David Brooks wrote an editorial this week for The New York Times about the “choice explosion” that’s taken place over the last 30 years. He writes that we have “more choices over more things than any other culture in human history” whether it is choosing between a diverse group of foods, news outlets, lifestyles and/or identities. His point: Making decisions…
Welcome to my new website dedicated to the AREA Method. Each month in this space I will write about my work as a consultant, journalist and teacher, how the AREA Method has played out for others and about research articles that discuss aspects of decision making, process, cognitive biases, learning, perspective-taking and more. Why spend time on decision-making? Because even…
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…
Recently I read an article on the Farnam Street blog called Incentives Gone Wrong: Cobras, Severed Hands and Shea Butter that recounts two historical events that nicely demonstrate the importance of perspective-taking. The author writes: “During British colonial rule of India, the government began to worry about the number of venomous cobras in Delhi, and so instituted a reward for…
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…
I read in a newspaper article this week that this year is the 150th anniversary of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s masterpiece Crime and Punishment. I first read this gripping novel in high school, but now, decades later, I still recall it vividly. And I’m obviously not alone. This classic was so popular when it first came out after the destitute Dostoyevsky feverishly…
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