Learning

Speed up to Slow Down. And Other Secrets of Great Coaches.

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden In 1974 Ronald Gallimore and Roland Tharp were psychology students on the campus of UCLA. On the other side of Westwood Boulevard, across from the academic side of campus is Pauley Pavilion, where John ...

A Small Shift to Ask More Powerful Questions

Typewriters with ribbons, developed in the 1950s, were excellent at speeding up typists, but not so good at erasing their mistakes. Bette Nesmith Graham was a typist by day, and a painter by night. She wondered, “What if I could cover up my typing mistakes the same way I cover up my painting mistakes?” She ...

Your New Idea Is Not Where You Think It Is

In the 1950s, in rural Oklahoma, at a place called Robbers Cave, several researchers performed an experiment we would find unethical today. They invited twenty-two eleven-year-old boys to participate in a three week camp. The researchers advertised a wholesome summer camp experience. The experience they delivered was very different. What the researchers actually did was ...

When Are You at Your Best?

What are you thinking about when you are thinking about the things you have to do? What are you thinking about when you are thinking about obligation? Now, what are you thinking about when you are thinking about the things you get to do? What are you thinking about when you are thinking about opportunity? ...

Thinking for Yourself and the Art of Intelligent Disobedience

What if your boss asks you to do something you think is wrong? What if there are practices your company engages in that are just ridiculous, or redundant? Or worse, what if there is an institutionalized process in your company that you think is flat-out unethical? Maybe you work in a look-the-other-way culture, or a ...

Better Decisions Begin with More Beautiful Questions

Recently our family traveled to the Virgin Islands for a vacation. Our daily choices were pretty much reading, swimming, hiking, and sunsets. And snorkeling in beautiful warm water with beautiful, strange creatures. Almost every day we would pick a beach, pack a lunch, towels and swimming gear, and head off on a small adventure. And ...