I make my living by identifying patterns. Whether it’s making sense of consumer needs, looking at what’s going on in the world of commerce to identify trends or opportunities, or helping a colleague get better at what they do, it all follows a similar logic: These are some things we’ve seen a few times. Here’s [...]
Archive for the ‘Decision Making’ Category
Patterns vs. Instances
Posted in Decision Making, tagged analysis, discipline on September 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Interpreting a crisis: when what’s ‘true’ isn’t really what’s true
Posted in Decision Making, tagged breast cancer, gut, learning, truth on August 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A few months ago, I was speaking with a client who I’ve become friends with over a couple of years of working together. She has 7 year old twin boys and my monkeys are three, so in addition to talking about work I often turn to her for twin management advice. She’s super smart, has [...]
Reasoning by analogy: why a rolling pin is not like a cake pan
Posted in Decision Making, tagged analogies, Backyardigans, birtday parties, HBR, strategy on June 10, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The other day, I was reminded about an article that I read in the Harvard Business Review a few years ago on reasoning by analogy, How Strategists Really Think.
The basic premise of the article is that while reasoning by analogy can be a really great tool for strategic thinking, it’s equally likely to mislead companies. [...]
Will my dreams come true?
Posted in Decision Making, tagged Hillary Clinton, leadership, Obama on June 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Amid all of the rumor mongering about the Clinton campaign today, I spotted this. Hillary is reportedly ‘open’ to a veep role. I think an Obama/Clinton team is unbeatable. And I love the idea of a visionary leader backed by a no-nonsense go-getter.
I’ve heard that some ‘feminist’ groups don’t like the idea of Clinton taking [...]
More work or more sex? Shouldn’t that be an easy question?
Posted in Decision Making, tagged overwork, sex, work/life on March 5, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Another bonus of visiting our family in Orlando is that my sister-in-law always has lots of great magazines. The March 2008 issue of Redbook quoted a study by the University of Gottingen in Germany about the relationship between sex and work.
According to the study, 35% of women who have sex once a week and 46% of [...]
When success does not equal succeeding
Posted in Decision Making, Uncategorized, tagged experiments, failure, learning, prototyping on February 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
My husband and I are experimenting with new ways of handling childcare for the two monkeys and household responsibilities in lieu of a nanny. We’re trying longer days in school, and adding a day, plus hiring a dog walker for when I’m out of town, and asking my mother-in-law for some mid-week help.
It feels like [...]
When to toss instinct out the window
Posted in Decision Making, tagged childcare, client management, consulting, gut, learning on February 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
One of my Strengthsfinders strengths that I’ve always identified with is input, which means that I’m a collector of information. In my case, it means that I’m an information addict, filing pieces away in my brain, overloading on data, never shirking a web search when more information might be out there that might be able to help me in [...]
Inspiring constituents — for today or for tomorrow?
Posted in Decision Making, tagged Hillary, leadership, Obama, women on February 4, 2008 | 1 Comment »
In 16 Ways of Looking at a Female Voter in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine, Linda Hirshman wrote about how women engage with politics. What I found particularly compelling is the idea that when a women holds office or runs for office, other women are more likely to be engaged in politics. They pay more attention, are more [...]
Innovator’s Dilemma plays out in South Carolina Primary…and in my house!
Posted in Decision Making, tagged childcare, Clayton Christensen, innovation, innovator's dilemma, nanny, Obama, South Carolina primary on January 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had a great article about how Obama is trying a new approach to win South Carolina. In the past, the way to win in the South has always been to use established networks and leaders, get the endorsements or preachers and politicians, and roll on to victory. In part because Hillary [...]
Trust your gut
Posted in Decision Making, tagged analysis paralysis, gut, sick kids on December 13, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
This morning, my kids were acting strange. They were whiny and cried a lot, and one of them had woken up several times in the middle of the night – all of which are, thankfully, unusual behaviors in our household.
I tried to tell whether they were sick or not by taking their temperatures, but they [...]
