How to Make Mistakes; “Instead of turning away in denial when you make a mistake, you should become a connoisseur of your own mistakes, turning them over in your mind as if they were works of art, which in a way they are.”

How to Make Mistakes

by SHANE PARRISH on JUNE 6, 2013

In Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking, Daniel Dennett, one of the world’s leading philosophers offers a trove of mind-stretching thought experiments, which he calls “imagination-extenders and focus-holders” (intuition pumps). They allow us to “think reliably and even gracefully about really hard questions.”

The first intuition pump is on mistakes.

History Rhymes

The history of philosophy is in large measure the history of very smart people making very tempting mistakes, and if you don’t know the history, you are doomed to making the same darn mistakes all over again.

Learning

Mistakes are not just opportunities for learning; they are, in an important sense, the only opportunity for learning or making something truly new. Before there can be learning, there must be learners. There are only two non-miraculous ways for learners to come into existence: they must either evolve or be designed and built by learners that evolved. Biological evolution proceeds by a grand, inexorable process of trial and error — and without the errors the trials wouldn’t accomplish anything.

Evolution is the Enabling Process of Knowledge

Evolution is one of the central themes of this book, as all my books, for the simple reason that it is the central, enabling process not only of life but also of knowledge and learning and understanding. If you attempt to make sense of the world of ideas and meanings, free will and morality, art and science and even philosophy itself without a sound and quite detailed knowledge of evolution, you have one hand tied behind your back. … For evolution, which knows nothing, the steps into novelty are blindly taken by mutations, which are random copying “errors” in DNA.

The Key to Good Mistakes

The chief trick to making good mistakes is not to hide them — especially not from yourself. Instead of turning away in denial when you make a mistake, you should become a connoisseur of your own mistakes, turning them over in your mind as if they were works of art, which in a way they are. The fundamental reaction to any mistake ought to be this: “Well, I won’t do that again!” Natural selection doesn’t actually think the thought; it just wipes out the goofers before they can reproduce; natural selection won’t do that again, at least not as often. Animals that can learn—learn not to make that noise, touch that wire, eat that food—have something with a similar selective force in their brains. (B. F. Skinner and the behaviorists understood the need for this and called it “reinforcement” learning; that response is not reinforced and suffers “extinction.”) We human beings carry matters to a much more swift and efficient level. We can actually think the thought, reflecting on what we have just done: “Well, I won’t do that again!” And when we reflect, we confront directly the problem that much be solved by any mistake-maker: what, exactly, is that? What was it about what I just did that got me into all this trouble? The trick is to take advantage of the particular details of the mess you’ve made, so that your next attempt will be informed by it and not just another blind stab in the dark. Read more of this post

Negative Emotions Are Key to Well-Being; Feeling sad, mad, critical or otherwise awful? Surprise: negative emotions are essential for mental health

Negative Emotions Are Key to Well-Being

Feeling sad, mad, critical or otherwise awful? Surprise: negative emotions are essential for mental health

By Tori Rodriguez  | Wednesday, June 5, 2013 | 40

A client sits before me, seeking help untangling his relationship problems. As a psychotherapist, I strive to be warm, nonjudgmental and encouraging. I am a bit unsettled, then, when in the midst of describing his painful experiences, he says, “I’m sorry for being so negative.”

A crucial goal of therapy is to learn to acknowledge and express a full range of emotions, and here was a client apologizing for doing just that. In my psychotherapy practice, many of my clients struggle with highly distressing emotions, such as extreme anger, or with suicidal thoughts. In recent years I have noticed an increase in the number of people who also feel guilty or ashamed about what they perceive to be negativity. Such reactions undoubtedly stem from our culture’s overriding bias toward positive thinking. Although positive emotions are worth cultivating, problems arise when people start believing they must be upbeat all the time. Read more of this post

Can Positive Thinking Be Negative? Research suggests limits to looking on the sunny side of life

Can Positive Thinking Be Negative?

Research suggests limits to looking on the sunny side of life

By Scott O. Lilienfeld and Hal Arkowitz  | Tuesday, June 7, 2011 | 9

“Accentuate the positive,” the 1944 song by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen cheerfully implored us. From Benjamin Franklin’s 1750 Poor Richard’s Almanack(which advised readers that “sorrow is good for nothing but sin”) to today’s parade of motivational speakers, Americans have long embraced an optimistic, “can-do” attitude toward life. Plug “positive thinking” into Amazon.com, and you will find a never-ending supply of products designed to help us see life through rose-colored lenses, including a “Power of Positive Thinking” wall calendar and an “Overcoming Adversity with Encouragement and Affirmation” poster series.

In fact, however, positivity is not all it is cracked up to be. Although having an upbeat attitude undoubtedly has its benefits, gains such as better health and wealth from high spirits remain largely undemonstrated. What is more, research suggests that optimism can be detrimental under certain circumstances. Read more of this post

The business lessons behind Disney’s magical experiences

The business lessons behind Disney’s magical experiences

Caitlyn Coverly, Special to Financial Post | 13/06/07 | Last Updated:13/06/06 12:16 PM ET

Michael Colglazier, President of Disneyland Resort, speaks prior to the premiere of Disney’s new stage show “Mickey and the Magical Map” at Disneyland on May 23, 2013 in Anaheim, California.

Last week, 250 GTA business professionals participated in “Disney’s Approach to Business Excellence,” an all day workshop offered through the Disney Institute and organized by McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business in partnership with the Certified General Accountants of Ontario (CGA).

