by david allan van nostrand | Mar 23, 2020 | Items in the News, Organizational Behavior, The Myopia of Experts, Unintended Consequences
Konrad Putzier wrote in the Wall Street Journal how after years of crowding office workers into ever-smaller spaces, we are finally coming to realize that our high-density offices are ideal places to spread disease. Because so many of us are spending so much time in...
by david allan van nostrand | Feb 3, 2020 | How to tell good research from bad, Organizational Behavior, Using Information
A few weeks ago I asked readers if it would surprise them to hear that when it comes to research, the top brass almost never ask to see the ingredients label. This earned me a bunch of amen, brothers from people who have seen firsthand how too few executives ask the...
by david allan van nostrand | Nov 18, 2019 | Gatekeepers, Organizational Behavior, Research
Here’s my behind-the-scenes look at what happens to your organization’s research when gatekeepers pass your instructions down the information ladder and later, when they pass your results back up. Sure it’s funny – except it’s not. Every...
by david allan van nostrand | Jun 10, 2019 | Leadership, Organizational Behavior, Research
In the late 1800s, the United States were transforming themselves into an industrial society. Millions moved to the cities to work in the new factories, where conditions were unimaginably wretched. Sociologists, reformers, and people concerned with social injustice...
by david allan van nostrand | May 20, 2019 | Misinformation traps, Organizational Behavior, Research
Thousands of businesses threw away their research money last year because they tried the equivalent of using a ruler to measure room temperature, or a clock to measure the weight of a chair. They chose to conduct focus group research for some very bad reasons. Most...
by david allan van nostrand | Oct 8, 2018 | Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Customer Satisfaction, Organizational Behavior
After a long day of flying and hours of the weary traveler’s shuffle-stop-shuffle-stop through immigration, baggage, and customs, I arrived at the airport rental car line as hot and tired as the dozen or so people already waiting in line ahead of me. There were...
