Tag Archives: psychology

What Sherlock Holmes can teach us about decision making

I’m a sucker for anything that has to do with decision making. And, I’m also a sucker for anything that has to do with Sherlock Holmes. The two go together nicely. That is why I was excited to buy Maria Konnikova’s new book, Mastermind: How to think like Sherlock Holmes.

I found this excellent video where Maria talks about some of the ideas behind her book as well as some tips on how to make more rational decisions. …

What my Mom taught me about questioning assumptions

Jorge in Innovation

WTF is this? Do you really need it? Why?

My Mom taught me to be neat. To keep things clean and organized. And for the most part, I’m like her. But one place where those lessons don’t take effect is in my propensity to keep every single printed receipt of things I buy. Not only that, but notes, biz cards, un-opened mail, and everything else that is of paper form. I keep them. And they just add up to a pile of nothing. It’s almost like I collect them unconsciously.

I still have the receipt from the first Playstation. Crazy! I just can’t help myself to throw them away.

And no, it’s not what you think. I don’t keep receipts because I count every single penny. I’m not a stickler with money. It’s something else.

Because of this, every now and then when my mom comes over to check up on me, she wipes me clean! She always ends up asking me the same question over and over: Do you really need this? If I answer yes, she’ll then ask “why?”.

And it goes on, over and over again.…

Positive Intelligence: How people and organizations can achieve their potential

Jorge in Behavior, Psychology

Happiness, behavior change, autonomy, purpose…

These words have moved into the everyday business conversation and taken on a life of their own in the last few years. They’ve spawned books and conversations. Yet few offer a systematic way towards better outcomes. And not just that, but also helping us become aware of what might be holding us back.

I think I’ve found a book that adds to the conversation, and fills that void.…

Why asking ‘WHY’ is so damn important

Jorge in Innovation, Psychology

We all think we know how most of the things we work with a on a daily basis work. Take for example your computer, how does it work? How does the screen display those icons? How does the mouse/keypad work? How does the computer know when you’ve written on the keyboard?

To answer these questions we could easily go to Wikipedia or HowStuffWorks and find out everything there is to know about computers, including how they work. But most of the explanations you’ll find are very simplistic, they’ll give you the basics. What they won’t tell you is ‘why’ they work this way. Why it is the way it is.

And that’s exactly the types of answers we should be looking for because we think we understand how most things work, but the truth is we don’t. We have an illusion of how things work. …

How Happy Accidents Happen through serendipity

Jorge in Creativity

Two weeks ago we had a serendipitous event. A happy accident. We had a scheduled meeting with a partner at 8 am on Wednesday morning and our partner didn’t make it because of family issues. What’s interesting is that our partners office is on an adjacent street to an office building that is the first of it’s kind in Latin America. It’s the first sustainable building in the region.

It is a monument to innovation in my opinion because it is designed to be environmental friendly. Owned by VIA Corporativo, the building looks unlike anything out there but the most prominent feature it has is on the inside.

It has this hole in the middle. This serves a purpose, as this is what keeps the building cool and lets in natural light. The interior decoration is made up of recycled wood and concrete that are locally sourced.…