The secret to success isn’t an algorithm. But it can be summed up in a word. Imagine you are a bull rider. You go to a rodeo and draw the bull Blue Man Chu (thank you, Tim McGraw). Your goal is to stay on the bull for 8 seconds. You…

Recently, I have found myself getting increasingly frustrated with companies offering me the “opportunity to win a $50 gift card” for taking their survey. I feel like it is a devaluation of my time and value. It begs the question, is this all my time is worth? A chance to…

In the movie The Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi goes to great lengths to teach young Daniel LaRusso some important lessons. However, one lesson stands out: You remember lesson about balance? Lesson not just karate only. Lesson for whole life. Whole life have a balance. Everything be better. Research brings balance to business decision-making. Research balances the…

Research can’t guarantee outcomes, but it can help people make better decisions. Helping the business make better decisions originates with having a point-of-view (POV). A POV is a position on a specific issue with the express purpose of facilitating a rapid, evidence-based decision. It must be non-ambiguous and non-qualified. Researchers…

I have seen it over and over. A researcher finishes a project, dutifully places it in a repository for stakeholders or other researchers to review later, and the report never gets looked at again. The problem is that repositories are largely useless. Ask a researcher why they should have a repository, and they will likely tell you it’s…

My son loves playing video games. — I remember watching him play Fortnight for the first time. He turned the game on, played with the buttons and controls, and figured it out. He was winning games quickly. He learned by doing. Contrast this with the video games I bought in college. They came with a small booklet…

Conditioning is a bitch. — It can create self-limiting beliefs. There is a parable that illustrates this. A man was walking by a circus and noticed some very large elephants and noticed they weren’t being kept in cages or restrained by chains. The only thing keeping them from escaping was a small rope. The rope was attached to a small stake in…