Levels of surprise
Surprises take many forms. Ideally, you genuinely surprise someone, but sometimes the person being surprised will fake a reaction to be polite to the people who »
Evaluation meetings by the numbers
If you're being evaluated, keep things efficient by showing that you've hit your numbers. Because objective data is harder to dispute, you're less likely to be »
Asking questions as a student
When you're a student you can ask anyone a question. As long as you're upfront about not being an expert, it's fine to ask novice questions »
Hanging out with your friend's friends
Most people have multiple friend groups. And for better or for worse, they don't always mix. My best friends are happy to have me hang out »
Using my full name
Providing my full name helps preempt the sometimes uncomfortable "what are you?" that people wonder when they meet me because I'm multi-racial. But, I »
Recommended pricing
Some restaurants, bars, and museums allow people to pay what they want, but show recommended prices. Online where transactions are effectively anonymous and impersonal, this would »
Choose classes based on professors
If you view classes simply as a mechanism to learn a particular subject, then there's little difference between an in person course and a MOOC. While »
Questions to ask famous people
Famous people are typically conscious of how they're portrayed in the press. So, over time they develop talking points that can be used to answer frequently »
Invite others to talk about themselves
In general, I've found that most people's favorite topic to talk about is themselves. So when I'm unsure what to talk about next, I invite others »
Outlets in hotel rooms
Why are there so few electrical outlets in hotel rooms? Buildings have clearly been renovated since guests started regularly carrying laptops and cellphones. Right now, you »