Written on Monday, September 26, 2005 by Rohan Koshy
Well i'm back and this time i bring new insights from another book i read.
Question:- how much time would you take to evaluate the effectiveness of a teacher.Or maybe a potential employee?2 days? 3 months? well research says it can be done in less than 5 mins.Suprised? Well dont be.
People we're asked to evaluate their close friends on the basis of 5 questions.Things like is he organised,compassionate,driven etc etc....So they all rated their friends.Then complete strangers we're asked to take a look at the rooms of the same people for 15 mins and rate them..Guess how well they did?Just as well as the "Close friends"
What i'm talking about is called the art of thin slicing.
Students in a particular class we're asked to evaluate their teachers in ten different categories.Then strangers we're shown A 3 SECOND VIDEO of the same teachers.They did rated the teachers just as the students did.Stunning? Yes.What's worse is that it goes against all logic.The more information you have the easier it is to make a decision right?Wrong.That maybe true only in some cases.
Consider this.A certain hospital had a problem that they had too many patients checking in for heart attacks.Doctors were swamped.Every one with a chest pain was being admitted.(because they always err on the side of caution.You could get sued if you sent someone having a heart attack home having diagnosed it as an asthma attack)
SO they made a heirarchy of three rooms.Observation,serious and ICU.Well that didnt help.They were still swamped.So what did they do.The head of the hospital implemented an algorithm(Made by someone else).This told the doctors to ask only eight questions and based on the answers they patients were either checked in or sent home(in case they had asthma or somethin minor).The algorithm was 70% better at discerning whether the patient needed to be admitted or not.
When the american army asked a few stockbrokers to come play simulation war games,the brokers did amazingly well.Why?Because just like army men,the brokers have learnt to make their decisions based on very limited information.They "thin slice" information to only what's relevant.That's the real world effect.
So why do i bring this up?It's estimated that by 2011,the world's coded information base(Books,mags,all reading material) will double every 11 HOURS!!!!Can you keep up?If we all want to go into management(and be good at it) we have to learn this art,because without it you'll probably have a nervous breadown by the time your 30.
For more info on this read:- "Blink"-malcolm gladwell.(I have it incase anyone wants it)
Adios
P.S. cheers to you two having gone 3 years and 9 months today.
Written on Saturday, September 17, 2005 by Rohan Koshy
I started reading about how we learn a couple of weeks back and it was quite an eyeopener...
Basically we have three systems for learning; Visual, auditory and Kinesthetic(Feeling). Every one of us is more inclined to one of these systems and the stimuli which affect this dominant one have the most impact on us... It's not easy to tell which one of your friends uses which system but it's not that difficult either.
Visual--- usually sort things out visually.Their speech is loaded with phrases like-"It doesn't look right","I just cant seem to see the whole picture" etc.They talk fast and their breathing is shallow.
Auditory:-- Words like" It clicked today","I like the sound of it",It just doesn't
sound right".THey usually have resonant voices,and calm,even breathing.
Kinesthetic:-They usually choose their words carefully i.e slow talkers, have deep breathing and use words like"it just doesn't feel right","I can't get a hold of it","It's beyond my grasp"...
Cool u say but of what purpose...Well the problem comes when education imparted is primarily visual with little auditory input and no kinesthetic.Einstein was kicked out school for not being smart enough...Did you know that he said that one of the main reasons he came up with the relativity concept was because he tried to feel what it would be like to sit at the end of a beam of light...Can u see how it affects us..(I'm visual..You should have guessed...)
Suppose your a salesman trying to sell a car to someone
1.If he's visual you'd stand the best chance if you showed him pics,Brochures,stats etc..Will this work with an auditorily inclined person.Partly.
2.For him you would probably be better off letting him hear how the car soundsetc.
3.For a kinesthetic person It's best if you let him sit in the car,feel the steering wheel,the leather etc.
We can now begin to see how important it can be to make this distinctions so as make communication simple
so if your to be girlfriend is visual, don't propose by texting,Phone or email....!!!
So here's something to do.Next time u have to ask somemone for something, apply this technique and see how things turn out.Try it!!
Written on Saturday, September 10, 2005 by Rohan Koshy
Ever since i've started putting little signatures at the bottom of my text messages things taken a cool twist.I don't put anything there that i don't absolutely believe in (unless it's funny ofcourse, in which case anything goes).
Every time i send a message i could get different responses.I could get ridiculed, laughed at, thanked or just ackowledged. All of us need a little inspiration every once in a while.But the fulfilling ones's are when my friends send their own little quotes back
Excerpts from some of the replies
There are three general events which happen to mankind ; birth,life and death.At birth we cannot sense,We suffer when we die and neglect to Live.
--- Sent by Girija Gaur
Love is invincible,There are no categories in it! Believe in miracles but don't depend on them.Better to understand a little than to understand a lot,Don't limit your challenges ,Challenge your limits
--- Sent by Girija Gaur.
You want and you get that's luck,you want and you wait that's time,you want and you compromise that's life, you Want and you wait and you don't compromise that's success
--- Sent by Ummehani
