Monthly Archives: October 2011

A very common technique to try prime us into not adding a diverse or dissenting view is to use the word “absolutely”. This is a great sales technique, is very hard to rebut and seems to have been adopted by … Continue reading →

1. All agreements can be revisited 2. Encourage diverse thinking and dissent 3. Complain responsibly by going direct to the person 4. Be prepared for the failure 5. Make requests not demands 6. Speak with Adjustable, Accountable and Acceptable language 7. … Continue reading →

What is a “phase transition” and how does it apply to relationships? A phase transition is what Michael J. Mauboussin refers to in his book Think Twice, when talking about the millennium bridge “failure” or design flaw. The bridge was designed … Continue reading →

Why is it that so many young people today seem to want to inspire, influence and win new friends? Well, anyone with this goal are not about to inspire or win me over and will only influence me to write … Continue reading →

In Think Twice, Michael Mauboussin’s book on harnessing the power of counter intuition, he talks on page 34 about seeking out dissent by finding data from “….reliable sources that offer conclusions different than yours. This helps avoid a foolish inconsistency”. … Continue reading →

I’m staying with my mum at the moment and I just realised that she reminds me of Madge and I sound like Dame Edna.

Chapter 9. DFM Direct Feedback Moment The goal of this chapter is to create and agree to use a tool that will pause a conversation when one of us thinks we have reached a point where we cannot reach an … Continue reading →

The Irony is that some women can still spend so much time and effort planning their wedding day or pay fortune for someone else to plan it. But when I mention planning for perfect relations, as well, they seem to … Continue reading →

So what is it about me that makes me claim that I am an independent observer? Technically I have never been in a relationship other than an experimental one and so answer to no one. I have never received a … Continue reading →

I was talking to a woman recently and I told her about a poem that I wrote some 30 years ago when I was 21, and it went something like this: My knowledge of women is but a speck, and … Continue reading →