Comments on: From Creationism to Evolution: How the World’s Most Powerful Idea Has Shaped My Thinking About Business

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:54:06 +0000

Rob, I’m also a strong believer in evolution, but I’m less convinced than you that Richard Dawkins is the proper source of that belief. I think that Dawkins is one of the most persuasive writers of his day, but I also think he grossly oversimplifies the topic.

By: Anthony Kuhn

Anthony Kuhn — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:06:57 +0000

Rob:

In you last few remaining days writing at BusinessPundit.com, I hope you’ll reveal more personal bits like this one. Your non-personal posts have always been enjoyable, but this one rings even more true as the reader gets a better sense of you from these types of entries.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:43:41 +0000

Rob,
I do this all the time! Thank you for putting a name to metacognition. The business world seems to favor a decisive personality. It seems to me that a lot of people have extremely strong opinions and take a bullheaded “I’m right and you’re wrong” stance. I think metacognition is even misinterpreted for insecurity/indecisiveness sometimes. Do you think there are a lot of people who think metacognitively? Could it be a form of higher intelligence that doesn’t exist in the entire population?

By: Dave Gallagher

Dave Gallagher — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:24:32 +0000

Thanks for writing the post! I’ve been searching for that word, “metacognition,” for several weeks now. You’ve hinted at it over the years in your postings, and I’ve come to start thinking in a similar manner myself recently.

Do you, or anybody reading, have any books you could recommend on metacognition?

“How Life Imitates Chess” by Garry Kasparov talks about the subject throughout (Garry constantly challenged his thought processes, and most of the book focuses on this). However, it doesn’t define the word, nor does it give a ton of insight into how one could incorporate metacognition thought processes into their own life.

I can’t help by add “The Selfish Gene,” also by Richard Dawkins, for anyone who wants to read up on evolution. It’s speaks about the theory of evolution, arguing that it occurs at the gene level, rather than the species level. While not the easiest book to read, like Andrea asked earlier, you don’t need much more than a high school level of biology education to understand it.

By: Michael Haberman, SPHR

Michael Haberman, SPHR — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:20:57 +0000

Rob:
Interesting post. Metacognition got me to thinking about it as a skill for human resources professional (since my blog is about HR.) One aspect of behavioral interviewing teaches you to question your assumptions about your candidate, to ask yourself why am I reacting negatively (or too positively) about this candidate? Is it me or them?

I think it is a good exercise to go through to review all the underlying assumptions a company has about how it deals with its employees.

So thanks for putting a term to it and giving me a subject to blog about. I did link to your blog.

BTW, you are right on with Huckabee..

By: Andrea

Andrea — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:54:17 +0000

Do you have any suggestions on how I can better understand your views of evolution that don’t require me to have a master’s degree in biology? I really want to understand it.