I struggled with elocution while recording this episode. One might think that *checking* people are good to their word, would be so obvious and intuitive that it would never require a heuristic to manage. Yet we allow ourselves to be disoriente

"We All Have Strength Enough to Endure the Misfortunes of Others."

Sep 19th, 2022 6m 31s

I would have written a shorter episode if I only had the time. The Maxims of Francois de la Rochefoucauld (hear my struggle to pronounce it) provide this weeks heuristic, which I could reword as 'if they don't care, why should you?' damn. Why d

Nothing Works All The Time

Sep 15th, 2022 11m 49s

Nothing endures but change. In this episode dedicated to NBA All-Time Great Bill Russell, I get to compare the wisdom of Russell to that of Miyamoto Musashi my number one philosophical influence. Basically the more successful a strategy or tact

Sagan Standard ver 1.1.4

Sep 13th, 2022 10m 40s

The Sagan Standard has been lauded as expressing the basis of the scientific method, but I don't know. I really like the sound of 'Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence' but I'm just not clear on how to qualify claims and evidence

You Haven't Succeeded Until You Can Walk Away

Sep 7th, 2022 12m 44s

Life is like one of those 'Keep your hand on the car' competitions, where you haven't succeeded until you not just regain your freedom of movement, but also win the car. Gee, that's more succinct than the episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com

"If It Isn't Worth Doing, It Isn't Worth Doing Well"

Sep 5th, 2022 11m 8s

Another heuristic for the sad indictment club, an indictment not just of humanity, but the times too. People excelling at the useless screams "SURPLUS" so perhaps it isn't all bad news. And speaking of surpluses I drop a surplus of references i

Professionalism Defined

Aug 31st, 2022 15m 12s

Such a simple rule, why is it so hard to follow? And how did I manage to speak for almost 14 minutes on the subject? Personally I wish it were longer, given how rampant unprofessional conduct has become. Also worth checking out is Sam Harris' i

The Markets of "Want" and "Is"

Aug 29th, 2022 14m 57s

Can we agree in principle that we want to be sceptics? This episode is a hefty first step in trying to intelligence proof ourselves from being beguiled, bedazzled, bedecked in a foil hat... and good news! it's never been harder to be a sceptic.

The Golden, Silver and Platinum Rules in Review

Aug 27th, 2022 11m 10s

My first review of any heuristics, and this review comes in a convenient three pack. Here I hope to expound the superiority, once again of proscriptive over prescriptive. The articles I used to research 'the platinum rule' is here. Hosted on Ac

4-way Irresponsibility

Aug 27th, 2022 11m 24s

This is a deep dive into the archetypes of irresponsibility. Important, I feel, for anyone in customer service or management roles to be able to recognize in themselves and others. What I hope is having the 4 tactics pointed out to a listener,

Map-Ground Errors

Aug 17th, 2022 9m 14s

Not one of mine, but a profound one that in the magical land of "should" - should not exist. I look at three types of 'maps' that can be mistaken for grounds - organizational charts, test scores, and GDP/GNP. Alas, map ground errors abound - li

Empathy's Value Is Measured by Distance

Aug 15th, 2022 10m 33s

Empathy, empathy, empathy. One of the millenniums hottest buzzwords, and sometimes touted as a panacea for all of societies woes. But how to know if you're doing it right? Or at all? And if we're all doing it, how come it took so long to commun

Not What, But How

Aug 11th, 2022 8m 36s

I do not know how many employees share the frustration of hands on managers rendering their work redundant. But having had some time during the pandemic to manage a team that knew the ins-and-outs of their jobs far better than I could *aspire*

Hanlon's Razor

Aug 8th, 2022 11m 4s

Hanlon's razor is a heuristic in the family of Occam's Razor* and in this episode I describe how I apply it, and try to argue it's benefits for mental health including a story about a cursed bank note. Something in here to turn off the lucrativ

Don't Blame the Audience

Aug 3rd, 2022 8m 25s

My most ambitious offering yet, but relax the rule is simple. 'Don't blame the audience' is a self prohibition to avoid stagnating in our communications skills. In my experience blaming the audience is most likely an ego defense and need not be

Assuming Inefficiency

Aug 1st, 2022 8m 29s

In my fourth episode I open up a planning heuristic. "Assume Inefficiency" I couldn't find a poetic way to word it, however the wording is ironically, quite efficient at conveying its contents. Oh well 'failure must be an option' which in this

The Fundamental Rule of Taking Risks

Jul 27th, 2022 10m 10s

I was never going to go far into the heuristic woods without addressing risk taking. For a long time 'Don't risk something important, to gain something unimportant' was on the top of my list. It's certainly not the end of the discussion of risk

Failure MUST Be An Option

Jul 26th, 2022 9m 43s

Our first feature heuristic: 'Failure must be an option" What? That won't motivate the troops! Precisely. It won't motivate them to cut corners, beg, borrow and steal to get their way. Conducting business, and ourselves, ethically in an increas

Introduction to Heuristics aka Rules of Thumb

Jul 26th, 2022 5m 56s

The longest journey begins with a single step and the world of heuristics begins with a single thumb...that holds the dictionary open to the page that defines heuristics. What are heuristics and why should I care? Why does tohm care? Why would

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