Seven Deadly Data Sins
We often are reminded that we live in the “information age.” Ours is the period of human history when our decisions are guided by data. Data typically are collected by observation; scientific data…
Prediction and Control of Behavior
The year 2013 marked the centennial of the publication of one of psychology’s most important papers. In 1913, John Broaddus Watson wrote “Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist” (The…
A Few Good Women
I wrote this as the Pentagon released its decision to allow women to participate in combat operations, opening a host of new opportunities, and dangers, for half of America’s population. One issue…
Encouraging Creativity: You Never Know Where the Next Billion Dollar Idea Will Come From
There is nothing mysterious about creativity. Contrary to what many writers write and to the many so-called myths out there; it is not a brain thing or a province of just a few. As a matter of fact…
5 Fool-Proof Ways to Set and Accomplish Productive Goals
Goal setting is a common practice in organizations and can lead to improved performance and productivity. But many companies struggle to properly execute the goal setting process. Check out our…
Does Money Make You Smart?
This post originally appeared on Aubrey’s blog 8-19-09 Let's say that you make business decisions where the impact on the future of the business is not well-thought out. The decisions are…
Ten Reasons You Should NOT Give Your Boss a Gift
I wrote a blog several weeks ago in which I mentioned that it might be a bad idea to give the boss a gift on boss’ day. I have been amazed at the comments and interviews that I have received…
Fast Company Article on "Stack Ranking"
It’s hard to believe but Stack Ranking has found its way back into corporations as a means for motivating employees. What will it take for leaders to understand that this practice doesn’t work and in…
Rank and Yank: Would a Rose by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?
Jack Welch joined the fray about Microsoft’s abandoning “rank and yank” in a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “Jack Welch: ’Rank and Yank’? That’s Not How It’s Done.” Welch now says that rank…
Announcing the Launch of The Aubrey Daniels Institute
It is with great excitement that I introduce to you the launch of an institute dedicated to increasing the understanding and advancing the use of the science of behavior (behavior analysis) in…
Punishment, Parenting and Safety
Recently, I came across an article that caught my eye: Parents’ Harsh Words Might Make Teen Behavior Worse. As the parent of a 13 year-old and someone who has written extensively on the ill…
Contingent Reinforcement, Where?
Who would have thought in our lifetime there would be contingent reinforcement in Russia? Apparently you can perform squats on an interactive machine and earn free subway rides. Now that's a real win…
Zero Tolerance Policies Should be Called “Don’t Blame Me” Policies
While I understand the appeal of zero tolerance policies in that they allow difficult decisions about behavior to be dispatched easily and quickly, the decision to expel a child from school or to…
President Obama, You Say You Want Ideas—Here’s One!
President Obama says he wants ideas. How about this one? The government will designate a fixed dollar amount to be deducted from each taxpayer each year. This fund will be…
A Better Way for HP to Boost Performance
Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Meg Whitman has rekindled the debate over whether to telecommute with a memo urging employees to show up at the office more often. She wrote that “HP needs all hands…
Looking Without Seeing
So, after his death, it was ‘discovered’ that a superstar of the BBC was a not-so-closeted pedophile for most of his long career. It’s not as if there were not a thousand clues in everything he did…
Explaining Why We Do What We Do: Reductionism as Passing the Buck
“Why is the sky blue, Daddy?” How many of us asked our Moms or Dads that one? “Why did she do THAT?” How many times have we asked that question as children AND as adults? Explanation is the Holy…
Round and Round
A pigeon landed on the balcony of our 15th floor apartment tonight. In my response to my wife’s musing as to why it keeps coming back to our specific balcony, I casually replied “habit.” In so saying…