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.

In the business world, bad news is usually good news - for somebody else.

I think there is clearly a connection between free time and procrastination. The more you have of the former, all things being equal, the more likely you are to procrastinate.

If you work for Google or Apple, stock options give you a chance to share in the increasing value of the company. In the N.F.L., nothing like this happens; the players, though rich, are just working stiffs like the rest of us.

Meeting external deadlines is much harder than meeting internal ones. On the other hand, internal deadlines sometimes don't feel real, and are therefore easy to evade.

Defense contractors are able to reap tremendous profits while rarely confronting the risks for which those profits are supposed to be the reward.

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.