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If a baseball and a bat cost $1.10 together, and the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball, how much does the ball cost?

Solution

5 cents. System 1 thinking often leads to mistakes in this type of problem.

Next question

A father and son are in a horrible car crash that kills the dad. The son is rushed to the hospital; just as he’s about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, “I can’t operate—that boy is my son!” How is that possible?

Solution

The surgeon is the boy’s mother. This puzzle illustrates the persistence of gender discrimination.

Next question

In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?

Solution

47 days. To answer correctly, you need to ignore your system 1 and use your system 2.

Next question

Alan is smart, hard-working, impulsive, stubborn and jealous.
Ben is jealous, stubborn, impulsive, hard-working and smart.
Who should you hire?

Solution

They are the same, but a priming effect often make people prefer the first candidate.

Next question

27-11-2018

Improving collaboration between departments

challenge

To enhance well-being and efficiency at work, focusing on improving internal mobility and collaboration between various departments.

nudge

Various nudges were designed, including a nudge that aimed to improve collaboration between departments by making it tangible and creating engagement. The nudge was a booklet containing five vouchers for a “trip to another department”. Booklets would be distributed by managers, and each voucher would give the holder right to spend half a day in another department, staying valid for 6 months. An annual competition would reward the department that gathers the most vouchers.

Another nudge aimed to improve internal mobility. Employees would be encouraged to consider newly open roles in other departments through positive feedback and testimonies from current employees in the department concerned. Meetings would also be organized with employees in the prospective department.

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