“I tend to have a hard time working on pieces long before they're due. That's why I think the fact that I write a column is really good for me - the column has to be done, and there's no getting around it.” ThinkingWritingLongHardDoneFactsPiecesDuesHard TimesColumns Author:James Surowiecki
“If army ants are wandering around and they get lost, they start to follow a simple rule:Just do what the ant in front of you does. The ants eventually end up in a circle. There's this famous example of one that was 1,200 feet long and lasted for two days; the ants just kept marching around and around in a circle until they died.” IfsLongDoeTwoEndsLostSimpleFeetFrontsExampleArmyDiedCirclesWanderAntsTwo DaysWandering Around Author:James Surowiecki
“You can't fuel real economic growth with indiscriminate credit. You can only fuel it with well-allocated, long-term investment.” WellsLongRealGrowthTermEconomicInvestmentCreditLong TermFuelEconomic Growth Author:James Surowiecki
“A long-term crisis, after a certain point, no longer seems like a crisis. It seems like the way things are.” WayLongSeemsCertainTermCrisisLong Term Author:James Surowiecki
“Wall Street has come a long way from the insider-dominated world that was blown apart by the Great Depression.” WorldWayLongStreetsWallLong WayGreat DepressionInsiders Author:James Surowiecki
“Academics, who work for long periods in a self-directed fashion, may be especially prone to putting things off: surveys suggest that the vast majority of college students procrastinate, and articles in the literature of procrastination often allude to the author's own problems with finishing the piece.” MayLongSelfProblemLiteraturePiecesFashionStudentsCollegePeriodsMajorityArticlesProcrastinationFinishingSurveysProcrastinatingCollege StudentsPutting Things Off Author:James Surowiecki
“Being out of a job can erode people's confidence and their sense of possibility; and employers, often unfairly, tend to take long-term unemployment as a signal that something is wrong.” PeopleLongJobsTermPossibilityLong TermUnemploymentSignalsEmployersErode Author:James Surowiecki
“Companies have long gathered data to break down their customer base into specific segments. Now political parties have become adept at micro-targeting, too, using data on shopping habits, leisure activities, voting histories, charity donations, and so on, in order to pinpoint likely supporters and the type of appeal most likely to win them over.” LongPoliticalOrderWinningPartyCompanyBreakTypeHabitActivityCharityCustomersDataAppealsVotingShoppingLeisureSupporterBreaking DownPolitical PartiesDonationAdeptLeisure Activities Author:James Surowiecki
“To be sure, if you watch CNBC all day long you'll pick up some interesting news about particular companies and the economy as a whole. Unfortunately, to get to the useful information, you have to wade through reams of useless stuff, with little guidance on how to distinguish between the two.” IfsLittlesLongTwoWholeStuffInterestingCompanyWatchesEconomyInformationParticularNewsPicksUselessGuidanceWadeSome InterestingUseful InformationUseless Stuff Author:James Surowiecki
“The smartest groups, then, are made up of people with diverse perspectives who are able to stay independent of each other. Independence doesn't imply rationality or impartiality, though. You can be biased and irrational, but as long as you're independent, you won't make the group any dumber.” PeopleLongMadeAbleGroupsPerspectiveIndependentIndependenceDiverseIrrationalRationalityBiasedImpartiality Book:The Wisdom of Crowds Source: The Wisdom of Crowds
