THINKER'S ALMANAC - June 13

What was different about Charles Darwin's thinking process?

Subject:  Creative Problem Solving by Reversal (Inversion) - Munger’s prescription for a miserable life

Event:  Charlie Munger gives the commencement address to the Harvard School, 1986

Invert, always invert. -Carl Jacobi (1804 – 1851)

On this day in 1986, Billionaire businessman Charlie Munger presented a speech to the Harvard School.  Munger began by explaining that his speech was inspired by someone who had previously spoken at a Harvard School graduation ceremony, the television host and comedian Johnny Carson.  Following Carson’s example, Munger proclaimed that instead of presenting advice on how to live a happy life and to be a success, he would instead present advice on how to guarantee a life of misery.

As his first prescription for misery, Munger advised, “be unreliable.”  Second, he advised limiting your learning to only your personal experience rather than taking lessons vicariously from the good and bad experiences of others.  Unlike someone like Sir Isaac Newton who claimed that he “stood on the shoulders of giants,” Munger facetiously recommended ignoring “the best work done before yours” and becoming “as non-educated as you reasonably can.”  For his third prescription for misery, Munger addressed how to deal with life’s inevitable failures:  “Go down and stay down . . . .”

Munger ended his speech by critiquing the value of the “backward” thinking process he borrowed from Carson.  Citing the mathematician Carl Gustav Jacobi, Munger stated, “It is the nature of things, as Jacobi knew, that many hard problems are best solved only when they are addressed backward.”  As a prime example of “backward” or inverted thinking, Munger cited the revolutionary work of Charles Darwin:

Darwin’s result was due in large measure to his working method, which violated all my rules for misery and particularly emphasized a backward twist in that he always gave priority attention to evidence tending to disconfirm whatever cherished and hard-won theory he already had. In contrast, most people early achieve and later intensify a tendency to process new and disconfirming information so that any original conclusion remains intact. 

                                    CHARLES DARWIN - Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay

You don’t need to be a scientific genius to employ Munger’s method.  Simply begin be identifying a problem you would like to solve.  For example, if you are a salesperson, you might seek out ways to make your customers feel more comfortable and welcome in your store.  Maybe you’ve thought about and brainstormed solutions to your problem many times and have not been able to come up with a viable idea.  This is the point where using reversal might give you a new perspective.    Begin by reversing the problem, by stating it in the opposite way, “How can I make my customers feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in my store?”  Now brainstorm a list of ideas to see if something new jumps out.

Sometimes reversal can yield results when it happens accidentally.  In 1968, after a long, late night recording session, John Lennon went home, carrying a tape of a song that The Beatles had been working on.  When he arrived home, he decided to listen to the tape.  Tired and not paying full attention to what he was doing, he accidentally spooled the audio tape on backward.  As he flipped on the play button, he became mesmerized by the novelty of the song’s vocals playing backward. In fact, he liked them even better than when the song was played forwards.  On May 30, 1966, The Beatles released their song “Rain,” the first song ever to feature backward vocals.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

June 13, 1966:  Today is the anniversary of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona.  The case involved a man convicted of rape and armed robbery, Ernesto Miranda.  His case was appealed, and his lawyers argued that he had not been advised of his rights before he signed a confession.  Miranda’s attorneys won the case by a narrow 5 to 4 vote.  The Miranda case changed the way police operate when taking a suspect into custody, compelling them to advise the accused of his or her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

Sources:

1-https://www.biznews.com/thought-leaders/1986/06/13/charlie-mungers-speech-to-the-harvard-school-june-1986

THINKER'S ALMANAC - May 30

What food item’s taste sparked such a vivid memory that it resulted in a seven-volume memoir?

Subject: Memory - Proust’s Madeleine

Event:  First Memorial Day, 1868

Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag. –Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

 

Today is the anniversary of the celebration of the first Memorial Day in 1868.  

