Look for the hidden variable when analyzing data – particularly for causal relationships.
Discrimination can take many forms, from race and religion to the schools and places you work at. Most modern-day discrimination is caused by people/companies looking to increase their profits.
Find out what people value and then design your policies that will induce change.
Experiments cost money, but it’s even more expensive if you don’t run them.
When you are thinking about motivating someone you should first think about if your incentive will crowd out their willingness to perform without the incentive! If you do pay or charge someone, eg late fees, you either charge them a lot or nothing at all.
Cash is not King – not all incentives are created equal.
If you want people to do something you must understand what motivates them.
On raising girls – expose them to increasingly competitive environments to help them succeed in a masculine world.
On discrimination – an interesting point is made on disability discrimination e.g a disabled person is normally charged 30% more per car repair unless they open with “I’m getting 3 quotes today, what is your best price?”. Act in the same manner as those who are NOT being discriminated against. Note to the reader, I tried something similar in Phnom Penh when getting quotes for a gym membership. The first gym I tried this with actually price-matched the lowest-priced gym in the area! Which was $150 off the total amount. I couldn’t believe it 🙂
On what motivates economic discrimination. Don’t let people think you don’t have the knowledge about the product you are trying to buy, do your research online or by asking a bunch of salespeople beforehand.
Follow the leader – when raising money they observed that donations increased even though they told potential donators that they had already collected 66% of the necessary funds.
Matching grant – when asking for donations and adding that it will be matched 1:1, they saw a 20% in donations
Constantly experiment in your organization.
Steps to experiment, essentially the scientific method.
1. Think about the outcome you want to change. How to get the kids better at literacy. The outcome is what you will measure.
2. Now imagine different ways/approaches to achieve the outcome and come up with a plan
3. Try different approaches eg control (normal,)and experiment (different,).