by david allan van nostrand | Dec 28, 2020 | Human Behavior
The words to the song millions sing at midnight each December 31st are said to have been written by Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. Encyclopaedia Britannica says no one knows who wrote the music. Burns refused to take credit for the song, saying it was merely...
by david allan van nostrand | Dec 14, 2020 | Human Behavior, Psychology
Test your ability to focus. As you watch this one-minute video of people passing a ball back and forth, count the number of times the people in white pass the ball. CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT NOW The video was created by psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher...
by david allan van nostrand | Sep 21, 2020 | Human Behavior, Teaching, Using Information
When I created a special course for MBAs, I began by giving my students a whirlwind tour of humans since Alley Oop*, following the arc of human history in Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. Then I introduced them to many strange people they...
by david allan van nostrand | Jul 6, 2020 | Human Behavior, Teaching
Headed off to the Trojan war, Odysseus asked a trusted friend to stay behind in Ithaca and watch over the upbringing of his son, Telemachus. Odysseus chose the best person he knew to prepare his heir to handle family responsibilities while he was away. It was a good...
by david allan van nostrand | Jun 1, 2020 | Human Behavior, Psychology
Are you tired of hackneyed phrases? Threadbare moth-eaten sayings that have been used so tediously for so long that they’ve lost whatever meaning they might have had? Me, too. Recently I heard someone say “it is what it is” for the third time in a single...
by david allan van nostrand | May 18, 2020 | Human Behavior, Statistics, What employers want
One of our very human tendencies is that we are not very good at seeing ourselves through others’ eyes. Studies show most college students claim to have the skills and qualities employers are looking for today. Responding to the same surveys, employers say...
