Here’s an interesting article on the role of our emotions in decision-making.

Points of note:

Without our emotions, we will have difficulty making decisions.
Strong emotions like fear can adversely affect our decisions.
The more we deny our emotions, the less able we are to make a decision; regardless of how much info we have.
Relying on our gut instincts is important.
Women make better decisions - because women are more in …

We know that airlines go on and on about how mobile phones and other transmitting devices interfere with aircraft navigation systems. Is this for real? Or is it a cynical attempt to get up to use their air phones?

Given the ubiquity of phones, and the forgetfulness (or deliberate recalcitrance) of humans, I am sure many an aircraft fly perfectly well with transmitting mobile phones on board. After …

Should pedestrians keep left or right. Which is it? It depends on where you are. Maybe.

In melting pot societies (fondue societies?) like Sydney and Singapore, with residents from different parts of the world, it is useful to post explicit signs instead or relying on the unspoken rules.

Singapore is somewhat better in this respect, given their history as a more explicitly “managed” society. Heavy traffic areas often do have …

Does anyone know how much power the big backlit apple logo on MacBooks chew up?

Is it the tech equivalent of wearing a t-shirt with Armani Exchange or some other brand name printed big cross it?

What is the psychology behind this desire to overtly broadcast your association with a brand name?

(I for one will never buy something with a big logo on it. I only wear t-shirts with logos …

In smaller businesses or teams with low-rise hierarchies (a flat organisation), I have noticed that there is a higher risk for certain personalities to take on perceived responsibilities for beyond their official capacity.

Examples: A junior programmer feels responsible for the financial welfare of the company. A manager feels responsible for the quality of an employee’s personal life.

This can be especially true for those personalities with a tendency for …

In his book On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You’re Not, author Robert A. Burton made the point that:

Certainty is neither a conscious choice nor even a thought process. That unmistakable sense of certainty arises out of involuntary brain mechanisms that, like love or anger, function independently of reason.

This is something for business leaders to be mindful of. To embrace the …

As I am sitting here putting the final touches on a seminar on business blogging, I caught this “magic media moment” on the news: “an unscripted and unleashed punter giving some big wig in a suit a large slice of his mind on the state of Sydney trains.”

It was a classic moment. One moment there’s the “big wig” spewing the usual PR-contrived rhetoric about …

A nice piece on design, seeing, opportunities and creative thinking: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/43

Intentions show through. Despite going through the motions of respect, politeness and customer care, the absence of real care shows through clearly. Many of the Singaporean service personnel I have encountered recently demonstrated this.

They take my money or credit card, and hand me receipts and change, with two hands. This is a sign of respect in Asia. But it is very clear that this has become a …

In this News Limited story, Philippe Starck says design is dead and his work ‘unnecessary’.

“I was a producer of materiality and I am ashamed of this fact, … Everything I designed was unnecessary.”

All the egoistical self-indulgence aside, this statement does merit a certain level of self-reflection, whether you are a designer or a consumer.

What does a designer really do anyway?
How green or sustainable is …