ML36: Shane Parrish on the Power of Multidisciplinary Thinking, Using Mental Models and How To Make Better Decisions

Discover the processes needed to make better decisions, what we can learn from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger and the importance of multidisciplinary thinking and learning in a complex and interdependent world.

ML36: Shane Parrish on the Power of Multidisciplinary Thinking, Using Mental Models and How To Make Better Decisions

Shane Parrish is the founder of Farnam Street, an online intellectual hub that covers topics like human misjudgment, strategy, and philosophy to help readers make better decisions.

We all make decisions every day which ultimately affect the results we get in our lives. But so few of us ever stop to think critically about the process we use for making those decisions, let alone try to improve it.

Shane has spent years thinking and writing about decision making, drawing on multiple disciplines and interviewing thought leaders in the field. Add to this his experience as an investor and he's perfectly placed to offer valuable advice that can help you make better decisions in your life.

In this episode we discuss a variety of interesting topics including:

- Shane’s process for making decisions and how it’s evolved over time
- What Shane has learned from his heroes Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger
- The importance of multidisciplinary thinking and learning in a complex world


So whether you're looking to make an important career decision or want to decide whether you should buy shares in that company you've been following, this episode will give you the actionable strategies needed to make that process more structured and increase the chances of a positive outcome.

Podcasts

🎙 ML54: Barry Schwartz on Practical Wisdom, The Meaning of Work and the Paradox of Choice

🎙 ML28: Richard Nisbett on Mental Models, The Geography of Thought and The Nature vs Nurture Debate

🎙 ML17: How To Become a Better Reader


Articles

📄 Measure Up: How to Dodge Cognitive Biases Using Calibration

📄 Reflect to Learn: How to Create Your Own Mental Playbook

📄 Engineering Insight: How to Boost Your Creativity with the Focused and Diffuse Modes of Thinking

Selected Resources

▶️ Creating a Latticework of Mental Models

🖥 Farnam Street - Shane's Online Media Company

📄 Using Multidisciplinary Thinking to Approach Problems in a Complex World