“There does seem to be some evidence that as people get older, they procrastinate less, perhaps because they feel the pressure of time more.” PeopleFeelsDoeSeemsEvidencePressureProcrastinating Author:James Surowiecki
“Older people do a better job of managing their impulses, and so they're better able to put off putting off.” PeopleAbleJobsImpulseBetter JobsOlder People Author:James Surowiecki
“There are lots of people who believe there may be at least some genetic component to procrastination, and even if there isn't, it seems to be the case that procrastination habits are often set relatively early in life (that's certainly the case with me). But I also think that there's lots of evidence that external tools can help quite a bit in getting people to stop procrastinating.” PeopleIfsThinkingBelieveMayHelpingSeemsBitsCasesHabitEvidenceToolsProcrastinationComponentsProcrastinating Author:James Surowiecki
“I think people don't understand compound interest because typically no one ever explains it to them and the level of financial literacy in the US is very low.” PeopleThinkingInterestLevelsLowsFinancialLiteracyCompoundsFinancial LiteracyCompound Interest Author:James Surowiecki
“You'll sometimes hear from people that they actually do a better job of getting their work done when they have a lot of other obligations - in effect, it removes the possibility of procrastinating.” PeopleSometimesDoneJobsEffectsPossibilityObligationRemoveWork DoneBetter JobsProcrastinating Author:James Surowiecki
“The problem is that groups are only smart when the people in them are as independent as possible. This is the paradox of the wisdom of crowds.” PeopleProblemGroupsSmartIndependentCrowdsParadox Author:James Surowiecki
“Congressional Republicans themselves have vehemently defended the idea that preexisting conditions should not be used to deny people insurance.” PeopleShouldIdeasUsedConditionsRepublicanDeny Author:James Surowiecki
“Of course, plenty of people don't think that guaranteeing affordable health insurance is a core responsibility of government.” PeopleThinkingGovernmentCoursesResponsibilityCorePlentyAffordable Author:James Surowiecki
“Patrimonial capitalism's legacy is that many people see reform as a euphemism for corruption and self-dealing.” PeopleSelfCapitalismCorruptionReformLegacyEuphemism Author:James Surowiecki
“The fact that industries wax and wane is a reality of any economic system that wants to remain dynamic and responsive to people's changing tastes.” PeopleWantFactsRealityEconomicIndustryTasteEconomic Systems Author:James Surowiecki
“Under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably smart - smarter even sometimes than the smartest people in them.” PeopleSometimesGroupsCircumstancesSmartSmarter Author:James Surowiecki
“We assume that good-looking people are smarter and more effective than they really are, and that homely people are the reverse.” PeopleAssumingReverseSmarterLooking GoodHomely Author:James Surowiecki
“The essence of procrastination lies in not doing what you think you should be doing, a mental contortion that surely accounts for the great psychic toll the habit takes on people. This is the perplexing thing about procrastination: although it seems to involve avoiding unpleasant tasks, indulging in it generally doesn't make people happy.” PeopleThinkingShouldSeemsLyingHabitTasksEssenceAccountsProcrastinationAvoidingPsychicsTollsMaking People Happy Author:James Surowiecki
“The world's central banks and the International Monetary Fund still have vaults full of bullion, even though currencies are no longer backed by gold. Governments hold on to it as a kind of magic symbol, a way of reassuring people that their money is real.” PeopleWorldWayKindStillsRealGovernmentMagicGoldInternationalSymbolsFundCurrencyMonetaryReassuringCentral BanksVaults Author:James Surowiecki
“All things being equal, letting people make decisions for themselves will produce smarter outcomes, collectively, than relying on government planners.” PeopleGovernmentDecisionProduceEqualAll ThingsOutcomesSmarterPlannersBeing Equal Author:James Surowiecki
“As technology improves, on-screen avatars look more and more like real people. When they start looking too real, though, we pull away. These almost-humans aren't quite right; they look creepy, like zombies.” PeopleHumansLooksRealTechnologyScreensZombieCreepyToo Real Author:James Surowiecki
“Behavioral economists have shown that a sizable percentage of people are willing to pay real money to punish people who are taking from a common pot but not contributing to it. Just to insure that shirkers get what they deserve, we are prepared to make ourselves poorer.” PeopleRealCommonPayWillingDeservePreparedPotEconomistPercentagesContributing 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
“Being unemployed is even more disastrous for individuals than you'd expect. Aside from the obvious harm - poverty, difficulty paying off debts - it seems to directly affect people's health, particularly that of older workers.” PeopleSeemsIndividualPovertyDifficultyWorkersObviousDebtHarmUnemployed Author:James Surowiecki
“For a crowd to be smart, the people in it need to be not only diverse in their perspectives but also, relatively speaking, independent of each other. In other words, you need people to be thinking for themselves, rather than following the lead of those around them.” PeopleThinkingNeedsPerspectiveSmartIndependentCrowdsFollowingDiverseBeing Smart Author:James Surowiecki
“From a social point of view, it's beneficial that homeownership encourages commitment to a given town or city. But, from an economic point of view, it's good for people to be able to leave places where there's less work and move to places where there's more.” PeopleAbleMovingGivenSocialViewsCitiesEconomicCommitmentTownsPoint Of ViewBeneficialHomeownership Author:James Surowiecki
“I started in business journalism from the outside, so when I started writing about markets and business, I was struck by the fact that markets seemed to work well even though people are often irrational, lack good information and are not perfect in the way they think about decisions.” PeopleThinkingWayWritingWellsFactsDecisionPerfectInformationJournalismIrrationalNot PerfectGood Information Author:James Surowiecki