                                                            Image by Keturah Moller from Pixabay

After the Civil War ended in 1865, many communities in the North and the South began holding tributes to fallen soldiers.  These commemorations, which were originally called Decoration Day, were held in the spring when flowers were readily available for the decoration of graves.

On May 5, 1868, American General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War veterans group, issued General Order Number 11, which said:

The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land.

Decoration Day gradually evolved to be called Memorial Day. And after World War I, it became a day to honor not just fallen Civil War soldiers, but all war dead. Not until 1971 did Memorial Day become an official federal holiday.  In that year, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May, which created a three-day weekend for federal workers (1).

While Memorial Day is a day to remember those who gave their lives in past wars, it can also be a day to remember the power we all have to revisit the past through the genre of memoir.  In memoir, we are given the ability to time travel and vicariously take part in the intimate experiences and thoughts of writers who have documented the significant moments of their lives.

There is no greater example of this than in Marcel Proust’s The Remembrance of Things Past, a seven-volume memoir published over a period of fourteen years (1913-1927). Proust’s flood of memories is launched in a single remarkable moment, as he is sitting drinking a cup of herbal tea with a madeleine, a small shell-shaped cake:  

And as soon as I had recognised the taste of the piece of madeleine soaked in her decoction of lime-blossom which my aunt used to give me (although I did not yet know and must long postpone the discovery of why this memory made me so happy) immediately the old grey house upon the street, where her room was, rose up like a stage set to attach itself to the little pavilion opening on to the garden which had been built out behind it for my parents (the isolated segment which until that moment had been all that I could see); and with the house the town, from morning to night and in all weathers, the square where I used to be sent before lunch, the streets along which I used to run errands, the country roads we took when it was fine.

Through his sense of taste, Proust’s memory is magically unlocked, and he is involuntarily and instantly transported in an instant to a vivid remembrance of his past. We often view memory as a conscious process, where we actively try to recall information, such as our Social Security Number.  Psychologists call this type of memory voluntary explicit memory.  A different type of memory is called the Proust phenomenon, or involuntary explicit memory.  This is the type of memory that came to Proust as he tasted the madeleine, instantly triggering powerful emotions and memories from his childhood (3).

Proust’s work is just one example of many brilliant memoirs that allow us to see, smell, taste, feel, and hear what others have experienced in their past.

Here are a few examples:

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin

Boy by Roald Dahl

Confessions by Augustine

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

My Left Foot by Christy Brown

Stop Time by Frank Conroy

The Story of My Life  by Hellen Keller

Reading Lolita in Tehran:  A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

This Boy’s Life: A Memoir by Tobias Wolff

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the Proust phenomenon? What specific experience triggered Proust's vivid memory?

Challenge:  Proust Phenomenon:  What is a sight, smell, taste, feeling, or sound that triggers your involuntary explicit memory?  Explain what the specific trigger is and what specifically you remember.  What images and emotions flood your mind?

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

May 30, 1868:  Today is the anniversary of the celebration of the first Decoration Day, a holiday known today as Memorial Day.  After the Civil War ended in 1865, many communities in the North and the South began holding tributes to fallen soldiers.  These commemorations were held in the spring when flowers were readily available for the decoration of graves.

May 30, 1431::  Joan of Arc burned at the stake

-May 30, 1975:  Marissa Ann Mayer, who helped develop the Google Search engine and who later became president of Yahoo is born

Sources:

1-History.com. “Memorial Day.” 24 May 2021.

2-Proust, Marcel. In Search of Lost Time Volume I: Swann’s Way. Trans. C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin. New York: The Modern Library, 2003.

3-”What is the "Proust phenomenon"?” brainstuff.org 31 Dec. 2018.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - April 27

When asked, 17% of homeowners agreed to put a “Drive Carefully” sign in their front yard.  What strategy did researchers employ to increase this compliance rate to 76%?

