Haas Faculty

In this episode, hosts Paulina & Ray talk with Don Moore, the Lorraine Tyson Mitchell professor of Management of Organizations at Haas and a professor of the Leading People core course for 1st year full-time MBA students. We delve into Don’s new book, Perfectly Confident, where he tells us about the 3 forms of overconfidence (9:42), if confidence really improves performance (10:36), and what to do if you have imposter syndrome (17:30). Don also shares a few personal stories, including why he turned down a sure-fire job with a former professor (27:51). Finally, we end with practical tips (40:53) on how to correctly calibrate your own confidence.

"Confidence without attitude is most effective when it’s backed up by ability."

"The way to handle imposter syndrome is to get better information about the struggles that others are dealing with."

On how to identify overconfidence in others

"I would say, ask for clear evidence. Evidence that’s hard to fake; evidence of real performance: numerical, disprovable, claims of confidence."

On the dangers of being results-oriented

"If being results-oriented means that you reward success and punish failure, that’s dangerous because you will reward the lucky and punish the unlucky."

• Don Moore – Haas profile
• Perfectly Confident
• Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within
• The Confidence Code
• Annie Duke – Thinking in Bets

Sean Li chats with Dr. Sahar Yousef, one of our faculty lecturers here at Haas. She teaches an extremely popular elective called Becoming Superhuman on the science of productivity and performance. Today, she shares with us how to increase human performance and improve productivity – without using any kind of “limitless” pill.

Dr. Yousef grew up in the Bay area, to parents who were recent immigrants from post-revolution Iran. She was confused about her bilingual status but quickly realized that so much of that experience is fundamental to being human – that it doesn’t matter where we’re from or what we look like, we’re all the same in so many ways. There are aspects to our upbringing and to our perspectives that become shaped over time.

Dr. Yousef always had a fascination with the concept of human consciousness and realized that everything is seen and understood through the lens of the human brain. Most of the research that she conducted during her Ph.D. studies were dedicated to enhancing cognitive performance and function. She is the founder of Stoa Partners and is currently its Managing Director; helping to make teams more productive with neuroscience.

On how to make everyone superhuman 

“The goal is always more productivity, but not to say we should just become workhorses and work more hours. It’s always going to be, more productivity but with less hours, so that folks can actually live their lives and do what is most important to them.”

On how to avoid burnout during this pandemic

“The number one piece of advice I would want to give to anyone listening is to start to create boundaries. Not just physical boundaries, but mental and cognitive boundaries around work and home mode.”

• Dr. Sahar Yousef LinkedIn
• Personal Website
• Becoming Superhuman

Paulina Lee interviews Lucas Miller,a human performance researcher and the youngest faculty at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. A best-selling author on the science of learning and behavior change, he co-designed one of the most popular MBA courses at UC Berkeley called "Becoming Superhuman: The Science of Productivity and Performance" and has been featured in Wired and The Wall Street Journal. 

On student takeaways from the course

“I've even seen grown men cry and then get into a very personal reveal of how (their phone has) ruined their marriage or it's made them way less effective and way less intelligent than they used to be in their forties or thirties. They realize that these habits have been completely reinforced over time and they can choose to fight back and take control...if they're willing to make that trade-off.”

On the importance of focus

“It's not really about time management. It's more about getting the right things done. It's one thing to talk about being a faster runner or a better performer or getting more things done in fewer hours. It's another to make sure you're doing the right stuff because it doesn't matter how hard you're working. If you're not focusing on what matters, then you won't get the results you want.”

On maximizing your day

"That's one concept that sticks with folks, that it's okay to not be a hundred percent the entire day. I mean, we're not machines. We're not like laptops where if we simply have power, we can just run at a hundred percent capacity and run multiple programs at the same time. We have peaks and we have troughs, and if we don't manage our energy over the course of the day, we have long periods where we're just burned out and can't do anything.”

On finding your strengths

“I think something that's really, really important for folks to learn as they try different careers and potentially go down rabbit holes that may serve them or may not serve them, is to keep a keen eye on what gives them energy and what drains them. Because ultimately, it gives you real insights into what's going on on a daily basis; and will help make you fulfilled and feel like you're growing.”

• LinkedIn: Lucas Miller
• Stoa Partners
• Beyond Brilliance: The Blueprint for Learning Anything by Lucas Miller
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• Berkeley Free Ventures