by Brooks Mendell | Jan 15, 2025 | Thinking/Analysis, Learning
I am passionate about learning and logical, rational thinking. If something does not make sense or fails to explain how things work, then it doesn’t make sense or explain. At a minimum, it is incomplete. Perhaps it answers a different question. Or, simply, it is...
by Brooks Mendell | Nov 30, 2024 | Thinking/Analysis, Forestry
The economist Mohamed El-Erian, in his book The Only Game in Town, writes about the importance of having and revisiting frameworks to support clear thinking. He tells a story from the 1980s when the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for whom he worked at the time,...
by Brooks Mendell | Oct 31, 2024 | Books, Learning, Thinking/Analysis
In 1935, Eleanor Roosevelt published an article in The Saturday Evening Post titled “In Defense of Curiosity.” In describing the benefits of being curious, she wrote: I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most...
by Brooks Mendell | Jul 30, 2024 | Learning, Thinking/Analysis
In college, my friend and mentor Mark Lundstrom taught me that “earning good grades gives you more freedom.” I had struggled as a freshman, and Mark, an actual rocket scientist, talked to me about how getting straight on study habits and academic performance...
by Brooks Mendell | Jun 5, 2024 | Communication Skills, Thinking/Analysis
Liquidity – the ability to convert assets into cash – generally worries investors.[1] In talking with clients and in my forestry investment research, I find that the issue of liquidity varies significantly by investor and over time, and that we are quick to generalize...
by Brooks Mendell | May 8, 2024 | Communication Skills, Forestry, Thinking/Analysis
The growth of ESG investing – which screens investments and firms based on environmental, social, and governance criteria – and markets for forest carbon and other environmental “services” highlight the importance of clear communication skills and the value of those...
