Here is something that should bother you more than it does. Your company probably hired smart people. It might have even fought to recruit them, offered competitive salaries, and bragged about its talent pipeline. Then it placed those smart people inside a system that makes it nearly impossible for them to act smartly. This is […]
Smart People, Dumb Systems: Why Your Organization is Designed to Fail Read More »
There is a particular kind of pride people take in calling themselves perfectionists. They say it in job interviews. They whisper it like a confession that is actually a brag. “I just care too much about quality.” It sounds noble. It sounds like the mark of someone who refuses to settle. But Herbert Simon, a
Why Being a “Perfectionist” is Actually Irrational (According to a Nobel Prize Winner) Read More »
You have access to more information right now than every human who lived before 1900 combined. You carry a device in your pocket that connects you to the sum total of recorded knowledge. You can learn quantum physics at breakfast and Renaissance art history over lunch. And yet you are not meaningfully smarter than your
Your Brain is a Bottleneck: Why “Learning More” is a Waste of Time Read More »
When we measure human intelligence, we use IQ tests. When we measure computing power, we count operations per second. But how do you measure the intelligence of something bigger and stranger, like a corporation, a city government, or an entire economy? Herbert Simon spent his life answering this question, though he never put it quite
The IQ of an Effective System According to Herbert Simon Read More »