There are none so blind as those who will not see. English Proverb During the commuter rush hour on a morning in January 2007, a young man stood playing a violin in one of Washington D.C.’s metro stations. Roughly 2,000 people passed him as they entered the station. Most barely noticed him, though a few stopped and listened for a short time. At the end of an hour of playing, he had collected $32. To the casual observer, he appeared to be a typical street musician in blue jeans and a baseball cap. But he was anything but typical. He …
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Tag Archives: perspective
If things go wrong, don’t go with them. Roger Babson 1875 – 1967 Over the past few weeks, some of you may have received holiday gifts you don’t like, and you might be thinking about selling them on eBay or Craigslist. There’s an important business principle called sunk costs that you ought to consider; it’s actually useful in any number of life situations, so it’s a good lesson to learn and understand. The idea of sunk costs is fairly simple: any past costs associated with a decision are irrelevant, because you can’t change the past; you should only consider current and future …
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There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so. William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616 In his book, Influence: Science and Practice, Robert Cialdini tells a story about a young girl away at college. She writes a letter to her parents, first apologizing for not having written sooner. She then goes on to say that the skull fracture and concussion she got when she jumped from her dorm window to escape the fire is healing nicely. Fortunately, a service station attendant witnessed her jump, rescued her and took her to the hospital. Since she had no place to stay, …
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