Strategy Boffins

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Effects of Mental Models on our behavior.

Idea Almanac

“Mental models” are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action. Very often, we are not consciously aware of our mental models or the effects they have on our behavior. For example, we may notice that a co-worker dresses elegantly, and say to ourselves, “She’s a country club person.” About someone who dresses shabbily, we may feel, “He doesn’t care about what others think.” Mental models of what can or cannot be done in different management settings are no less deeply entrenched. Many insights into new markets or outmoded organizational practices fail to get put into practice because they conflict with powerful, tacit mental models.”

Excerpt From: Peter M Senge. “The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization: First Edition.”

Occam’s Razor, a classic principle of logic and problem-solving

Idea Almanac

“Simpler explanations are more likely to be true than complicated ones. This is the essence of Occam’s Razor, a classic principle of logic and problem-solving. Instead of wasting your time trying to disprove complex scenarios, you can make decisions more confidently by basing them on the explanation that has the fewest moving parts. We all jump to overly complex explanations about something. Husband late getting home? What if he’s been in a car accident? Son grew a centimeter less than he did last year? What if there is something wrong with him? Your toe hurts? What if you have bone cancer? Although it is possible that any of these worst case scenarios could be true, without any other correlating factors, it is significantly more likely that your husband got caught up at work, you mismeasured your son, and your shoe is too tight.”

Excerpt From: Shane Parrish. “The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts.”

Velocity has direction

Idea Almanac

“Velocity is often confused with speed, but the two concepts are very different. Speed is just movement; even if you are running in place, you have speed. Velocity has direction. You must go somewhere in order to have velocity. This model teaches us that it’s much more important to pay attention to where you are going and not how fast you are moving. No one wants to be a hamster in a wheel, focused on moving so fast that we lose track of what we’re trying to achieve. While speed ensures movement, velocity produces a result.”

Excerpt From: Shane Parrish. “The Great Mental Models Volume 2.”

Critical Mass

Idea Almanac

“A system becomes “critical” when it is on the verge of changing from one state to another. The final unit of input before the change has a disproportionate impact. It is the proverbial straw to break the camel’s back. Before a critical mass is reached, the camel can support the amount of weight it’s required to carry. Then the weight passes a threshold where any additional amount is disastrous, and the final straw tips the camel into another state. Once a system passes a certain threshold and enters a critical state, it only takes a tiny nudge to change it.”

Excerpt From: Rhiannon Beaubien. “The Great Mental Models Volume 3: Systems and Mathematics.”

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