Seth's Blog : The last-minute, just-in-time, change-things gift solution: books

It took 500 years to figure out how to make something this magical, this permanent, this heartfelt... and get it delivered to you in time for the holidays, for just a few bucks. You may have heard of most of...

The last-minute, just-in-time, change-things gift solution: books

It took 500 years to figure out how to make something this magical, this permanent, this heartfelt... and get it delivered to you in time for the holidays, for just a few bucks. You may have heard of most of these, which makes them even more likely to be welcome gifts.

They are always the right size and they show you to be a person of good taste and generosity.

In the category of books I wish I'd read earlier in my career, I'd list: Do The Work, Persuadable, Anything You Want, Secrets of Closing the Sale, Start With Why, The Pursuit of Wow, New Rules, The Republic of Tea, Why David Sometimes Wins, The True Believer, The Red Queen, The Mesh, Don't Make Me Think, Software Project Survival Guide, Marketing Myopia, The Goal, Misbehaving, How to Design Cool Stuff, The Shipwrecked Mind, Body of Work...

Filed under thinking better: Getting Unstuck, Start Here Now, Book of est, Fail, Fail Again...

Worth listening to a thousand times on vinyl: Ella and Louis, A Love Supreme, Art Blakey, Herbie Hancock...

For a much needed laugh, not just a smile, but many laughs: Bizarro and The Far Side (jumbo paperback set)...

And if you want to help the people you care about catch up on my books...

The other day, someone came up to me on the subway and told me that Icarus had changed his life. That's a lot to get from a book that costs less than $20.

       

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More Recent Articles

• Avoiding bottlenecks
• We are all biased
• "I don't know the first thing about this issue"
• You've reached the beginning
• It's never enough

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Seth's Blog : Avoiding bottlenecks

A simple algorithm for most endeavors: Don't try to do things when everyone else is doing them. Just about every system degrades under stress. It costs more, takes longer, gives poorer results. The harder it is to resist the pressure...

Avoiding bottlenecks

A simple algorithm for most endeavors:

Don't try to do things when everyone else is doing them.

Just about every system degrades under stress. It costs more, takes longer, gives poorer results.

The harder it is to resist the pressure to join the crowd, the more it's worth.

       

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More Recent Articles

• We are all biased
• "I don't know the first thing about this issue"
• You've reached the beginning
• It's never enough
• Times 10

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Seth's Blog : We are all biased

That airline is biased in favor of pilots with many hours of experience. Is it possible that a newbie pilot might be safer flying this jet than someone with twenty years of daily flying? Perhaps. But it's not worth the...

We are all biased

That airline is biased in favor of pilots with many hours of experience. 

Is it possible that a newbie pilot might be safer flying this jet than someone with twenty years of daily flying? Perhaps. But it's not worth the time, the money and the risk to find out. That's why you won't see a new pilot flying the 747 you're boarding. Young pilots have to put in a ton of hours because the airlines are biased.

Everyone has a bias, because that's the only way to survive in a world where we have insufficient information. 

Bank security guards are biased against people who walk into the bank wearing a ski mask. It might be because it's cold outside, but it helps them do their job to begin each interaction with this belief.

Engineers are biased for certain suppliers or technologies. Talent bookers are biased for certain skills and demeanors.

The problem kicks in when our bias works against our goals. When our bias keeps us from exploring options that will move us forward, it needs to be replaced. When our bias cripples a society we care about, when it gets in the way of fairness, it must be re-examined.

But it's worth understanding the nuance between the bias that enables us to be successful and the one that keeps us from that very same outcome.

The best professionals are biased. And smart enough to embrace only the biases that keep them successful.

       

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More Recent Articles

• "I don't know the first thing about this issue"
• You've reached the beginning
• It's never enough
• Times 10
• The road to imperfection

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