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Interesting News and Information From Favorite Sources
Here is a selection of items we find thought provoking and passion inspiring from media, academia and bloggers on relevant topics including financial markets, human capital, venture capital, private equity, technology, innovation, start-ups, corporate governance, management/leadership, decision making and more. If you have any suggestions of good reads, please send them our way.
Collaborate Smarter, Not Harder
MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall 2019
I’ve consulted with several companies that boasted all the time about their collaboration culture...those companies relied on mission statements, prouncements, agile methods and office architecture etc. to drive collaboration, but leaders of those Companies actually had no idea re: the day-to-day reality/employee perceptions about the state/effectiveness of collaboration. This article provides very useful perspective of how managements can assess status of their collaboration through analytics
I Asked 100 Founders, CEOs and VCs About Career Transitions...
A great think piece by LendUp founder Sasha Orloff, looking at the difference between the being a Founder and being a CEO, the transition from one to the other...and the transition beyond those roles.
The Rise of Analytics in HR
​ LinkedIn, 2018
A research report compiled through in-depth research and discussions with leading HR leaders addressing many of the questions that come with ramping up talent analytics capabilities
The False Theory of Meritocracy
​ London Business School, Business Strategy Review, 2013
An article by Nigel Nicholson discussing the fallacy of imposing corporate hierarchy on meritocracy and the deleterious effects on organizations and employees.
Recommended Books About Decision Making
​ 250 Words, 03.06.2014
A list of suggested books about judgment, leadership, insight and decision making from Professor Max Bazerman who has written Judgment in Managerial Decision Making and recently Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What’s Right and What to Do about It.
Corporate Governance According to Charles T. Munger
​Standford Closer Look Series, 03.03.2014
An article by David F. Larcker and Brian Tayan summarizing the Bershire Hathaway Vice Chairman's ideas about "Trust-Based Governance." Though his recommendations are not "one size fits all," they are based on having the "right" CEO and maintaining a corporate culture that encourages responsible behavior, including the principles of accountability, basic controls, conservative accounting and "modest" CEO and Board compensation.
Scientific Thinking in Business
​MIT Technology Review, 01.22.2014
An article by Duncan J. Watts of Microsoft on the importance of bringing scientific method into business decision making and the need to combine data and disciplined process with human judgment, creativity and intuition.
The "Premortem" Approach for Making Better Decisions
​Farnam Street Blog, 01.23.2014
An analysis technique to help overcome effects of over optimism, blind spots, consensus thinking and short-term focus.
51 Startup Failure Postmortems
​CB Insights, 01.20.2014
A compilation of commentary and anecdotes (and links to more detail) describing the factors lead to the demise of startups told primarily by the companies' founders.
16 Lessons I Learned in 2013
​Betashop Quarterly, Vol 1, 01.07.2014
Founder/CEO Jason Goldberg reflects, with accountability and resilience, on lessons learned from a tumultuous year at his company Fab.
Managing Startups
​01.03.2014
​This is a great compilation of from Prof. Thomas R. Eisenmann of Harvard Business School of what he considered to be 2013's best posts and books about managing startups.
Belief in the unstructured interview: The persistence of an illusion
Journal of Judgment and Decision Making, September, 2013
A research article from Yale and Carnegie Mellon professors about the poor predictive outcomes of "unstructured interviews." We continue to believe that poor interviewing process is one of the biggest weaknesses across the board at companies in many industries.
Behavioral Economics Reading List
Farnam Street Blog, 04.19.2010
A list of over 50 book recommedations updated through November 2012, spanning issues of decision making, thinking, intuition, reason and more in investing and managing and beyond.
Taking the Mystery Out of Scaling a Company
Ben's Blog, Andreessen Horowitz, 08.02.2010
A concise and valuable blog entry from a few years back by Ben Horowitz focusing on the fundamental importance of specialization, organizational design and good process to the growth and scaling of a business.