Workshop attendees watched case studies, answered questions, and participated in several group exercises led by Bryan Tabler and Amy Rossi, two facilitators from the Disney Institute and veteran employees of Disney.  The goal of the day was to learn the strategies Disney believes are key to the successful maintenance of The Walt Disney Company. These strategies are regarded as Disney’s five universal assets of a successful business — also known as the Disney Chain of Excellence — made up of leadership excellence, cast excellence, guest satisfaction and financial results/repeat business. Read more of this post

Too much of a good thing: Leaders need to learn to beware of their strengths

Too much of a good thing: Leaders need to learn to beware of their strengths

Jun 8th 2013 |From the print edition

IT IS only natural for leaders to try to make the most of their strengths. The theory of comparative advantage directs people, as well as countries and firms, to focus on what they are good at. Management experts have tended to concur: one of the bestselling business books of recent years is called “Now Discover Your Strengths”, by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton. When business schools (and indeed business columnists) profile bosses, they often assume that more is better. But is this right? Three more recent books express some doubts. In “Fear Your Strengths”, Robert Kaplan and Robert Kaiser argue that “what you are best at could be your biggest problem.” Forcefulness can become bullying; decisiveness can turn into pigheadedness; niceness can develop into indecision. Read more of this post

Deluded bosses: Who’s behind me? The powerful overestimate the support of underlings

Deluded bosses: Who’s behind me? The powerful overestimate the support of underlings

Jun 8th 2013 |From the print edition

HISTORY is littered with powerful people undone by hubris. Julius Caesar should have ignored the cheers of the Roman crowd and paid heed to the soothsayer. The late Steve Jobs overplayed his hand at Apple as a young man and was kicked out of the company he founded. And then there was Jimmy Cayne.

When Mr Cayne walked out of Bear Stearns for the last time, having been eased out as boss of the ailing bank, he claimed there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Through the tears, he wistfully recalls, heart-broken bankers sent him on his way with a standing ovation. This is not how his staff remember it. So disliked was he that according to “House of Cards”, a book by William Cohan, underlings would ask in meetings: “Is Jimmy staying on? [Because] we’re not coming back for another year of this shit.” Read more of this post

The Hot New M.B.A.: Supply-Chain Management; More Schools Are Ramping Up Their Programs, Adding Majors and Concentrations as Employer Demand Grows

Updated June 5, 2013, 7:46 p.m. ET

The Hot New M.B.A.: Supply-Chain Management

More Schools Are Ramping Up Their Programs, Adding Majors and Concentrations as Employer Demand Grows

By MELISSA KORN

Call it a problem of supply and demand.

With global operations becoming more complex, companies in manufacturing, retail and technology—and the consulting firms that service them—are scrambling to hire people with supply-chain expertise. But these experts are hard to come by.

Sensing growing demand, more than a half-dozen universities have recently introduced undergraduate majors, M.B.A. concentrations and even entire degree programs dedicated to procurement, inventory management and global supply-chain strategy. Read more of this post

Humanities Fall From Favor; Far Fewer Harvard Students Express Interest in Field With Weak Job Prospects

June 6, 2013, 12:15 a.m. ET

Humanities Fall From Favor

Far Fewer Harvard Students Express Interest in Field With Weak Job Prospects

By JENNIFER LEVITZ and DOUGLAS BELKIN

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The humanities division at Harvard University, for centuries a standard-bearer of American letters, is attracting fewer undergraduates amid concerns about the degree’s value in a rapidly changing job market.

A university report being released Thursday suggests the division aggressively market itself to freshmen and sophomores, create a broader interdisciplinary framework to retain students and build an internship network to establish the value of the degree in the workforce. Read more of this post

Former England cricketer Paul Collingwood lost more than £300,000 of life savings in risky unregulated investments; Many unregulated schemes promise generous upfront tax breaks and the promise of double-digit returns

Former cricketer Paul Collingwood’s investment dreams end in ashes

The former England cricketer Paul Collingwood and his wife are suing their financial adviser, claiming that he lost more than £300,000 of their life savings in risky unregulated investments.

The victims of advisers who sell risky financial schemes include top sports stars Photo: REUTERS

By Emma Simon

7:00AM BST 08 Jun 2013

They have issued a High Court writ against their adviser, Roderick Langham, who worked for Cheshire-based Sigma Wealth Management, which advised a number of other sports stars and has since gone into liquidation.

Mr Collingwood said he had instructed the firm to invest his money for retirement, not gamble it on racy unregulated ventures. Read more of this post

Fiduciary Duty to Cheat? Stock Market Super-Star Jim Chanos Reveals the Perverse New Mindset of Financial Fraudsters

Fiduciary Duty to Cheat? Stock Market Super-Star Jim Chanos Reveals the Perverse New Mindset of Financial Fraudsters

April 1, 2013  |

Editor’s note: This article is the first in a new AlterNet series, “The Age of Fraud.”

Hustlers. Cheaters. Crooks. American business has always had them, and sometimes they’ve been punished. But today, those who cheat and put the rest of us at risk are often getting off scot-free. The recent admission of Attorney General Eric Holder [3] that systemically dangerous megabanks may escape prosecution because of their size has opened a new chapter in fraud history. If you know your company won’t be prosecuted, a perverse logic says that you shouldcheat and make as much money for shareholders as you can.

Jim Chanos is one of America’s best-known short-sellers, famed for his early detection [4] of Enron’s fraudulent practices. In deciding which companies to short (short-sellers make their money when the price of a stock or security goes down), Chanos acts as a kind of financial detective, scrutinizing companies for signs of overvaluation and shady practices that fool outsiders into tlhinking that they are prospering when they may be on shaky financial footing. Chanos teaches a class at Yale on the history of financial fraud, instructing students in how to look for signs of cheating and criminal activity. I caught up with Chanos in his New York office to ask what’s driving the current era of rampant fraud, who is to blame, what can be done, and the ways in which fraud costs us financially and socially. Read more of this post