by Brooks Mendell | Dec 13, 2023 | Communication Skills, Learning, Thinking/Analysis
We homo sapiens seem overwhelmed by information, technology, and choices. We sadly struggle to manage the daily deluge, cycling through frustration, indignation, anger, and melancholy. A simple scan of news headlines, op-eds, and online comments can fuel a sense of...
by Brooks Mendell | Sep 20, 2023 | Communication Skills, Learning
After delivering the keynote at AgWest Farm Credit’s “2023 Forest Products Summit” in Portland, I parked myself in a seat on the side to listen and take notes during presentations on geopolitics, macroeconomics, and cybersecurity. This final talk, by Rachel Wilson,...
by Brooks Mendell | Jun 15, 2023 | Learning, Thinking/Analysis
Recently, I wrote a two-part series at Forisk on “Forest Products and the Economics of Timber Markets.” It focused on (1) the practical connection between the things we use and where they come from and (2) methods for organizing our thinking when making...
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 | Aug 21, 2022 | Learning, Thinking/Analysis
We share the brain of our ancestors. The humans of one hundred thousand years ago, as they started migrating from Africa, toted between their ears brains similar to the ones we carry today.[1] The average homo sapiens on the street, with a comparable mental engine to...
by Brooks Mendell | Jul 27, 2022 | Communication Skills, Learning
The question “how do I teach this to them” has puzzled presenters, professors, and parents since the Greco-Roman god Apollo taught Chiron, his foster son and polymathic centaur, how to throw a curveball. In this post, I share an approach for...
