It’s Not Over Until It’s Over, And Even Then . . .

It’s a jittery time of year. I’m not talking about elections. I’m talking about baseball. In 2023, Major League Baseball teams played 2,471 games. At the end of each, some people went home happy, some disappointed, and presumably some just went for the peanuts and hot dogs and didn’t care. The intensity of those feelings […]

The Map is not the Terrain

A geodetic map shows terrain lines. It’s helpful if you plan to hike, bike, or ride across the land. An Atlas (the old kind printed on paper) sections the landscape into “states” or “countries” and highlights “cities” and parks and mountains and maybe roads. A road map sections the landscape in standard increments and highlights […]

We All Want Control

“Control” and “connection” are paired but opposed ideas. A sales conversation that feels like a battle for control versus one that feels like a connection will yield very different outcomes. This motivation for control is deeply rooted in a desire for predictability, certainty, autonomy, independence, influence, and power. Most of us fear chaos, many fear […]

We Don’t Talk Enough About Moral Hazard

At least, most of us don’t. Every time I pick up a chainsaw, I am the person bearing the risk and the person who will bear the cost of whatever happens next.  Hopefully, it’s just tree limbs falling to the ground. If it’s some part of me, well, I have health insurance, and yes, there […]

Relax. Breathe. Wait.

Today, candidate Harris announced her pick for Vice President. It wasn’t who I was expecting. Why was I expecting someone else? Because the people I read were goofy for someone else. They had a logic.  They are so convinced of it, they called the other person, the Lebron James of the field. This same day, […]

I Used to be an ENTJ

I used to be an ENTJ. Now, I’m an INFP. Or maybe an ISFP. These, of course, refer to MBTI Personality Types. Actually, I don’t think I was ever really an E. I just played one. It’s not that I don’t T anymore. It’s just that I do more F. Or at least I’m more […]

Millions of Years of Biology Wrapped in Thousands of Years of Civilization

We evolved in “Middle Earth.” For most of our time on this earth, we lived where the temperatures were moderate, the distances we traveled were short, and the things around us were of a scale we could handle. The heavens above were a big mystery. We didn’t need to make many choices, and our biology […]

N+1

How many fountain pens are the right number to own? Seems like a silly, first-world kind of question. The inside joke with pen collectors is, “Just one more.” I’ve heard the same answer from people who are into motorcycles, cameras, lenses, carving knives, and lots more. The same idea shows up in our daily activities. […]

Our Models (Easily) go Haywire When our Chemistry Rages.

Decisions we think daft in the cold light of day make perfect sense when we’re sexually aroused or angry. The same is true when we become fixated on achieving a goal we associate with some basic emotion. The amygdala (reptile brain) is not a friend of rational thought. Big decisions are like operating heavy equipment: […]

We (Easily) Assume the Future Will be Like the Past

We take the same route to work every day without thought, and usually, it works just fine. We do this because of a specific mental model that says, “What worked in the past will work the same way in the future.” If traffic is bad, the consequences aren’t usually enough to cause us to change. […]