There’s a misconception that the purpose of experts is to tell you what to do. That’s not right. What they do is help you think. Imagine that you are a person making a momentous decision. You could be the CEO of a large company pondering an acquisition, a consumer deciding whether or not to buy…
Isaac Asimov turned 100 years old yesterday. It’s a shame he didn’t live to see it, because we could use a man like him right now. My admiration for Asimov started when I was very young. I read everything of his that I could get my hands on, since his highly accessible writing made it…
I’ve advised CEOs. I’ve stood by the bedside of loved ones and helped make health care decisions. In a lot of ways, it feels like the same thing. In both situations: The decisions are important and have long-lasting consequences. People must often make decisions when they are tired. Competing experts offer conflicting advice. It’s hard…
If you were taking wagers on what I’d write about in this space, sincere praise for a letter from a Baptist minister would seem a very poor bet. Here’s what happened: President Trump got upset with Jonathan Karl of ABC News for reporting on the President’s claim that Alabama was in the path of a…
Some people are awesome at what they do. Other people are just as excellent, but they can write a book about it. Let’s take a close look at what makes the difference. To start, I want you to think about the thing you know that nobody else seems to know, the thing you are passionate…
In the New York Times, Kevin Roose writes “Don’t Scoff at Influencers. They’re Taking Over the World.” Sorry, dude. I’m scoffing. Bigtime. Here’s some of what Roose wrote: [T]he teenagers and 20-somethings who have mastered these platforms [like TikTok] — and who are often dismissed as shallow, preening narcissists by adults who don’t know any…
Strategy generates better, cheaper, more permanent solutions. But it does require thinking a bit . . . I had a problem. There were raccoons in my ceiling. Next to my basement there is an unheated, unfinished space with a dirt floor. They burrowed into this space, squeezed into the ceiling above it, and then migrated…
I made a career out of telling important people things they might not want to hear. In my time as a technology analyst I spoke with CEOs, presidents, founders, and management teams at ABC, Best Buy, Cablevision, Charles Schwab, Cisco, Clear Channel, Comcast, Conde Nast, Cox, Discovery, EMI, HBO, Haier, Hearst, Home Depot, Intuit, Lifetime,…
Some people appear to know everything about a topic area. They’re respected, but they rarely get to be leaders. Other knowledgeable people have enormous influence. What’s the difference? Frameworks. Thinking frameworks. As you learn about a given area, you accumulate knowledge and fit it together in your mind. Eventually, given enough sustained study, you gather…