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    When Action Beats Prediction

    One of the great paradoxes of business is that management is prediction, but entrepreneurship ... isn't. What a theory of expertise in entrepreneurship tells us about creating new things in business.

    Feature image for What To Think When Looking at a Chart

    What To Think When Looking at a Chart

    In a business context, what should you think when presented with a time series? Or: a really dumb question that nobody seems to talk about.

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    Feature image for Lesley Sim on Skill Acceleration in Ultimate

    Lesley Sim on Skill Acceleration in Ultimate

    Cedric talks to Lesley Sim about her experience coaching the Singaporean Ultimate Women's World Championship Team in 2020, her approach to skill acceleration, and why a teaching technique designed for dogs and dolphins works just as well on humans!

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    Process Behaviour Charts: More Than You Need To Know

    The process behaviour chart is the easiest way to differentiate between routine and exceptional variation. This is everything you need to know to use it well.

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    Coming Soon: The Commoncog Case Library

    Accelerate your acquisition of business expertise. Backed by cognitive science. Learn more →

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    Feature image for Mental Strength in Judo, Mental Strength in Life

    Mental Strength in Judo, Mental Strength in Life

    Results of a four month accelerated expertise experiment in Judo. Or: "I expected to learn about deliberate practice but instead learnt a ton about my mental shortcomings."

    Feature image for The Deming Paradox: Operationally Rigorous Companies Aren't Very Nice Places to Work

    The Deming Paradox: Operationally Rigorous Companies Aren't Very Nice Places to Work

    Is it possible to be data driven and operationally rigorous and still be human centric at the same time? Deming — who came up with these data techniques — believe that it is possible. I'm not so sure.

    Feature image for Creating New Drills for Deliberate Practice

    Creating New Drills for Deliberate Practice

    A lesson from a four month accelerated expertise experiment. Or: why creating new drills for a deliberate practice training program isn't as difficult as you might think.

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    Feature image for There Is No Truth in Business, Only Knowledge

    There Is No Truth in Business, Only Knowledge

    'Knowledge' here is defined as 'theories or models that help you predict better'. How an idea from W. Edwards Deming may well be a working philosophy of business.

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    Operational Excellence is the Pursuit of ‘Knowledge’

    It turns out that operational excellence results from the pursuit of a certain form of knowledge and using metrics in business is about the pursuit of this knowledge. This is Part 3 of the Becoming Data Driven series, and the result of a deep dive into the field of Statistical Process Control.

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    Feature image for An Expertise Acceleration Experiment in Judo

    An Expertise Acceleration Experiment in Judo

    I relocated for a three month expertise acceleration experiment in Judo. These are my notes from two months in: what I learnt, what was hard, and what deliberate practice actually feels like.

    Book Summaries

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    Accelerated Expertise

    Accelerated Expertise is the best book we have on creating accelerated training programs today.

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    7 Powers

    7 Powers is arguably the best book on business strategy currently available today.

    Feature image for Working Backwards

    Working Backwards

    Working Backwards is the first book that explains how Amazon really works.

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    Range

    David Epstein's mediocre book argues the merits of being a generalist. Instead of reading it, read this and subscribe to Epstein's newsletter.

    Burnout

    What do we actually know about burnout? What does the research say? Is burnout preventable? All the research, in one free, updated place.

    The Starter Manager Guide

    The bare minimum you need to know to be an adequate manager. Short enough to finish in three hours. Meaty enough to take 6-8 months to master.

    Career Moats

    The soup-to-nuts guide to building a career moat. We start from understanding your job market, executing a skills audit, all the way to building and then maintaining a moat.

    The Commoncog Membership Program

    Accelerate your pursuit of business expertise. Become a better decision maker. Access to members-only content, the full selection of Commoncog guides, a growing case library, and an exclusive forum.
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