How economic globalization, generational transition, and technology converge to flatten the consumer experience — Do you ever get the feeling that everything around you looks the same? Interior spaces Consumer brands Cars Restaurant menus Apps Websites Across every consumer category, variety and originality have given way to monotony and conformity. A triple threat of economic globalization, generational transition, and new technology has flattened the…

A mental model for decision making, risk aversion, and intellectual honesty inspired by three towering figures of the 20th century. — Introduction

How Chewy stands out in a hypercompetitve e-commerce market by obsessing over customer experience — plus 5 key takeaways for founders and marketers — Usually when a brand goes viral on Twitter, it’s for all the wrong reasons. (See: World v. PepsiCo and Jenner, K., 2017.) But recently, Chewy, the pet food and supplies e-commerce biz, went mega-viral for all the right ones. It didn’t happen because of some marketing stunt or PR blitz…

The origins of our modern obsessions with daily routines, hustle porn, and productivity culture — It’s no secret that Benjamin Franklin is one of history’s greatest inventors. Bifocals. The odometer. The urinary catheter. The list goes on. But did you know he also invented…hustle porn?

Why Costco and AriZona will never charge more for their flagship products — plus three business strategy lessons inspired by their pricing strategies — What do Costco’s $1.50 hot dog and soda combo and AriZona’s 99-cent iced tea tallboys have in common? They never change their prices. Never. But with inflation on the rise and the cost of everything from milk to bread to gas going through the roof, how do AriZona and Costco…

An unbiased look at both sides of the polarized debate and an exploration of quiet quitting’s surprising origins — If you spent any time on business Twitter last week, chances are your feed was teeming with hot takes on a supposed new workplace phenomenon known as “quiet quitting.” So what’s all the fuss about? Is it really even a thing? …

How the inner voice, open awareness, and cognitive control combine to set the foundation for great leaders — In his seminal 2013 piece for Harvard Business Review, Dr. Daniel Goleman, a pioneer in the study of emotional intelligence, asserts that the primary task of leaders is to capably influence and direct the attention of their teams. …

A mental model used by Jeff Bezos, Adam Grant, Ben Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and other great thinkers. — What happens when our beliefs are challenged? As organizational psychologist Adam Grant explains in his book Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know, when our ideas or beliefs are challenged, we tend to slip into one of three roles:

How to reveal unexpected insights by embracing worst-case scenarios using the inversion thinking mental model — “Hope for the best. Plan for the worst.” You’ve probably heard this saying before. Some might call it a glass-half-empty way of seeing the world. And maybe it is. But it’s also an immensely valuable one. Whether applied to business strategy, personal performance, creative productivity, or any one of life’s domains, a healthy dose of defensive pessimism can…