Inspiration

An excellent TED by Dan Ariely on the importance of meaning to our motivation and therefore our level of engagement and creativity at work.

We go through life thinking we’re acting logically and based on the information presented to us. In this funny TED talk Dan Gilbert shows us just how easily our judgement is distorted and that leads us to making decisions sometimes that are not as good as we think they are.

We love this book because it goes a long way towards explaining why our actions and behaviours often don’t live up to our good intentions. The recognition that different parts of our brain are operating simultaneously at any given moment, often in competition with each other, helps us to see our own emotions and behaviours and those of others around us in a whole new light. In our view this is essential reading for anyone who is looking to influence human behaviour or understand their own. For those who want a quick intro, the link will take you to his TED talk. 

In this excellent and funny TED short TED video Derek Sivers shows how a movement can be created. Worth keeping in mind when we’re trying to energise a change and it helps to explain how one person can trigger a global phenomenon. Whenever we think we’re too small or insignificant to make a change, it’s also worth remembering there are plenty of historical examples to inspire us such as Rosa Parks, Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and, more recently, Greta Thunberg to name just a few.  

Apparently 85% of what we do is driven by habit. Think about driving a car or doing mundane chores at home, often we’re lost in thought and only barely conscious of what we’re doing. Habits can work for us or against us. In this excellent book and TED talk Charles Duhigg shows us how we can hack our less useful habits to create new, better ones. And the real eye opener for me was the realisation that an organisation can have group habits too and they can equally be productive or destructive.

In a world where agility and pace are critical to survival, the long term winners will be those who can sustainably unleash creative thinking right across the business. In this excellent TED interview Reed Hastings shows how different, often radical models have been adopted at Netflix, models that challenge to the very core some of our beliefs about how businesses can be run.

When a team is functioning well it’s obvious, both to the team itself and to those around it. There’s a clear buzz and things get done, quickly and seemingly with less effort. So how can we create this? Patrick Lencioni uses a story format to highlight some of the behaviours that ban work against successful teams. Like many things in life it seems so obvious, except when it isn’t.

This engaging research challenges our thinking on the way we educate our kids. Maybe something to reflect on given the changes that are coming

Rory Sutherland discusses how our perception of things shapes our reality. This is an area of increasing focus for behavioural economics and in business. Understanding how we really behave and how irrational we are means that seemingly small and inexpensive changes can have a disproportionate effect on our behaviour and therefore the outcomes that result from it.

Whilst it may seem radical to some at the moment, I think it’s likely that organisations which thrive in future may have a lot in common with what’s discussed here. Some of these themes are already in evidence, for example in the excellent TED interview with Reed Hastings of Netflix. I should urge caution though, it’s not for the faint-hearted!