by Brooks Mendell | Mar 19, 2023 | Forestry, Leading/Managing, Thinking/Analysis
As leaders, parents, investors, and coaches, we often make decisions with imperfect and incomplete information. Therefore, we benefit by having an approach or philosophy for dealing with uncertainty. When screening and evaluating analysis, I start by confirming that...
by Brooks Mendell | Oct 10, 2022 | Communication Skills, Forestry, Leading/Managing, Learning
When I missed the mark in my role as a log buyer and harvest manager in northeast Georgia in the 1990s, Danny Hamsley had a way of setting me straight. It would start with a phone call. “Brooks, I’m riding with you in the woods tomorrow.” Early...
by Brooks Mendell | Jul 24, 2021 | Communication Skills, Forestry, Thinking/Analysis
In 2012, the Forest History Society published “Wood for Bioenergy: Forests as a Resource for Biomass and Biofuels,” a book I co-authored with Amanda Lang. It serves as a primer on the markets, policies and technologies associated with wood pellets, liquid...
by Brooks Mendell | May 19, 2021 | Communication Skills, Forestry
The late Dr. Alex Shigo, author of accessible books on trees and former Chief Scientist of the U.S. Forest Service, described trees thusly: “Trees are superior survival organisms. They live longer, grow taller, and become more massive than any organism ever...
by Brooks Mendell | Aug 25, 2020 | Forestry, Thinking/Analysis
This post introduces a recent essay on the danger of using averages for making decisions or evaluating performance. Mathematically, the average tells us the arithmetic mean; it gives a sense for where the middle lies within a group or between extremes. But...
by Brooks Mendell | Mar 18, 2020 | Communication Skills, Forestry, Learning, Thinking/Analysis
“Without a structured approach to ordering the world, the world will impose its views on us. The fact is some things are more important than others, some things are easily verifiable…Simple processes help us sort the mess and prioritize.” from “Managing Risk by...
