Tom Vanderbilt examines the problem of taste and categorization in his book: “You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice”. He examines the way taste matters in modern life. His focus is mostly on business. He discusses food, music, art, beer…. Vanderbilt details such things as how recommendation agents work to suggest…
Category: Management Theory
Political Marketing And The Modern Age
How have election communciations been changing? What can we say about political marketing and the modern age? The US Presidential Election of 2016 With a couple of colleagues, Joseph Ryoo and Alina Nastasoiu, I wrote a chapter in a recent review of the US Presidential Elections in 2016. (We could have just published a one-word…
Avoiding Decision Traps
How can we go about avoiding decision traps? Decision Traps The book Decisions Traps is a generation old now. Still, it remains a useful book on decision making. Occasionally it veers a bit too far with its claims. For instance, it has “brilliant decision making” in the title. Yet, I can forgive that as it may…
Understanding Intuition
How can we go about understanding intuition and does it matter? Thinking Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking Fast and Slow, has undoubtedly had a significant impact on managerial thinking. In a recent piece for the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Tony Grundy, an academic and consultant, discusses the perils of cognitive bias….
Do You Trust Business?
Movie villains are often business people. So do you trust business? Evil Business People The remake of the Magnificent Seven was understandably keen to change the villain from the, let’s just say dated, villain portrayal in the original. The writer went for an evil businessman. Audiences seemed fine with it. They find it plausible that…
Banishing Bias in Audit
Humans beings behave in ways that do not show great decision-making. Auditors are human beings. They will have bias too. How can auditors improve their behavior? How can we go about banishing bias in audit? Bias in Audit People’s decisions do not always correspond to the decisions of an optimizing robot. The same is true…
The Perils Of Empathy (And Definitions)
A special holiday post on why empathy isn’t necessarily a good thing, the perils of empathy. Paul Bloom’s book Against Empathy argues that empathy isn’t the panacea that it is sometimes held up to be. Definitions Matter At its heart Bloom makes a relatively plausible argument seem outrageous. He does this by relying on our…
Listening Versus Leadership
One of the most interesting problems in marketing is how much to listen to consumers. There are certainly challenges with listening to consumers. Sometimes it is probably fair to say that consumers don’t have a great idea what they want. That said, in for profit businesses there rarely is a good reason to ignore consumers’…
Not Very Thoughtful Thought Leadership
I love terrible visuals, especially when they are used by consultants. Alex Usher (@http://higheredstrategy.com/) is brutal in criticizing a recent Deloitte report doing “big thinking” about the future of the workforce. (Post written in 2017). The report seems to be a great example of not very thoughtful thought leadership. Not Very Thoughtful Thought Leadership Usher…
Marketing In The World Of Big Data
Arvind Sathi’s book Engaging Customers Using Big Data has a number of interesting points about big data. What does he tell us about marketing in the world of big data? Marketing In The World Of Big Data Sathi is keen to point out that marketers now drive many technological needs in firms. The chief marketing…
