Cognitive Toolkit

How to guide organisations towards innovation with a more interconnected, dynamic approach to design.

A comprehensive guide to using logic in writing, thinking, and speaking to win others over

This satirical concept remains surprisingly pervasive and an easy tool for leaders to mute career growth and skirt accountability.

Parts of this article are from my new book, How Many Economists Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb? - check it out on Amazon! And for those located in Asia, I'll be mass-ordering to save on individual shipping costs, so drop me a message if you're keen to get a copy! Have you ever worn an uncomforta

The sunk cost fallacy is a common decision-making pitfall in both life and business. Learn how to combat this thinking trap and make better decisions.

A sunk cost is an expense that cannot be recovered. These types of costs should be excluded from decision-making.

When is it time to move on?

The Sunk Cost Fallacy describes our tendency to follow through on an endeavor if we have already invested time, effort, or money into it, whether or not the current costs outweigh the benefits.

For most of my career, being blindly confident about things I knew little about was my signature move. My desire to be seen as the expert meant that I moved forward when I had what I thought was enough information to make me a self-described expert.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which the incompetent lack the skills and cognitive abilities to recognize their own inability. Learn how it works.

“If there is time to reflect, slowing down is likely to be a good idea.”

When reading about creativity and creativity techniques like brainstorming, you will almost always hear about two important forms of thinking: Divergent Thinking and Convergent Thinking.

Anne Manning demonstrates the concepts of divergent and convergent thinking to inspire new ways to approach problem-solving with your team.

If you would like to use this video in a training, please check out https://www.visualizelearning.com/ for licensing information. Description: Imagine you have a problem you need to solve and you’re looking for innovative solutions. In this moment, there’s a good chance you’ll choose one of two cognitive approaches. In 1956, the psychologist J.P. Guilford coined the terms convergent thinking and divergent thinking to describe these contrasting approaches. Convergent thinking is linear and systematic while divergent thinking is web-like, focusing on the connections between ideas. Convergent thinking narrows down multiple ideas into a single solution. On the other hand, divergent thinking expands outward by generating multiple ideas, often thinking like a hacker and using materials in original ways. Here, you treat barriers as design opportunities. Convergent thinking tends to be more focused (target) while divergent thinking is more flexible and iterative. Convergent thinking is analytical and focused on what’s best. By contrast, divergent thinking is open-ended. Participants are encouraged to take creative risks. even though some ideas might not work. Convergent thinking asks, “Why?” Divergent thinking asks, “Why not?” While these might seem like competitive approaches, they actually go hand-in-hand. Often, teams will use divergent thinking to generate multiple ideas followed by convergent thinking to analyze and narrow down ideas. Later, they might use divergent thinking to come up with fresh perspectives, followed by convergent thinking, in an ongoing cycle.

Convergent thinking focuses on finding one solution, while divergent thinking involves more creativity. In this piece, we’ll explain the differences.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a pyramid of the needs that motivate people. Individuals most basic needs, at the base of the pyramid, are physiological. Once they have fulfilled these needs, people move on to their safety needs, social well-being, self-esteem then ultimately their need for self-actualization.

“It isn't normal to know what we want. It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement.” ~ Abraham Maslow All great entrepreneurs have this in

Maslow's hierarchy of needs, or Maslow's pyramid of needs, was created as the basis for a theory of human motivation by the psychologist Abraham Maslow shared in a 1943 paper.

The Pyramid Principle is an approach to getting your message across by starting with the main idea supported by the relevant facts or arguments.

The Pyramid Principle is a framework created by McKinsey to convey information quickly and clearly to busy business execs. Use it to ace your case...

At McKinsey, one of the lessons I learned was the importance of structured thinking and communication. We often had to crisply present a recommendation to busy executives. Many times, we only had a…

Make your communication more efficient and clear.

Understand the agile & crisis management strategies for the landscape of Complex and Chaotic domains of the Cynefin Fw.

The idea of the Cynefin framework is that it offers decision-makers a "sense of place" from which to view their perceptions.

Make sense of different situations to choose an appropriate response.

Commonly known as ‘the OODA Loop’ or ‘the Boyd Cycle,’ this information-processing framework is often presented as a simple cycle of four states: Observation, Orientation, Decision, and Action.

The OODA loop is a decision-making model developed by United States Air Force Colonel John Boyd. He applied the concept to the combat operations process, often at the operational level during military campaigns. It is often applied to understand commercial operations and learning processes. The approach explains how agility can overcome raw power in dealing with human opponents.

By understanding that speed and timing are complementary, the potential of the OODA Loop can be maximized by focusing it to identify those moments when an opponent is most vulnerable, and providing options to exploit those openings at the most opportune time.

John Boyd and The OODA Loop John Boyd’s OODA loops are more than just an esoteric strategic concept; they’ve earned a huge following online and around the world. In this article, I highlight key points about OODA loops along with a glimpse into […]

The OODA Loop is a four-step process for making effective decisions in high-stakes situations. It involves collecting relevant information, recognizing potential biases, deciding, and acting, then repeating the process with new information. Read on to learn how to use the OODA Loop.