Groups are only smart when there is a balance between the information that everyone in the group shares and the information that… — James Surowiecki Balance Copy Share Image
Lack of confidence, sometimes alternating with unrealistic dreams of heroic success, often leads to procrastination, and many studies suggest that procrastinators are… — James Surowiecki Confidence Copy Share Image
On the simplest level, telecommuting makes it harder for people to have the kinds of informal interactions that are crucial to the… — James Surowiecki Business Copy Share Image
The history of the Internet is, in part, a series of opportunities missed: the major record labels let Apple take over the… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Addictive behavior is kind of the inverse of procrastination: procrastination is about not being able to do what you want to do,… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Lower oil prices won't, by themselves, topple the mullahs in Iran. But it's significant that, historically, when oil prices have been low,… — James Surowiecki Iran Copy Share Image
From a social point of view, it's beneficial that homeownership encourages commitment to a given town or city. But, from an economic… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
It's a familiar truism that at any one moment, financial markets are dominated by either fear or greed. But the healthiest markets… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Being unemployed is even more disastrous for individuals than you'd expect. Aside from the obvious harm - poverty, difficulty paying off debts… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
I think there is clearly a connection between free time and procrastination. The more you have of the former, all things being… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Since the Protestant majority in Northern Ireland wants to remain a part of Great Britain, and since Ireland itself has shown little… — James Surowiecki Britain Copy Share Image
Bubbles and crashes are textbook examples of collective decision making gone wrong. In a bubble, all of the conditions that make groups… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Standards wars involve lots of variables, and understanding them often seems more an art than a science. They generally involve just two… — James Surowiecki Art Copy Share Image
The paradox of Steve Jobs's career is that he had no interest in listening to consumers - he was famously dismissive of… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Campaigns fail if they waste resources courting voters who are unpersuadable or already persuaded. Their most urgent task is to find and… — James Surowiecki Campaigns Copy Share Image
What an economy really wants, after all, is not more investment per se but better investment. It wants capital to flow to… — James Surowiecki Company Copy Share Image
The truth is that the United States doesn't need, and shouldn't have, a debt ceiling. Every other democratic country, with the exception… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
In the days when corporate downsizing was all the rage, Wall Street took a lot of flak for judging companies too harshly… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Solyndra's failure isn't a reason for the government to give up on alternative energy, any more than the failure of Pets.com during… — James Surowiecki Alternative energy Copy Share Image
Steve Jobs was rare: a C.E.O. who actually had a huge impact on his company's fortunes. Contrary to corporate mythology, most C.E.O.s… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
