“In 2006, Avinash Kaushik and Ronny Kohavi, two data analysis professionals who were then working at Intuit and Microsoft, respectively, came up with the acronym HiPPO to summarize the dominant decision-making style at most companies. It stands for “highest-paid person’s opinion.” We love this shorthand and use it a lot, because it vividly illustrates the standard partnership. Even when the decisions are not made by the highest-paid people, they’re often—too often—based on opinions, judgments, intuition, gut, and System 1. The evidence is clear that this approach frequently doesn’t work well, and that HiPPOs too often destroy value.”
― Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future
― Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future
“Strong leaders must follow the truth wherever it leads. Nothing is more dangerous than a subordinate who will shade or alter the truth in order to curry favor or impress the boss. Leadership must be built on teamwork, mutual respect, and above all a shared sense of a common objective. Adm. J. Stavridis”
― The Leader's Bookshelf
― The Leader's Bookshelf
“radically simplify[ing] the environment in which machines work to enable autonomous operation, as in the familiar example of a factory assembly line.”
― Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future
― Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future
Walter Barrett’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Walter Barrett’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Polls voted on by Walter Barrett
Lists liked by Walter Barrett














