Think Twice Quotes

“However, once you realize the answer to most questions is, “It depends,” you are ready to embark on the quest to figure out what it depends on.”
― Michael J. Mauboussin, Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition

“In one study, a trio of professors from Harvard Business School tracked more than one thousand acclaimed equity analysts over a decade and monitored how their performance changed as they switched firms. Their dour conclusion, “When a company hires a star, the star’s performance plunges, there is a sharp decline in the functioning of the group or team the person works with, and the company’s market value falls.”20 The hiring organization is let down because it failed to consider systems-based advantages that the prior employer supplied, including firm reputation and resources. Employers also underestimate the relationships that supported previous success, the quality of the other employees, and a familiarity with past processes.”
― Michael J. Mauboussin, Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition

“In a probabilistic environment, you are better served by focusing on the process by which you make a decision than on the outcome”
― Michael J. Mauboussin, Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition

“All three mistakes have the same root: a focus on an isolated part of a complex adaptive system without an appreciation of the system dynamics.”
― Michael J. Mauboussin, Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition

“To overcome inertia, Peter Drucker, the legendary consultant, suggested asking the seemingly naïve question, “If we did not do this already, would we, knowing what we now know, go into it?”26”
― Michael J. Mauboussin, Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition