In the fast-paced world of digital and SaaS products, product-led growth (PLG) has emerged as a powerful strategy to drive customer acquisition, retention, and expansion. (You may have heard of such PLG-focused products as Slack or Zoom or Canva or Hubspot.) For many SaaS companies, adopting a PLG approach is transformative.
Remember, it all starts and ends with an awesome PRODUCT – one that solves a valuable problem for a specific audience in an easy-to-use and efficient manner – but that’s just the start. Read on to discover other components of a successful PLG strategy!
Unveiling the Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decision-Making
Are you intrigued by the inner workings of the human mind and curious about the forces that drive our decision-making? With the growing popularity of AI, I’ve personally been thinking about this more and more. If you have too, then, “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman is a must-read for you. This groundbreaking book takes us on a journey through the intricate landscape of our cognitive processes, revealing how we humans make choices, solve problems, and sometimes fall into judgment traps.
Kahneman introduces us to two fascinating characters in our minds: System 1 and System 2. System 1 operates intuitively and swiftly, making snap decisions and relying on gut feelings. It’s the part of our brain that alerts us to sudden sounds or helps us spot a friend in a crowded room. On the other hand, System 2 is deliberate, rational, and analytical. It engages in conscious activities such as decision-making and reasoning.
One of the book’s key insights is how our minds tend to be lazy, often favoring the path of least resistance. This laziness can lead to errors and limit our intellectual potential. For instance, in the famous stick-and-ball problem, our impulsive System 1 often rushes to conclusions without consulting the more thorough System 2.
Moreover, Kahneman reveals how our minds are susceptible to priming, meaning our thoughts and actions can be unconsciously influenced by external cues. This phenomenon has profound implications for our behavior, as demonstrated by research on the impact of priming on selfishness and individualism.
The book also delves into the realm of cognitive biases, such as the halo effect and confirmation bias, which highlight how our minds tend to simplify complex judgments and make quick, sometimes erroneous, conclusions.
Kahneman further explores the use of mental shortcuts known as heuristics. While these shortcuts are generally helpful, they can lead to mistakes when applied inappropriately. For example, substitution and availability heuristics can skew our decision-making when we substitute easier questions for the actual problem at hand or rely on readily available information.
Kahneman’s exploration of how we handle statistics and probabilities is especially enlightening. The book highlights our tendency to neglect base rates and succumb to the allure of vivid anecdotes, leading to poor decision-making.
Additionally, “Thinking, Fast and Slow” challenges the notion of human beings as purely rational decision-makers. Kahneman introduces prospect theory, which shows that our decisions are often influenced by factors like reference points and diminishing sensitivity rather than objective utility.
Lastly, the book underscores our overreliance on mental images and the cognitive coherence we create to make sense of the world. Despite evidence to the contrary, we often trust these images, leading to overconfidence and false beliefs.
In summary, “Thinking, Fast and Slow” offers a fascinating glimpse into the intricacies of human decision-making. It highlights the roles of intuition, emotion, and cognitive biases in shaping our choices. By understanding these cognitive processes, we can become more aware of our decision-making pitfalls and make more informed choices in our daily lives. Whether you’re a psychology enthusiast or simply curious about the forces that govern our minds, this book is a captivating exploration of the inner workings of the human psyche.
Vikings, fairytales, Legos (r), bacon, beer, cheese and a myriad other wonderful things come from Denmark, but have you heard of this lifestyle import? It’s hygge (hyoo-guh).
Hygge has no exact translation. Although experts equate it with a sense of well-being and coziness, it is so much more. Hygge is a lifestyle approach kind of like Feng Shui. Unlike Feng Shui, however, hygge is focused on creating a warm atmosphere where you can indulge in life’s small pleasures with friends and family.
Natural leaders, well-liked executives, and successful managers have one skill in common: they lead through influence. While they may not always have direct reports, they are able to drive consensus, garner approval, and inspire teams to get work done. These folks are generally positive and congenial and often fun to be around. People follow them, look up to them, and help them achieve their goals.
Influence Management is expressed across several dimensions of business acumen. Finding the synergies and building interconnections across business skills and soft skills are what enable and sustain individual success in business and in leadership roles.
The great equalizer is time. Every human being, no matter their aspiration, motivation, location, status or business title, has the same 24-hour day to accomplish their goals and dreams. So, how can more time get allocated to achieving important objectives? The answer: simply by managing personal energy.
Personal energy is the total amount of physical and mental strength a person possesses. The level of personal energy someone has, is impacted by the thoughts, emotions, and choices they make. Personal energy management is the secret to getting more done and to being more effective at work. While building business acumen skills, consider managing and growing personal energy reserves, too.
Attitudes and actions impact how much energy a person has at any given time. For example, an individual who prioritizes good health, fun times with family and friends, along with regular sleep, is going to have more personal energy than another person who eats poorly, sleeps less than six hours each night, and rarely finds times for relaxation.
Fewer women than men have careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields.
Historically girls have been less encouraged in and exposed to STEM opportunities. It sounds outrageous, but it’s not. In the US, studies show that preschool girls are still pushed toward dolls and cooking toys while the same age boys are given building toys and science kits. In a world built on tech, where AI is literally driving us and science is transforming our daily lives, we cannot afford to limit STEM participation!
Melissa Borza 