People, books, and breakthrough ideas—connected to the mental models and moves you can use.
3,456 entries
Rank options by how bad their worst plausible outcome is, then pick the one whose bad case is least bad. Averages and upside get ignored on purpose. Use it when a single bad scenario would end the game, and say out loud whose bad case you are protecting.
Compare the gain with construction, reading, switching, and maintenance cost for the actual person and setting. A useful map may still cost more than it saves.
A four-step decision process designed to counteract the four most common decision-making biases, developed by Chip and Dan Heath
Theodore Wright's empirical observation that the cost of producing something decreases by a consistent percentage every time cumulative production doubles—typically 10-25% cost reduction per doubling
Wu wei is a Daoist idea of nonaction or non-forcing, often concerning action and governance without unnecessary interference
Kahneman's acronym for the mind's tendency to construct the best possible story from available information—without considering what information is MISSING
A team approach associated with Deborah Ancona and colleagues that combines purposeful external activity with coordinated internal execution
The systematic failure where investors seeking higher returns take on escalating, poorly understood risks—a pattern that reliably precedes financial crises
Yin-yang concerns relational and complementary aspects within Chinese philosophical traditions
Look for the pairing of overcorrection with delayed feedback that drives oscillation.
Zakat is the obligatory annual wealth tax in Islam -- one of the Five Pillars -- requiring Muslims who hold wealth above a minimum threshold (nisab) to give 2.5% of their net assets annually
Jamie Zawinski's observation that 'every program attempts to expand until it can read mail
The psychological finding that incomplete tasks occupy more mental space than completed ones—unfinished business creates a persistent cognitive tension that demands resolution
A policy approach linking specified violations to predetermined consequences with limited discretion
Ask what you would choose if you inherited your exact situation fresh today, with no sunk history.
The preference for completely eliminating a risk over a larger reduction in overall risk—choosing certainty of zero risk in one area over greater total risk reduction across all areas
The belief (often incorrect) that one party's gain necessarily comes at another's expense
The fundamental distinction between interactions where total value is fixed (zero-sum: poker, market share competition) and interactions where total value can change (non-zero-sum: trade, knowledge sharing, innovation)
Zhuangzi's parables of skilled practitioners — Cook Ding carves an ox for nineteen years without dulling his blade — model mastery that transcends technique
Dennett's zimbo highlights the self-monitoring and reflective complexity required of a purported unconscious duplicate
Zone 2 is a system-dependent exercise-intensity label
Lev Vygotsky's concept describing the gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can do with guidance
The Zone of Possible Agreement is the range between each party's reservation price (their walk-away point) where a deal can occur