Subject:  Persuasion - Six Weapons of Influence

Event:  Birthday of Robert Cialdini, 1945

There is a group of people who know very well where the weapons of automatic influence lie and employ them regularly and expertly to get what they want. They go from social encounter to social encounter requesting others to comply with their wishes; their frequency of success is dazzling. -Robert Cialdini

Robert Cialdini, who was born on this day in 1945, has spent his life trying to figure out how to get people to say “Yes.”  

Imagine, for example, that you were tasked with persuading homeowners to display a large sign in their yards that reads, “DRIVE CAREFULLY.” Normally about 17% of homeowners will comply with such a request.  What could you do to boost participation to 76% of homeowners?  

                                                            Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay 

The secret, according to Cialdini, is to begin with a small request before the large one. Two weeks before being asked to put the large sign in their yards, homeowners were asked to put a small, inconspicuous sign in their window that said, “BE A SAFE DRIVER.”  Being such a small request, the vast majority of homeowners agreed.  Next, the same residents were approached again two weeks later with the request to display the larger sign.  Over 75% of these homeowners agree to place the larger sign on their front lawn.

The explanation behind the success of this two-pronged strategy, according to Cialdini, is a psychological principle known as consistency.  By agreeing to the first small request, homeowners became committed to the cause of safe driving.  When they were approached again two weeks later, they now desired to act consistently with their own perception of themselves as people who are concerned with safe driving.  Known by salespeople as the “foot-in-the-door technique,” this influence strategy capitalizes on the human tendency to make and stick to commitments and our desire to see ourselves as acting consistently (1).

Consistency is just one of the six “Weapons of Influence” that Cialdini has identified, the other five powerful tools of persuasion are as follows:

Social Proof:  Humans are “herd animals.”  We like to think we are individuals who think for ourselves, but the truth is we look to others - to the group - for assurance that we are behaving correctly.  It’s one of the oldest appeals there is:  “everybody’s doing it; therefore, it must be right.”  It makes perfect sense that it “feels” right to do the popular thing, to give in to the herd instinct.  After all, a big reason that our ancestors survived long enough to have offspring is, in part, because they stayed with and followed the group.  It’s our default. Marketers know about social proof and use it against us.

Reciprocity:  Humans are very sensitive to the give and take of interactions with each other.  Whether or not we’re conscious of it, we keep track of what others give us and what we give them, such as favors, gifts, or money.  We are especially sensitive to being in debt to others.  Restaurant servers understand reciprocity; the one or two pieces of candy that you get with your bill is not a purely altruistic gesture; instead, servers know that by giving you a small “gift,” their tip will be substantially larger.  This is because of reciprocity:  when given something, we feel obligated to reciprocate.

Liking:  We often think that we make our purchasing decisions based purely on reason rather than on whether or not we like the salesperson.  The truth, however, is that the more attractive a person is, or the more the person is like us, the more likely we are to buy from that person.  Salespeople know about this liking bias.  They try to establish a rapport with their customers by giving compliments, or they try to be more like the customer by mirroring his or her gestures or language. 

Scarcity:  We like to think we judge a product purely on that product's merit.  The truth, however, is that we are influenced - whether we realize it or not -- on how much of that product is available.  Marketers know about the scarcity error and exploit it with phrases like “only while supplies last,” or “today only.”  The Romans had a saying:  “Rara sunt cara,” which means “rare is valuable.”  In a study, subjects were tasked with rating ten posters on attractiveness; their reward for the task was that they would be given one of the posters.  After rating the posters from 1 to 10, the subjects were then told that the poster rated the third best was no longer available.  The subjects were then asked to re-do their rating of the ten posters.  This time, the poster that was no longer available was rated as the most attractive.

Authority:  We like to follow a leader, a person who we feel is credible and knowledgeable.  For example, you’re more likely to follow the exercise routines that a physical therapist gives you if your PT displays his or her diplomas on the office wall.   For better or worse, we defer to experts (2).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How were 75% of homeowners influenced to place a large "Be A Safe Driver" sign in their yard? What is the influence tool known as Consistency?

