Could the secret to great performance lie in an uneven distribution of our time and effort? Take the case of Usain Bolt, the fastest sprinter in history. Researchers just determined that he has an off-beat stride: his legs are different lengths so he strikes the pavement with different levels of force. Scientists at Southern Methodist University, leading biometrics experts on…
Facebook recently announced that it is adding 3,000 hires to its already almost 5,000-strong news department in order to streamline what users can share on the site and to control for incidents of “fake news.” By monitoring posts more carefully, the thinking goes, it may be able to limit stories, videos and posts that may have misinformation or other repugnant…
Right now high school seniors everywhere are faced with a high stakes decision about which college they will go to. It’s a decision that will have a long-term impact on their lives, where the outcome is unknown and the price for making the wrong decision could be very costly. Many seniors select a school based upon the reputation that it…
What problems are today’s high-schoolers wrestling with? How do I get an academic scholarship? How do I create a budget and save money? How do I make friends at the new school I’m going to next year? Can I continue to live with my mom? These were just a few high-stakes problems that high schoolers needed to solve this month…
What do President Trump and New England Patriot’s quarterback Tom Brady have in common? A knack for rapid decision making. That’s a risky proposition, given that decision making for complex issues deserves time and attention. But that’s also in part why Sunday’s Super Bowl was so exciting and why our President’s recent actions are so problematic. During the Super Bowl…
I was recently honored to speak at the Milken Institute London Summit on the Future Of Europe after Brexit and the overwhelming takeaway that I came home with is this: European politicians and pundits said that they regretted their ‘assumption’ that globalization was going to be the rising tide that lifts all boats. The assumption, they said, was that “better…
Donald Trump’s victory was a surprise. How come? With all of the legions of pundits, commentators and pollsters, how did so many experts make the same mistake, and how can we as decision makers do a better job of understanding the data before us? The AREA Method teaches that in research and decision making we need to carefully distinguish between…
In life things are not always as they seem. But in today’s fast paced world we tend to rush to judgement. We let assumptions and biases guide our actions and our perception of the world. War provides a stark example of the false stories that we accept all too quickly and with deadly consequences. For example, The New York Times…
The NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks aren’t a very good basketball team – yet. The team is in the rebuilding phase and in the 2015-16 season yielded only 33 wins and 49 losses, not good enough for the playoffs. In the spring draft a few weeks ago, the team drafted Thon Maker, a player born in the Sudan. While Maker has a…
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