Innovation

How to Handle Burnout Symptoms

Transcript: We all know that some stress is good for you, right? I mean, performers and athletes claim that stress keeps their skills sharp and motivates them to achieve their personal best. Stress is the subject of plenty of scientific research. The Yerkes–Dodson law is just one piece of data that illustrates how performance increases ...

Constraints Are Good for Innovation

Transcript: Way back in 1960, Theo Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, he accepted a bet with his publisher Bennett Cerf. Cerf challenged Geisel to write a book using only 50 different words, and the result became Green Eggs and Ham, which went on to sell over 200 million copies and is now one of ...

You’re Trying to Hire the Wrong People

What do you think is the average age of the founders of most new companies? Or an even better question is, what do you think the average age is of founders of high-growth startups? The kind of start-ups that take off and scale and grow quickly? Do you think it’s 25 years old, 35, 45, ...

Who Are You Designing Your Learning For?

Remember the swings on your playground from childhood? Remember how they’re built? There’s a wooden or hard rubber seat and two long chains hanging from a metal bar. That design inherently either invites someone to run to it and play, or not. The swing requires people with two arms and legs, a certain degree of ...

A More Powerful Way to Build Habits

I’m trying to play more guitar. So I took the guitar out of the closet, tuned it up, and keep it by my desk, within reach. It works. I play more. It’s a small, simple habit stack that helps me achieve a small goal. But what about longer term goals, bigger goals – the kind ...

Why You Should Surprise People Sometimes

Remember that weird feeling when you’re in 5th grade and you see your teacher at the grocery store, just picking out bananas like a normal human? And it’s really strange because she doesn’t belong at the grocery store. She belongs in math class. Like, what’s she doing here? Or you see your mean, yelling gym ...