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Decision Frameworks Overload I’m tired of hearing about “decision models”, “frameworks”, “matrix” etc etc etc. “Charlie Munger’s secret. Do this. And boooom!” It doesn’t work. Because we’re being lazy. Mental models and frameworks don’t work on their own. The practitioner has to practice them. The way doctors have to “practice” for the rest of their lives. Input = Output Soo, let me set the ...

Imagine. There’s a gun on your head. You have to make a choice. “Time-travel to 26th April, 1984. Visit Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. And stare at its exploded core.” OR “Type out 5 pages on the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster. In 5 days.” What’s your choice? My choice? Chernobyl. I’d die staring at the Nuclear Core. But staring a blank screen? Noo! Wait. If I’m so afraid of blank-screens, how ...

“The dollar value of my time.” I don’t remember exactly when I came across this thinking pattern. And somewhere I adopted it. Initially, not in my day-to-day life. But mostly on the work front. It helped me in setting my priorities. It still does. But something unexpected began to take place. It started percolating my other areas ...

It is funny how certain we feel when we promote a product on Facebook, Instagram, or Google. We think “hmmm, I have checked all the boxes and now the technology will do the work.” And indeed, technology does its work. Our expectation is met. Our love for certainty increases with each such experience. We hit ...

A year back, I wasn’t aware of this tendency of mine. But as we learn new terms, they give us ideas. So what’s a euphemism? It is a mild or pleasant word or phrase that we use instead of one that is unpleasant or offensive. Kind of a sugar-coated thing. Have you noticed your manager or ...

How many times do we feel our efforts were not effective enough? For example, you conducted some activities with your students, employees, or the management team. People loved it. Or at least, that is what they said. And yet, you see the same patterns in their behaviour. No change. In another example, you had assembled a team ...

In my previous piece, I talked about why I stopped presenting and started conversing. But what kind of conversation? Chit-chat? Small talk? Philosophical drag? NO. A diagnostic one. Unassuming. Bias-free conversation. A good medical practitioner doesn’t cut open a patient based on his instinct. Instead, the first step is talking to the patient. Understanding his problem. Corroborating his judgement with supporting evidence. ...

Not because I got bored of presenting or because it was time-consuming. Like every other public speaker, I love presentations. Pitching a new idea. New solution. Getting the “Aha!” moment from the audience. It makes me feel accomplished. The growing anticipation, the next visual on the screen. The first look, you know. All that. I realized that ...

“I know that I’m a bad person. I lie, cheat, and hurt people. I’m an absolute monster!” No, not that monster. In fact, that’s not even a monster. That’s a normal human being. I want to talk about the monster that feels cute when he presents himself. He flatters us. Cares for us (or so he claims). ...

No, we’re not talking about artificial ear creation from stem cells. But a metaphorical one. The thing is, communication platforms have made it easy to voice out your mind. But every progress asks for something in return. In this case, we have given up our ears. Our eyes. Our observation skills. That is why it ...