When Pride in Work Kills Productivity

The IKEA Effect is a cognitive bias where people overvalue things they have had a hand in creating. Being invested in their work and taking ownership of it is generally seen as a good thing in business.  It is an emotional investment that is monumental, an intense proprietary love.  In fact, for entrepreneurs, it is an essential mindset so that they persevere despite the naysayers.  Case in point.  When Netflix pitched their mail-order DVD business to Blockbuster, they were laughed out of the room. But Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings didn’t fold.  They doubled down. They believed in their idea and demonstrated conviction under pressure.

The IKEA Effect’s Dark Side

Why Pride of Ownership Keeps Work from Getting Completed

In 2011, Behavioral Economists Michael Norton, Daniel Mochon, and Dan Ariely observed that consumers place a disproportionately high value on products they have partially created or assembled.  They dubbed this pervasive cognitive bias the “IKEA Effect”.  At the time, Norton was a professor at Harvard Business School, Mochon was at Tulane University (and had previously been at Yale), and Ariely was a professor at Duke University.  Together, they authored the paper “The ‘IKEA Effect’: When Labor Leads to Love”.  In it, they discussed how the intrinsic joy derived from a self-built bookcase, a homemade cake, or a knitted scarf also causes people to place a very high value on – perhaps even overvalue — their creation simply because of the effort they invested in making it.  They think “If I made it, it is better and worth more.  So therefore, I prize it more.”

“No” as the Key to Starts that Result in Success

Harnessing the Power of “No” 

In a world that constantly demands our attention, the most powerful tool for achieving extraordinary results isn’t the ability to work harder or faster, but the wisdom to choose what not to do. This wisdom is encapsulated in the simple, yet revolutionary, act of saying “No.” For high-achievers across every domain—from entrepreneurship to medicine to science—the strategic deployment of “No” is the invisible lever that amplifies their capacity to deliver a resounding “Yes” to the few projects that truly matter. This philosophy transforms time, a finite resource, from a constraint into a strategic advantage, allowing for focus, excellence, and monumental impact.  By activating their brain’s Resource Guarding System (the RGS) — the part that decides how it allocates and protects its limited cognitive resources – they are able to maximize results.

For a Successful Start, Start with “No”

The Brain’s Gatekeeper: How “Resource Guarding” Makes “No” the Key to Success

The modern professional landscape often celebrates the “yes-person”— the tireless, “can-do” superstar employee — who effortlessly accepts and juggles multiple projects, meetings, and commitments and never turns down an assignment. But this relentless pursuit of productivity often clashes with a fundamental mechanism in the human mind: the Resource Guarding System. This system is deeply wired into the human brain’s cognitive architecture.  It serves as the silent gatekeeper of each person’s most precious and limited asset: mental energy.

Starting Line Surge: Why Your Brain Loves New Projects (and What Happens When the Spark Fades)

There’s a universally exhilarating feeling that comes with starting something new. Whether it’s a groundbreaking research project, a fresh college course, or the initial stages of a product launch or signing a client to sell their building or some other big task, that initial burst of energy and optimism is palpable. We feel motivated, excited, and often practically invincible. This isn’t just a psychological phenomenon; it’s a powerful neurochemical event driven largely by dopamine, our brain’s “feel-good” and motivational chemical.

The Prefrontal Paradox: How the Brain’s ‘Executive’ Center Sabotages New Starts

Some people are excellent planners but not very good doers.  And some are very good doers but not adept at planning.  Yet, planning and doing are two pillars upon which all organizations depend for employee productivity. So how does planning and action happen?  What parts of the brain oversee these functions and why don’t they always interact properly… leading to less-than-desirable results?  More importantly, is there a way to fix it when they don’t work in sync? 

Let’s start by understanding which parts of the brain handle planning and doing.

How to Stop the Fakers and Takers

In today’s digital age, a company’s brand is arguably its most valuable asset. It’s the face of the business, a promise to customers, and a differentiator in a crowded marketplace.  A company’s brand is its “DIGITAL PERSONA”.  But for startups and small to mid-sized companies, protecting that brand can feel like a daunting and expensive battle. While large corporations have dedicated legal teams and vast resources, small, mid-sized and especially startup businesses often operate on a shoestring budget, making them particularly vulnerable to brand copyright infringement.

Stop the Fakers and Takers

It takes immense effort to build a great brand; one that is recognized and beloved for their products.  Think Louis Vuitton, Nike, Tiffanys, Hermes, and Apple.   But, it can also be a brand that sells a service instead of a product, such as Amazon Web Services, PWC, UnitedHealth Group, Berkshire Hathaway, and financial giants like Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. These are big brands that have huge name recognition and a reliable customer base.  It takes a lot of effort to create brands that are loved and trusted.

But it takes even more effort to keep a great brand from being “infringed”, whether the brand is selling a product or service.  Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of a brand’s original content—such as images, text, or videos— and affects the brand’s uniqueness and misleads customers. It can also diminish the perceived value of its Intellectual Property.Infringed is just a fancy legal way of saying “ripped off” or “borrowed without permission.” 

No Phishing Allowed

It used to be that when people talked about fishing, it meant catching actual fish. Today, when businesspeople discuss fishing, they’re more likely talking about phishing. Both involve using bait to reel in a catch, but one uses worms and a fishing pole to catch grouper, while the other is a cyberattack using digital emails or text messages to reel in unsuspecting, vulnerable people and steal their money or information, or both. That’s bad enough, but it’s even worse when they hijack a reputable and successful company’s brand to do it.

A Plethora of Phishing Scams

People love fishing… but not when scammers are the ones doing the “phishing” and people are the catch.  Phishing is when a cyber-criminal sends fraudulent communications that appear to come from a specific brand to trick customers into revealing sensitive information. That’s the kind of phishing – an online attack on a brand and its customers — that can hurt customers and kill a business.