People, books, and breakthrough ideas—connected to the mental models and moves you can use.
3,456 entries
William Bridges distinguished between change (external, situational) and transition (internal, psychological), arguing that the real challenge isn't the change itself but the psychological reorientation it requires
The binary Brier score is the mean squared difference between forecast probabilities and zero-or-one outcomes
Legal systems face a fundamental design choice: create clear, simple rules (bright lines) or flexible, context-sensitive standards (balancing tests)
Brittleness is when your whole setup rests on one login, one supplier, one person, or one rule, so the hour that single thing fails, everything stops.
Wilson and Kelling's theory that visible signs of disorder (broken windows, graffiti, litter) signal that an environment is unmonitored and norms are unenforced, which invites further disorder and escalation
Fred Brooks's principle (from The Mythical Man-Month) that 'adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.' New team members require onboarding from existing members (consuming productive capacity), communica…
Asset prices can detach from fundamental value when speculation, social contagion, and positive feedback loops drive prices far above intrinsic worth
The Eightfold Path is organized into three reinforcing categories: Wisdom (Right View, Right Intention), Ethics (Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood), and Mental Discipline (Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Righ…
The Four Noble Truths are a diagnostic methodology structured like ancient Indian medicine
Buddhism identifies three root kleshas (afflictions) distorting perception: Raga (greed/attachment — compulsive desire to acquire and hold), Dvesha (aversion/hatred — compulsive desire to avoid and destroy), and Moha (de…
Cap the total resources the pursuit may consume: hours, dollars, attention, favors, risk capacity. Floors protect a level and ceilings stop a harm; this one meters the fuel, so the goal cannot quietly draw more from the rest of your life.
Set in advance how much the probe may cost, what it must never make worse, and when you'll stop.
Buen vivir (Quechua: sumak kawsay) is the Andean indigenous philosophy of 'good living' or 'living well' that rejects GDP-based development in favor of a harmonious relationship among humans, communities, and nature (Pac…
Pick this when the good loop is not running at all, or keeps stalling before it can catch. You are creating or closing a circuit: supplying the missing feedback, the first win, or the return path that makes it self-feeding.
A rigorous build-vs-buy framework evaluates five dimensions: (1) Competitive differentiation—if core advantage, build; if supporting function, buy; (2) Total cost of ownership—building includes maintenance, security, and…
Building quality in at the source—rather than inspecting after production—originated in manufacturing but reflects deep craft tradition
Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares's Bullseye framework supports finding promising traction channels by considering a broad repertoire, testing a small shortlist, and concentrating on what shows useful results
When two pieces of work depend on the same context or judgment, keep them with one person instead of splitting them up.
Bundle means putting work back into one person's hands in one sitting, when passing it between people, tools, or steps keeps losing details and costing more than the split saves.
Bundling combines products or services into a package; unbundling makes components available separately
Burden of proof concerns who is responsible for supporting a disputed claim and how strong that support needs to be in a particular setting
Who has to prove what, and to what standard? Burden of proof allocation is one of the most powerful structural features of any decision system
In this column you name what each person actually pays if the plan works exactly as hoped: hours, dollars, effort, freedom given up. These are the certain costs, not the things that might go wrong, and they often land on someone other than the decider.
When the administrative apparatus of an organization becomes the de facto decision-maker, supplanting the people nominally in charge