Can You Judge a Book By Its Cover?
In a previous blog entry, I discussed an Economist article that showed: There is a perception that particular traits are important to good leadership, namely competence, dominance, and facial maturity. Likability and trustworthiness are not. Just by looking at a picture, we can get a sense of someone’s leadership qualities and hence their personality. In […]
Oscar Wilde Was Right
A recent blog entry of mine focused on how price impacts perception. Today’s topic is on how perception drives price. Many times, the cost of something is driven by what we paid in the past – even when the rules have changed. Seth Godin recently wrote about how Apple will be charging $3 for online […]
Increase the Price – Increase the Pleasure
I wrote a blog entry entitled, “How to Lose a Sale By Charging Too Little.” In it I describe why charging too little reduces the perception of value. According to a recent Stanford Graduate School of Business study, there are biological reasons why price impacts perception. Subjects were given a number of wines for tasting […]
Turning a Passion into a Profession
In yesterday’s Boston Sunday Globe, I was quoted in an article entitled “Turning a Passion into a Profession.” The piece shares the story of people who left their regular jobs in pursuit of their passion. Here was my contribution to the article: And his approach to realizing his dream was well-conceived because he was not […]
How to Be Present to Every Moment
Imagine the following situation. You are single and live in New Jersey just outside of New York City (NYC). Your employer wants you to work in London for a few years. You are excited about the possibility of living overseas and are interested in the job. Assuming that the costs of living for New Jersey […]
10½ Ways to Improve Your Life – By Losing
In two previous blog entries, (#1 and #2), I discussed the psychology behind risk taking. In particular, I explored why people take risks to minimize losses, yet play it safe when it comes to increasing gains. In this blog entry, I discuss a number of implications of this mindset. Here are 10½ – potentially irrational […]
How to Balance Work and Life
A few years back, I was an instructor of Stephen Covey’s “Principle Centered Leadership” course within Accenture. Over 75% of the attendees said that achieving balance in their life was their number one reason for taking the course. This is not surprising given the fast pace of life today. But what does balance mean? Balance […]
How to Get More Done…By Being Lazy
Back in 1985, I worked for Unisys (then Burroughs) as part of an engineering co-op program while in college. This gave me hands-on experience working in the production control department for this large computer manufacturer. As I was leaving the company, the department head called me the laziest person he ever met. He meant it […]
How to Perform at Optimal Levels
In the early 1900s, Robert Yerkes and J. D. Dodson developed the aptly named Yerkes-Dodson Law. The premise is that performance increases relative to motivation (they call it “arousal”) only to a point, after which performance drops. It is typically drawn as an inverted U-shaped curve. You will notice that I superimposed three “goal” concepts […]
How To Always Be On Time
Right now I am sitting in the Las Vegas airport. With an hour to kill, I decided to write this blog entry with the harmonious sound of slot machines ringing in my ears. I know so many road warriors who pride themselves in being able to get to the gate just as the doors are […]