“If someone really wants my company's business, why shouldn't he be able to do everything he can - including paying me off - to get that business? Because bribery encourages people to make decisions based on the wrong criteria, which means in the business world that it distorts the efficient allocation of resources.” PeopleIfsWorldWantMeanAbleDecisionCompanyResourcesIncludingEfficientCriteriaBusiness WorldBriberyAllocation Author:James Surowiecki
“In practice, downsizing is too often about cutting your work force while keeping your business the same, and doing so not by investments in productivity-enhancing technology, but by making people pull 80-hour weeks and bringing in temps to fill the gap.” PeopleForceHoursPracticeTechnologyCuttingWeekInvestmentProductivityGapsDownsizing Author:James Surowiecki
“In terms of productivity - that is, how much a worker produces in an hour - there's little difference between the U.S., France, and Germany. But since more people work in America, and since they work so many more hours, Americans create more wealth.” PeopleLittlesAmericaTermHoursDifferencesWealthProduceWorkersProductivityFranceGermany Author:James Surowiecki
“Intellectual-property rules are clearly necessary to spur innovation: if every invention could be stolen, or every new drug immediately copied, few people would invest in innovation. But too much protection can strangle competition and can limit what economists call 'incremental innovation' - innovations that build, in some way, on others.” PeopleIfsWayToo MuchDrugLimitsIntellectualInnovationCompetitionPropertyProtectionInventionEconomistStolenSpursIntellectual Property Author:James Surowiecki
“It may be that the very qualities that help people get ahead are the ones that make them ill-suited for managing crises. It's hard to prepare for the worst when you think you're the best.” PeopleThinkingMayHardHelpingQualityWorstCrisisIllGet AheadYou Re The BestPrepare For The Worst Author:James Surowiecki
“Linux is a complex example of the wisdom of crowds. It's a good example in the sense that it shows you can set people to work in a decentralized way - that is, without anyone really directing their efforts in a particular direction - and still trust that they're going to come up with good answers.” PeopleWayStillsShowsAnswersEffortExampleParticularComplexesCome UpCrowdsGood ExamplesLinux Author:James Surowiecki
“Now, modern economies have a very effective mechanism for deciding if salaries are really too high: it's called the free market. That's how most people's salaries are set, after all, including those of major-league baseball players and European soccer players.” PeopleIfsEconomyPlayerModernMajorsBaseballIncludingSoccerLeagueMechanismFree MarketSalaryBaseball PlayerMajor LeagueSoccer PlayerMajor League Baseball Author:James Surowiecki
“On the simplest level, telecommuting makes it harder for people to have the kinds of informal interactions that are crucial to the way knowledge moves through an organization. The role that hallway chat plays in driving new ideas has become a cliche of business writing, but that doesn't make it less true.” PeopleWayWritingKindIdeasPlayMovingLevelsRolesOrganizationHarderDrivingCrucialInteractionNew IdeasSimplestClicheHallwaysBusiness Writing Author:James Surowiecki
“Unlike fuel-economy standards, the most common method of reducing demand for oil over the past thirty years, a gas tax doesn't tell people what kind of car to drive. It simply raises the price of gasoline and lets people adjust their behavior accordingly.” PeopleYearsKindPastCommonEconomyCarDemandTaxesBehaviorStandardsRaisesMethodOilThirtyFuelGasReducingThirty YearsOver The PastGasolineFuel Economy Author:James Surowiecki
“When Americans are asked to rank professions in terms of honesty and ethics, insurance agents routinely end up near the bottom of the list - somewhere between politicians and car salesmen. Generally, insurers are seen as clever hucksters who prey on insecurity and ignorance to sell people what they don't need at prices they shouldn't have to pay.” PeopleNeedsEndsTermPayCarHonestyIgnorancePoliticianEthicsSellsBottomProfessionListsCleverAgentsInsecurityPreySalesmanCar SalesmanInsurance Agent Author:James Surowiecki
“The fact that cognitive diversity matters does not mean that if you assemble a group of diverse but thoroughly uninformed people, their collective wisdom will be smarter than an expert's. But if you can assemble a diverse group of people who possess varying degrees of knowledge and insight, you're better off entrusting it with major decisions rather than leaving them in the hands of one or two people, no matter how smart those people are.” PeopleIfsMeanDoeTwoMatterFactsWisdomHandsDecisionGroupsDegreesDiversityMajorsSmartLeavingInsightExpertsCollectivesDiverseSmarterBetter OffBeing SmartCognitiveUninformedEntrustingCollective Wisdom Book:The Wisdom of Crowds Source: The Wisdom of Crowds
“One key to successful group decisions is getting people to pay much less attention to what everyone else is saying.” PeopleDecisionPayAttentionSuccessfulGroupsKeysKey To Success Book:The Wisdom of Crowds Source: The Wisdom of Crowds
“The smartest groups, then, are made up of people with diverse perspectives who are able to stay independent of each other.” PeopleMadeAbleGroupsPerspectiveIndependentIntelligenceDiverse Book:The Wisdom of Crowds Source: The Wisdom of Crowds
“Unfortunately, there is something of a flaw in this idealized picture of the way the scientific community discovers truth. And the flaw is that most scientific work never gets noticed. Study after study has shown that most scientific papers are read by almost no one, while a small number of papers are read by many people.” PeopleWayScienceCommunityNumbersStudyPaperFlawsPapersSmall Numbers Book:The Wisdom of Crowds Source: The Wisdom of Crowds
“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
