Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

Everything is Obvious once we Know the Answer

In 1994, Jeff Bezos left a stable, well-paying job in a hedge fund company to start selling books over the internet. Having learned degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, he had been working on building network and web-based tools for other companies. The rapid growth of Internet use and a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling# that exempted mail order companies from collecting sales taxes in states where they lacked a physical presence tipped the scale in his decision. It's easy to look back now and say it was a good decision all these years, and success, later. Everything is... Read more →

Compound Effects in Influence

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to have more influence on how things turn out despite them often having no formal power? Maybe we're getting many things right, hitting all the high notes on personal, social, and structural motivation and ability, and yet we may not be working on the right things. This is where the difference between power and status can help us understand better what's going on. Power and status are two major dimensions in social hierarchy. When we have no power, it is status that helps us be heard. Because status is something we earn... Read more →

Energizing Commerce, Literally

Matthew Crawford is a motorcycle mechanic with a Ph.D. in philosophy. In Shop Class as Soulcraft he explains why he quit a job at a think tank to run a repair show. He owns and operates Shockoe Moto, an independent motorcycle repair shop in Richmond, Virginia. Working with our hands is conducive to deep and productive reflection. He says manual workers are in touch with objective reality and must satisfy objective standards of excellence, whereas office workers spend much of their professional time managing perceptions of themselves. Touche'. Many scientific theories about the world began as observations by craftspeople in... Read more →

Mapping Innovation with Greg Satell

“The future is already here ― it's just not very evenly distributed yet.” [William Gibson] This is one of my favorite quotes, because I've found it to be so true. It's true in highly regulated industries, it's true in companies that are still reaping the benefits of what used to work and are not looking outside that yet, and it's true of our lives as well. We do love to talk about innovation ― do a search and Google pulls up 656 million entries for the word alone. But do we know what it is and how we go about... Read more →

Five Characteristics of a Critical Thinker

A journalist taught me about critical thinking in writing and editing. The importance of vetting and uncovering more than one side to a story. This is where critical thinking comes in. We think critically when we're able to determine the meaning and significance of what we observe or hear, paying attention to inference or an argument to determine if there's adequate justification to accept the conclusion as true. The five characteristics below can help us determine the extent of our familiarity with the use of critical thinking in our work and life: 1. raising important questions and problems, formulating them... Read more →

The Effects of Groupthink

Research psychologist Irvin Janis wrote about the effects groupthink in decision-making, making important contributions to the study of group dynamics. Notable among his books are Victims of Groupthink published in 1972. He defined groupthink as: the mode of thinking that persons engage in when consensus seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in group that it tends to override a realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action. These dynamics could sabotage any group, including those that go under the benign name of tribe, when it sets itself above the law and tries to protect itself at all costs. Our social... Read more →

Thriving at Work: It's Not About Working Harder or Even Smarter

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” [George Bernard Shaw] Education is a good way of helping customers become better buyers when the product or service is complex, it's something we employ successfully in businesses catering to other businesses where there's more than one person... Read more →