『unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc』のカバーアート

unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc

unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc

著者： Greg La Blanc
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 unSILOed is a series of interdisciplinary conversations that inspire new ways of thinking about our world. Our goal is to build a community of lifelong learners addicted to curiosity and the pursuit of insight about themselves and the world around them.*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*All rights reserved. アート 文学史・文学批評 経済学
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  • 594. Rational Choice Theory and Practical Wisdom: Analyzing Decision Making with Barry Schwartz

    594. Rational Choice Theory and Practical Wisdom: Analyzing Decision Making with Barry Schwartz
    2025/11/03
    How has rational choice theory come to dominate both our understanding of the world and our view of good judgment, and why is that a problem? What are the benefits of remembering to zoom in and out to get a better picture of problems and solutions? Why do we prefer reducing things to numbers even if that abstracts useful levels of data?Barry Schwartz is a professor Emeritus at Swarthmore College and the prolific author of many books. His latest titles include Choose Wisely: Rationality, Ethics, and the Art of Decision-Making and Wisdom: How to Discover Your Path in Work and Life.Greg and Barry discuss the limitations of rational choice theory, the importance of practical wisdom, and the role of judgment in making decisions. They also touch on the broader implications of rational choice theory across various fields, the history of economic and social science paradigms, and the necessity of incorporating ethical considerations into people’s decision-making. *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:The way we think about the world changes the world10:47: The argument in the book [Choose Wisely] was, the way we think about the world changes the world. And it is true that the way we think about the world changes the world, but it changes the world materially. It does not just change the world because of the ideas we have running around in our heads; it changes the material world. Yeah. The factory did not exist, and then it did. And as a result, what it meant to work changed. That was not in our heads. That was, you know, a structure that was out in the world that made demands on the people who walked in the door every day. So it was not idealism. The argument was that ideas change not just how people think, but what kinds of things people are able to do. And I think the same thing is true with rational choice theory, though it is a bit more abstract. You know, you cannot do a rational choice analysis without being able to quantify.Why we can’t game the way to design incentives14:16: People somehow think that there is a bulletproof way to design incentives, so that they will not distort why they gave us the incentives they are designed to encourage. And, the bad news is there is no such thing, and there is no system that cannot be gamed.How economics changes the way we think07:22: There is a general, more general problem in social science, which is that, unlike planets, people are affected by claims that are made about what they are like. And so, the more we read social science, and the more economics, the king of the social sciences, dominates the news, the more inclined we are to think like and act like economists. So, does this tell us that the economists have discovered something? No. I mean, maybe. But it is just as likely that what economists have done is create something. They have created a way of approaching decisions and value assessment and so on that is consistent with their framework and changed people as a result.What we miss when we measure everything42:15: Rational choice theory is not neutral about what stays in the frame and what goes outside it. Things that go outside the frame are the ones that are most difficult to quantify using the same scale that you are using for everything else. And so, in the case of the price of a pound of beef, you could add the amount of money that our taxes contribute to subsidies. You could factor in the costs of the fertilizers that enable the corn to grow enough so that the cows can get fattened up. How do you quantify exactly the cost to human health? You can do it. How many more dollars do we pay per year because of antibiotic-resistant bacteria? But does that capture the cost in health? No. It only captures the dollar cost in health.Show Links:Recommended Resources:Rational Choice ModelDaniel KahnemanReinforcement LearningB. F. SkinnerReflexivity (Social Theory)Karl PopperGeorge SorosGoodhart's lawThe Omnivore's DilemmaAnnie DukePhronesisTelosSwarthmore CollegeAdnan KhashoggiGuest Profile:Wikipedia PageFaculty Profile at Swarthmore CollegeProfile at The Decision LabSocial Profile on XGuest Work:Amazon Author PageChoose Wisely: Rationality, Ethics, and the Art of Decision-MakingWhy We Work (TED Books)Wisdom: How to Discover Your Path in Work and LifeBrilliant: The Art and Science of Making Better DecisionsThe Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less, Revised EditionPractical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right ThingAre We Happy Yet? Happiness in an Age of Abundance (Cato Unbound)The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is LessThe Costs of LivingThe Battle for Human Nature: Science, Morality and Modern LifeRelated unSILOed episodes:Barry Schwartz - Why We Work: Breaking Down the Psychological and Economic Factors of a Great WorkplaceDonald MacKenzie - Trading at Light Speed: The Impact of Ultra-Fast Algorithms on Financial Markets Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of ...
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    1 時間 8 分
  • 593. The Myth of the Bossless Company feat. Nicolai J. Foss

    593. The Myth of the Bossless Company feat. Nicolai J. Foss
    2025/10/30

    For organizations that are tempted to throw out the classic organizational management handbook in favor of a structure with no managers – think again.

    Nicolai J. Foss is a professor of strategy at Copenhagen Business School and the co-author of Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company. The book pushes back on the notion that the key to breakthrough success for organizations is through flat, leaderless structures akin to today’s trendy startups, and makes the case for why companies need hierarchies to function.