Challenge - Deadly Half Dozen:  Which of the Six Weapons of Influence would you say is the most persuasive?  Give a specific example of where you have seen it being used.

Sources:

1-Goldstein, Noah J., Steve J. Martin, and Robert B. Cialdini.  Yes:  50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. New York:  Free Press, 2008.

2-Cialdini, Robert B. Influence: Science and Practice. New York: HarperCollinsCollegePublishers, 1993. Print.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 24

What method for simplifying and distilling a subject down to its essential elements did an economist discover while talking to a stranger in a bar?

Subject:  Distillation and Simplicity - The Two Things Game

Event:  “This Column Will Change Your Life:  The Two Things,” 2012

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe. -Albert Einstein

On this day in 2012, The Guardian newspaper published an article entitled, “This Column Will Change Your Life:  The Two Things.”

The column begins with an anecdote about the economist Glen Whitman.  In 2002, Whitman was sitting in a bar and struck up a conversation with a stranger.  Upon discovering that Whitman was an economist, the stranger asked, “So, what are the Two Things about economics?”  Whitman wasn’t sure what he meant by “Two Things” so he asked for clarification.  The stranger replied:  “You know, the Two Things. For every subject, there are only two things you need to know. Everything else is the application of those two things, or just not important.”

                                                    Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay 

Getting the picture, Whitman thought for a moment and replied with his Two Things about economics:  “One: incentives matter. Two: there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

That brief conversation in a bar in 2002 began Whitman’s quest for other Two Things from other fields, such as philosophy, marketing, finance, and computer science.  The idea behind the Two Things game is to distill and to simplify.  To do this experts must re-examine what they know and go back to basics.  This helps them see their field with new eyes.   Experts within a single field seldom agree on their Two Things; nevertheless, what they come up with is always interesting and illuminating, both to insiders and to outsiders.

At his website, Whitman has collected numerous examples by posing the Two Things question.  Here are a few examples of the answers he’s gotten from various fields and areas of expertise:

The Two Other Things about Marketing:

-Find out who is buying your product.

-Find more buyers like them.

The Two Things about Advertising:

- Get people’s attention

- Overwhelm them with charm.

Two Things about Trial Lawyering:

- 90% is just showing up (borrowed from Woody Allen’s philosophy of life).

- When you are winning, keep your mouth shut.

The Two Things about Neuroscience:

-Neurons strengthen or weaken signal strength between connected synapses.

-If you think you’ve found the part of the brain that controls _________, you’re probably wrong.

The Two Things about Writing:

- Include what’s necessary.

- Leave everything else out.

The Two Things about Editing:

- Know the rules.

- Pay attention. (2)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the Two Things Game, and why do people play it?

Challenge -  Two Things Game:  What would you say is the area or field in which you have the most expertise?  What are the two things that people need to know about that area or field?  Select an academic discipline, an area of interest (such as a hobby, sport, or pastime), a profession, a specific person, place, thing, or idea that you know well.  Then determine what the Two Things are that everyone needs to know about it.  Assume that your audience knows little about your topic, and write an explanation that goes with each of your two things. 

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

February 24, 1955:  Steve Jobs was born on this day. He said, “I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.”  Bicycle for the mind - See Shortcut 154-56

Sources:

1-Burkeman, Oliver. “This Column Will Change Your Life:  The Two Things.” The Guardian 24 February 2012.

2-The Two Things by Glen Whitman

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 16

After taking a test and getting it back, what will a person with a growth mindset do differently than a person with a fixed mindset?

Subject:  Fixed/Growth Mindset - John McEnroe

Event:  Birthday of John McEnroe, 1959

Today is the birthday of tennis great John McEnroe. He was born in 1959 in Germany, where his father was serving in the U.S. Army.  McEnroe is remembered not only for his masterful play as a singles champion but also for his many victories in doubles and mixed doubles. His most memorable matches came at Wimbledon in the 1980s, where he battled Bjorn Borg.

Although he won many major tennis titles and spent several years as the number one ranked tennis player in the world, John McEnroe is best remembered for his words and antics on the tennis court. Smashing tennis rackets and challenging umpire decisions, McEnroe became one of the most volatile and boisterous athletes ever.

Perhaps his best known line was one shouted in the direction of an umpire at Wimbledon in 1981: “You cannot be serious!” This line became so often associated with McEnroe, that he used it for the title of his 2002 autobiography (1).

                                                            Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay 

Another book that features McEnroe is Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by psychologist Carol S. Dweck. In her book, Dweck uses McEnroe as an example of an individual with a fixed mindset.  People with a fixed mindset view character, intelligence, and ability as fixed and unchangeable.  As a result of this mindset, they often value looking smart or talented over actually being smart or talented.  Since they see intelligence and talent as fixed, they don’t see effort and persistence as valuable qualities.  Furthermore, they often fear failure as a judgment upon their person rather than seeing it as a learning opportunity. 

Dweck certainly is not arguing that McEnroe was not a successful, talented athlete; he was, after all, the number one ranked player for four years.  The issue with McEnroe, however, is that he could have been much better. For him, talent was the main thing.  He didn’t embrace opportunities to learn new things.  He hated to lose and always saw it as a negative rather than as a stepping stone to future success.  Instead of looking for lessons from a lost match, he looked for excuses, which is reflected in his constant focus on being a victim of the bad calls made by the umpires of his matches.  McEnroe won seven Grand Slam titles, but even he would probably agree that a less fixed mindset would have resulted in many more.

In contrast to those with a fixed mindset, people with a growth mindset view character, intelligence, and ability as qualities that change over time and that improve through conscious effort and persistence.  Instead of fearing failure, people with a growth mindset are able to embrace failure, learn from it and use it as a springboard for future success. 

As an example of an athlete who embodies the growth mindset, Dweck turns to basketball legend Michael Jordan.  Jordan was famously cut from his high school team, but instead of quitting basketball, he dedicated himself to proving himself worthy to play for the varsity.  When he won the NCAA basketball championship as just a freshman at North Carolina, he didn’t rest on his laurels.  He was always the hardest working player in practice, putting in extra effort to improve his weaknesses.  When he began his career in the NBA, he was one of the league’s leading scorers, but his team was not winning championships. Today we see him as a perennial champion, but he didn’t win his first championship until his seventh year in the NBA.  In those seven years, he put in countless hours of work to become more than just a great scorer.  He worked on becoming a better passer, a ball handler, and a better teammate.  He knew that there was no way he could win a championship by himself, so not only did he need to make himself better through effort, he also needed to help his teammates improve.

To test your own mindset, try this thought experiment.  Imagine you are in a class, and you have just taken a quiz with fifty multiple choice questions.  The quizzes are immediately scored and all posted on the classroom wall.  Obviously, you would probably first look at your own score, but which tests would you look at next.  Would you be drawn to the quizzes of the students who scored higher than you or the quizzes of those who scored lower?  According to Dweck, students with a growth mindset will seek out the quizzes with higher scores, looking for possible ways to learn from those who scored higher and seeking strategies to improve their deficiencies.  In contrast, students with a fixed mindset focus on the quizzes with lower scores than their own; because they don’t see intelligence as something that can be improved with effort, they seek consolation in the fact that others scored lower than they did (1).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, and how can you assess which you have?

Challenge - Game, Mindset, and Match:  Research some quotations by successful people about the role that hard work, effort, and persistence have in being successful.  Identify the one you like the best, quote it, and explain why you like it.

Sources:

1-Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House, 2006.

Reading Check:

-What kind of behavior reveals John McEnroe’s fixed mindset?

-When a person with a growth mindset gets a test back, what do they do?