Art Markman - Bring Your Brain to Work: Using Cognitive Science to Get a Job, Do it Well, and Advance Your Career

ART MARKMAN earned his ScB in Cognitive Science from Brown University and his MA and PhD in Psychology from the University of Illinois. He taught at Northwestern University and Columbia University before joining the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in 1998, where he is now the Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial Professor of Psychology and Marketing as well as director of the IC2 Institute. He was the founding director of the universitys program in the Human Dimensions of Organizations, an innovative program that uses the humanities and the social and behavioral sciences to teach people in business, government, nonprofits, and the military about people. Markman has written over 150 scholarly papers on research projects focusing on topics in higher-level thinking, including reasoning, decision making, and motivation. He served as executive editor of the journal Cognitive Science for nine years. Markman is committed to bringing insights from cognitive science to a broader audience. He blogs regularly for Psychology Today, Fast Company, and Harvard Business Review, and he has a radio show and podcast called Two Guys on Your Head. He is the author of several books, including Smart Thinking, Smart Change, Habits of Leadership, and Brain Briefs. When he isnt working or spending time with his family he can be found playing the saxophone in a ska band.

The front cover of a book like this names one person as the author, making it hard to know that a large number of people are truly responsible for its existence.

This book would never have come into being without Kate Davis and Rich Bellis at Fast Company and Sarah Green Carmichael and Amy Gallo at HBR, who spent the past several years suggesting so many workplace-related stories that I was inspired to address these issues in a book. Ive enjoyed working with them immensely and hope to continue to do so in the future.

A huge thank-you to the many many many (many) people on social media who responded to my repeated requests for stories about aspects of their careers. People were quite generous in sharing their experiences. I apologize that I wasnt able to use every story they sent in.

As always, my deep appreciation goes to my amazing agent, Giles Anderson, who pushes me to keep writing and navigates the publishing world expertly so that I dont have to.

My work with the Human Dimensions of Organizations program at the University of Texas has informed a lot of my perspective on careers. Thanks to Amy Ware, Lewis Miller, Lauren Lief, Jessica Crawford, Rolee Rios, and Alyx Dykema for their hard work on behalf of the program. This book is dedicated to them. Thanks also to Randy Diehl, Marc Musick, Richard Flores, Esther Raizen, and the entire deans office in the College of Liberal Arts at UT for supporting the program over the years. My deepest appreciation to the faculty and students of the program for sharing their wisdom.

During the evolution of this book, people volunteered to give me feedback on the manuscript. Thanks to Vera Hinojosa, Elizabeth Molitor, and Lara Reichle for taking the time to read ittypos and all. And thanks to my Two Guys on Your Head partner in crime, Bob Duke, for discussions and comments on my writing. And Heidi Grant and David Burkus provided interesting perspectives along the way.

The folks at Harvard Business Review Press were instrumental in making this book a reality. I appreciate the willingness of Jeff Kehoe to take on this project; his feedback, along with that of the reviewers (including Kate Davis and Pete Foley), improved the book greatly. I love the cover design by Stephani Finks and her team, and the clean look of the inside of the book that the text design team put together. The marketing team spearheaded by Julie Devoll has done a fantastic job getting this book out in front of people.

Finally, my love and thanks to Leora Orent for listening to me talk about this project endlessly and to Lucas, Eylam, and Niv for providing a visceral reminder of what an early career looks like. Some of their stories also found their way into the book. Thanks also to my parents, Sondra and Ed Markman, whose careers and advice affected my decisions about how to navigate my own career. And thanks for making me keep that diary in grade school, Mom.

Chapter 1

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Chapter 2

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Chapter 3

Alter, A. L., and D. M. Oppenheimer. Uniting the Tribes of Fluency to Form a Metacognitive Nation. Personality and Social Psychology Review 13, no. 3 (2009): 219235.

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