Big Think+ Blog
5 Leadership Training Ideas for Your Organization
Organizations at every level seek to have the best possible leadership within their ranks. They often are willing to spend extra time, money, and effort to train their employees. Having […]
A top executive’s guide to propelling your career forward
It can sometimes feel like career progress is beyond your control. This can be especially acute if you are a young professional or entering a new industry. You’re too inexperienced, […]
6 laws for strategic networking
History is not the story of great people directing the course of the world. It’s about networks. Sure, great people may have had an outsized pull on certain events. But […]
History can help us face today’s challenges (Yes, even in 2021)
Even a year like 2020 couldn’t prepare Americans for the first few weeks of 2021. The year’s opening act was a siege on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of […]
The Best of the Best: Big Think+ in 2020
For many, 2020 will not be remembered as a “best of” much. We don’t need to repeat the reasons here; it’s sufficient to point out that a 100-year pandemic was […]
This year, ditch your career ladder for a career lattice!
The corporate word-stock suffers no shortage of overworked metaphors. We drill down to find low hanging fruit, and despite lots of moving parts obscuring our window of opportunity, we mustn’t […]
Thought experiments: A surefire way to stretch your team’s creativity
Quick! There’s a runaway train on the tracks. Some dastardly evildoer has knocked the driver out cold and tied five people to the tracks ahead. The train is barreling down […]
6 steps for building your innovation prototyping kit
Writers, filmmakers, and mythologizing biographers tend to imagine innovation originates with a lone genius who has “the spark,” that light-bulb moment when the path from inspiration to world-altering invention reveals […]
How should human values shape the future of AI?
There’s a fortune to be made in data and silicon, and everyone is out for their share. Artificial intelligence is this century’s gold rush. Its promises scintillate in them there […]
Is this AI research preliminary? How to think critically about eye-catching studies
Smiling makes us feel happier. If you strike a superhero pose, you’ll feel more assertive and confident in your abilities. We all have a limited pool of self-control that can […]
Innovate like a venture capitalist: Drive your digital transformation with the 10-5-4-1 Model.
Every organization needs the capacity to generate disruptive ideas. No one can afford to stand still and pretend that past habits will guarantee future success. If your organization isn’t ready […]
Need an agile team? Call in the 3 types of connectors.
We love a good heist movie, but our favorite part is not the caper. It’s building the team. The brilliant thief—just out of jail to do one more job, he […]
Don’t become a fossil. Evolve your business through culture.
Crocodiles have been called “living fossils.” That is, the species has remained unaltered for vast periods of geologic time. They’ve become so perfectly adapted to their ecological niche that millions […]
Is your business ready for the next black swan? Watch for these 2 signals.
Let’s talk about swans. All swans are birds or, more specifically, waterfowl. They are large and sport long, slender necks. They migrate south for the winter, traveling in that eye-catching […]
How to survive your terrible coworkers
We’ve all had days where the drive home has us fuming over some belittling comment a coworker made, gossip they’ve spread about you, or a meeting where they’ve taken credit […]
Reinvention 101: How to build your personal brand
Everyone has a vague idea of what a corporate brand is. Disney has its swoopy signature logo. Apple is about innovative thinking. State Farm has its catchy jingle. And Reese’s Peanut Butter […]
Take the blame, all of it: Life lessons from the NFL blooper reel
Benjamin Franklin once wrote in a letter that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” As much as we admire Franklin’s wit, he forgot […]
History’s self-actualized individuals used this mental tool kit. You can, too.
Maybe you’ve heard the term “self-actualization” bandied about at a party or by an inspirational speaker? Popularized by psychologist Abraham Maslow, the theory argues that we can realize our full […]
How to personalize your habit-forming strategy and conquer your new year’s resolution
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]I[/fusion_dropcap]t’s officially the new year, and you’ve probably set a goal. Perhaps you’ve decided on the classic New Year’s resolution: Buy a gym membership and […]
How to foster more vibrant conversation, with comedian Pete Holmes
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]B[/fusion_dropcap]ill Moyers once said that a benefit of being a journalist is learning in public. This relies on two important skills: An ability to ask […]
Your brain is wired for linear thinking. Learn exponential thinking instead.
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]W[/fusion_dropcap]ay back in 1965, the soon-to-be founder of Intel, Gordon Moore, published a paper predicting that the number of transistors that could fit on a […]
Keto or ke-no: What’s the best diet for cognitive performance?
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]I[/fusion_dropcap]t’s both accurate and slightly misleading to call the keto diet a “fad diet”. On the one hand, the keto diet has in recent years become […]
Become a brilliant leader: Lessons from Lorne Michaels and SNL
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]H[/fusion_dropcap]ere’s a formula for chaos: Collect a diverse and volatile group of eccentric comedians and comedy writers, and give them a nearly impossible task with […]
Get smart about cybersecurity, with legendary con man Frank W. Abagnale
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]C[/fusion_dropcap]ybercriminals have a wide variety of motivations for their attacks, and, correspondingly, there are a wide variety of targets. While few of us will find […]
Escape the hedonic treadmill: How positive psychology can increase your base happiness
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]A[/fusion_dropcap]re you prone to view life as glass-half-empty? If so, don’t let it drag you down: Your day-to-day happiness level is something that was, in […]
Become a radical innovator, with Elon Musk
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]R[/fusion_dropcap]eliability and innovation are the twin pillars of survival for any business. But it’s the rare company that’s willing and able to commit to rediscovering […]
Steven Pinker: Negotiate using hotheadedness, a dark from of emotional intelligence
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]W[/fusion_dropcap]e negotiate throughout our lives in a lot more ways than we realize. Learning how to reach an agreement is a valuable skill to have, […]
Cultivate the courage to beat impostor syndrome, with Edward Norton
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]”Y[/fusion_dropcap]ou will always be looking over your shoulder waiting for somebody to call you out and say, ‘You’re a fraud, you’re an idiot.’ … I […]
Are you being pseudo-productive? Dan Ariely reveals the dangers of structured procrastination
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]M[/fusion_dropcap]ost of us know not to procrastinate. And yet, between 80 and 95 percent of college students procrastinate on their schoolwork. As we grow older […]
How to achieve major goals and growth with ‘self-nudging’
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]I[/fusion_dropcap]t may very well be the case that there are some people who feel perfectly content with who they are out there, but for most […]
Nick Offerman’s key to success? Making mistakes.
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=”#d84923″]V[/fusion_dropcap]oltaire once wrote, “Perfect is the enemy of good.” This advice served him well over the course of his life — not being a slave […]
