The profit motive, indecorous though it may seem, may represent the best chance the poor have to reap some of globalization's benefits. — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
The desire for reinvention seems to arise most often when companies hear the siren call of synergy and start to expand beyond… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
The important thing about groupthink is that it works not so much by censoring dissent as by making dissent seem somehow improbable. — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems… — 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 Copy Share Image
There are lots of people who believe there may be at least some genetic component to procrastination, and even if there isn't,… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
There does seem to be some evidence that as people get older, they procrastinate less, perhaps because they feel the pressure of… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
The essence of procrastination lies in not doing what you think you should be doing, a mental contortion that surely accounts for… — 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
A long-term crisis, after a certain point, no longer seems like a crisis. It seems like the way things are. — James Surowiecki 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 self-handicappers: rather… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Downsizing itself is an inevitable part of any creatively destructive economy. — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
In the business world, bad news is usually good news - for somebody else. — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
You might think of consumption as a fairly passive activity, but buying new products and services is actually pretty risky, at least if you… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Corporations hope that the right concept will turn things around overnight. This is what you might call the crash-diet approach: starve yourself for a… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Instead of mindlessly tossing billions at or taking billions from the Net as such, investors should be spending their time making sure that it's… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
If you thought the advent of the Internet, the spread of cheap and efficient information technology, and the growing fragmentation of the consumer market… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
The financial crisis of 2008 was not caused by investment banks betting against the housing market in 2007. It was caused by the fact… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
A consumer-finance agency is a good thing, but it would do well to teach consumers a simple lesson: if you don't understand the deal… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
What corporations fear is the phenomenon now known, rather inelegantly, as 'commoditization.' What the term means is simply the conversion of the market for… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Making loans and fighting poverty are normally two of the least glamorous pursuits around, but put the two together and you have an economic… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image