No decision-making system is going to guarantee corporate success. The strategic decisions that corporations have to make are of mind-numbing complexity. But we know that the more power you give a single individual in the face of complexity and uncertainty, the more likely it is that bad decisions will get made.
James SurowieckiI 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.
James SurowieckiIn effect, dividing your attention means that neither (or none) of the things you're working on is really getting the full effect of your intelligence, and that it in the end takes you longer than it would if you did one thing at a time.
James SurowieckiLower oil prices won't, by themselves, topple the mullahs in Iran. But it's significant that, historically, when oil prices have been low, Iranian reformers have been ascendant and radicals relatively subdued, and vice versa when prices have been high.
James SurowieckiThe 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.
James Surowiecki