Beware the Dunning-Kruger Effect

How is it that the most incompetent so often think they are experts? How can their self assessment of their knowledge and expertise be so at variance with the reality of their incompetence? According to the research of Cornell University psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, as reported in Pacific...

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Energy of Africa

I just returned from a project in Benin and Rwanda with a bit of time in Ethiopia. During my 10 day trip we interviewed dozens of people ranging from Ministers and executives to people with booths in the local markets. While there I was able to get out into the rural areas and...

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Men and Women are Different!

Over the years there has been much speculation about the different ways men and women think and what they're better at doing. Depending on your bias and experience, you believe they think completely differently or there is little difference. Ragini Verma, Associate Professor Radiology at Pereleman School of Medicine...

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Control Your Attention

As the new year begins, it's a perfect time to improve your ability to pay attention. As Daniel Goleman says in The Focused Leader in Harvard Business Review, "A primary task of leadership it to direct attention." But pay attention to what? And why? Neuroscience tells us that we focus in...

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Year End

It's the last week of the year, holiday time around the world. One of the few events that everyone everywhere shares, although there are some who place it on somewhat different days. No matter. The turning of the year is a time of festivity...a chance to dump the old and set the...

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Mandela

As I listened live to the funeral of Nelson Mandela I got thinking about why he has become the worldwide icon for exemplary leadership. You all know his story. His early years were filled with violence as he led the fight for freedom from apartheid. This led to 27 years in a...

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Google’s Best Managers

Most of you have noticed that Google is doing quite well by just about every measure. It's so ubiquitous that its very name has become a verb. Google's stock price has risen over 900% since it went public nine years ago. It's buying everything in sight and inventing what...

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Break Time

The year has entered its final month. The pressure is rising on everyone as they work to ensure final results meet whatever goals were set so long ago. The onset of the year end holiday season is building excitement...and tension...everywhere. Tempers get short, memories get shorter. And as the party...

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