You have probably heard of the growth mindset (Carol Dweck’s seminal work in development psychology). This is the recognition that the brain is a muscle – with practice, effort and nurturing, it can continue to grow and develop, a clear departure from the more fixed mindset of intelligence being an innate trait (you either have... Continue Reading →

Isaac Newton, when asked how he was able to work out some of the fundamental laws in Physics, is said to have responded: “By standing on the shoulders of giants”. A couple of centuries later, a reported asked Einstein if he believed that his stunning contributions to Physics were ‘by standing on the shoulders of... Continue Reading →

In my last post, I had made a case for expertise – and why it is important to have the necessary domain expertise in high performing teams. And not surprisingly, I got several responses arguing that experts are over-rated. Which I tend to agree with – experts are over-rated, but expertise is definitely not. The... Continue Reading →

In one of the more obscure corners of the internet, there is a raging debate going on in the chess world ('A bird-seed seller beat a chess master online. And then it got ugly') Well worth a read – here’s the nub of the issue: on chess.com, an obscure player from Indonesia rose rapidly in... Continue Reading →

The bright Data Scientist in your team has spent several intense days with a problem statement and comes to you with a bunch of Analysis and charts. She is all excited with her work – and your first question, ‘Where are the insights?’ I find some managers use this almost reflexively as a way to... Continue Reading →