believe me, I’ve been a Seattle Mariners fan for 20 years and this is definitely true). And of course you know it too, from [...]
In ThinkerToys, Michael Michalko has a category of creative thinking activities he calls “rechoreographing”. The essence of this work is to apply the attributes of the problem you’re trying to solve to a preexisting framework. A SWOT (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threat) analysis is one [...]
“Please see me.” If you’ve ever seen those words written on a term paper, or had them texted to you from your boss, then you know the sensation of dread that goes with them. There are other kinds of dread, too, that come with the words “we need to talk,” or “I’m very disappointed in [...]
You can’t do a lot to change the way your hardwired biases operate. But there are ways to skillfully deploy your biases to minimize their negative impact. Buster Benson, of the Better Humans website, points out that one particular bias can be a handy ally. “Confirmation bias” describes your [...]
“If you want to understand someone, walk a mile in their shoes.” I was in a certification course recently where one of the primary characteristics of the group was the varied and interesting shoes the participants wore. Phyllis wore a different (and fabulous) pair of shoes for every one of our [...]
The war room in Doctor Strangelove, Mission Control in Apollo 13—places where people gather to debate and make decisions can get pretty intense. That’s why it’s especially important to find ways to bring curious and open present-moment awareness to the conversations that happen in physical and[...]