    Nicolai and Greg discuss the feasibility and realities of operating without traditional hierarchies, why these models often rely heavily on exceptional founders and are not suited for all business types, and the essential roles managers play in coordination, cooperation, and maintaining effective workflows, especially during times of crisis.

    *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

    Episode Quotes:

    We still need managers

    41:33 [Managers] They're doing a lot of good stuff. They are coordinating, and they are cooperating at the most abstract level. I mean, activities need to be coordinated in the sense of, we have to figure out what those activities should be, how they should change in response to outside disturbances. Activities have to be linked. Activities have to be rethought. And once we have figured all that out, which is, of course, an ongoing struggle, then people have to be motivated to cooperate inside those, and actually carry out those activities in the best possible way and in a dynamic reality. This is a never-ending quest.

    No human system run itself

    11:44: No human system works itself or runs itself. It has to be supported, maintained. There has to be support, scaffolding, or whatever you want to call it. Same goes for firms—and perhaps all different ones.

    Organization is about coordinated cooperation

    02:40: At the end of the day, organization is about coordinated cooperation, and the right question to ask is, what exactly is the role of managers in bringing about coordinated cooperation?

    Boselessness is not for every company

    20:43: [Bosslessness] It works for some companies, typically those that have a more modular kind of underlying technology, where there is no high need for mutual adaptation between units or activities or processes. But it works much less well for a traditional industrial company.

    Show Links:

    Recommended Resources:

    • Organizational theory
    • Principal–agent problem
    • First, Let’s Fire All the Managers by Gary Hamel
    • Jensen Huang
    • Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson
    • Can you run a company as a perfect free market? Inside Disco Corp
    • Morningstar, Inc.
    • Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini
    • Valve Corporation
    • The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (film)

    Guest Profile:

    • Faculty Profile at Copenhagen Business School
    • Professional Profile on LinkedIn

    Guest Work:

    • Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company

    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    40 分
  • 592. Deconstructing the Left: Social Justice and Political Realities feat. Fredrik deBoer

    592. Deconstructing the Left: Social Justice and Political Realities feat. Fredrik deBoer
    2025/10/27
    How have politics changed from the Bill Clinton era to that of Donald Trump? How have identity politics diverted attention from economic issues, and how have the educated elites derailed activism?Fredrik deBoer is the author of both fiction and nonfiction works, including The Mind Reels, The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice, and How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement.Greg and Fredrik discuss the American political left and why the left-right dichotomy fails to tell the complete story. Fredrik provides a critical examination of the internal divisions within the political left, identity politics, and the impact of social media on political engagement. He argues that the left's preoccupation with symbolic issues often undermines its ability to build broad-based coalitions, and suggests a return to class-first politics as a more effective strategy. They also touch on the role of nonprofits, the evolution of meritocracy in education, and the challenges of achieving genuine economic and social justice.*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:How social media turned politics into identity performance45:28: What makes all of this particularly more pernicious in the 21st century is, it's not just now your immediate peer group of people you see face-to-face. You've got to answer to a couple thousand people on social media who know your name and who know where you work, and who will yell at you if you have the, quote-unquote, wrong position. Right? And this is a thing that has happened all over the world of the left, which is, cultural issues began to be foregrounded above economic issues to an extreme extent. There was a development of a very narrow sort of list of approved opinions that you could hold on cultural and social issues. They came to be seen as sort of outside of the realm of politics, and without anyone actually intending for it to happen, what the sort of default young Democrat in politics was shifted over time in an extreme identitarian direction.When politics becomes a team sport, everyone loses nuance29:18: I think we are just training generations of young people who do not understand politics as anything other than a sort of blood sport, organized around a very simplistic binary.The heart of politics is empathy, not ideology07:23: I have a very long list of disagreements with Bill Clinton, but he was a political genius, and everyone knows, his signature phrase is, I feel your pain. And to me, that's the heart of politics. It's saying, I understand that you need something, and I'm here for you. In that sense, the identity politics on the left in the last 15 years has been about telling large groups of people that they do not have real problems, right? So, if you go show up to a university campus and you start to talk about some of the problems that afflict, for example, the white working class, you'll be told quite directly, oh, to center the white working class, right, is to privilege racism and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? It's saying directly to these people, your problems are not real problems. And so, like, that's the perfect example of where you are sacrificing potential allies for a benefit that I just do not even understand.Show Links:Recommended Resources:SocialismMarxismProgressivismSingle-Payer HealthcareBill ClintonDonald TrumpAdolph L. Reed Jr.Paul IngrassiaOccupy Wall StreetIron Law of OligarchyRobert ReichBarack ObamaGuest Profile:FredrikdeBoer.comWikipedia ProfileFredrik deBoer SubstackGuest Work:Amazon Author PageThe Mind ReelsThe Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social InjusticeHow Elites Ate the Social Justice MovementRelated UnSILOed episodes:Michael Spence - A Deep Dive into Signaling and Market Dynamics Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    1 時間 2 分
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