Wasting time recently on a discussion board for rabid sports fans, my eyes stopped on a phrase that shocked me: “endowment effect.” Dropped casually in among the emotional discussion of who’s the best offensive or defensive player was a high-fallutin’ term from economics. I thought it out of place for [Keep reading]
You arrive at a party at an unfamiliar home. As you ring the bell, you rehearse the next few moments — explaining who you know, why you’re there, where you’ll place the bottle of wine you’re holding. Then the door opens, the hellos begin, and suddenly, there’s a powerful [Keep reading]
When you were in math class as a child, teachers usually wanted more than the correct answer to a problem. They also wanted you to demonstrate, on paper, how you got the answer. They wanted you to “show your work.” Turns out, adults want that too. In fact, something kind of magical [Keep reading]
The Syrian refugee crisis had been raging for nearly five years, and millions displaced, when one photograph changed the entire global conversation. The lifeless body of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, lying face down on a beach after drowning while attempting a dangerous escape to Europe on a flimsy raft, cut through [Keep reading]
Beer bars are all the rage. Perhaps you’ve experienced actual rage yourself, the last time you saw someone approach a highly trained beertender and ask this simple question: “What’s good?” Maybe there was even an audible gasp in the bar. Egads! Inevitably, the beertender escalated the situation with a [Keep reading]
Money and time have a very funny relationship, and by funny, I mean, most people misunderstand it. For example: What’s more valuable to you: $10 today or $20 next month? Next year? The choice to spend or save money is a constant trade-off between having something today vs. having something tomorrow, but [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan