The Black Belt in Thinking Podcast

In this episode, I chat with Austin Turpin, founder of Fliptech Australia, about how he's been using the Black Belt in Thinking tools while building his business.   We cover how assumptions show up in everything from sales and staffing to warehouse decisions, and how questioning cause and effect helped Austin avoid some expensive mistakes. He shares how he's tested assumptions around things like ISO certifications, hiring, delegation, and even his own motivations — and what's changed as a result.   It's a good look at what it's like to start applying these tools early, rather than trying to retrofit them into an established business.

Listen in to this episode as Peter Cronin talks with Scott Daggett, who works at a fortune 100 financial institution, about his experience doing the Black Belt in Thinking course and the wins he has been able to achieve by implementing what he has learnt into his workplace! Scott has completed all three of the BBIT courses, so throughout the podcast Scott talks about how each course has given him a different set of tools to apply depending on the certain situation. He then goes on and expands on a number of tool implementations that he has spearheaded in his workplace and even personal life.  A great listen, and amazing to hear about the tools at work! The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

Listen in to this episode as Peter Cronin talks with Rodney Daut, a course creator himself, about his experience doing the Black Belt in Thinking course and what he got out of it! Building courses and workshops as his job and side business, Rodney was able to apply the BBIT tools to conflicts or issues he was having throughout the 6 weeks the course ran. The exercises throughout the course enable participants to get wins and real life application of the tools from the get go.  Just as we have done to the BBIT course (applied the tools on decisions to do with the course), Rodney was able to apply the same tactic for his own courses and workshops. Which was a very interesting read for our instructors and great to see the outcomes and solutions he came up with. The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

We are starting a new series! The Application Series!   Throughout this series we will be talking to people who have taken the BBIT tools or skills and applied them to their own businesses or lives. We will explore the challenges they faced, the solutions they implemented and the outcomes they achieved. We really want to share these stories so that you can see the different ways that people are solving problems, helping others and get wins for everyone involved.   This week we talk to Sydney buyers agent Rhiannan Jenkins about how she uses the Prerequisite Tree (PRT) tool she learnt on the course to help first home buyers with the home buying process. "You don't know what you don't know", is a term that Rhiannan uses frequently throughout the episode, and the PRT is a great way at drawing out the obstacles and assumptions people have about the house buying process and giving them a plan on how to move forward no matter what their situation.    If you are interested in working with Rhiannan or finding out more about her process, you can find her on LinkedIn or Instagram, she would be more then happy to help!   www.linkedin.com/in/rhiannan-jenkins-502b3585/   https://www.instagram.com/rhiannanbuyersagent/?hl=en   Also, if you have done the BBIT and have stories that you want to share we would also love to hear from you!    The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

What a year for the BBIT!! Two new courses were created and now the full compliment of courses is available to all staring early 2023! In this podcast the team take a look back on 2022 and discuss the biggest wins and learnings that they have got out of being apart of the BBIT team this year.  It has been a great year and we want to congratulate all those who have completed a BBIT course this year. We also encourage anyone who hasn't done BBIT and wants to join/know more to reach out! The BBIT community has grown over 100% larger this year and we can't wait to see what the next year brings! The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

This week Peter and Mirta discuss Part 2 of the Fishbone Method or Diagram. As promised in the last episode Peter and Mirta apply the method to a real life problem that they are currently facing. Taking some instruction sets that they found online, Peter and Mirta talk about the process they went through using the Fishbone Method, as well as the insights and learnings they had as a result. Listen to this episode to find out the benefits, the drawbacks, and some tips and tricks about some ways that you can effectively use the Fishbone Method in your own problem-solving situations. The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

This week Peter and Mirta discuss the Fishbone Method or Diagram. Fishbone Method is the 5 Whys on steroids! The method represents the problem as the head of the fish, with the many different possible causes of the problem as the spine of the fish. Much like the 5 Whys, the Fishbone Method is very user-friendly: when a problem occurs, you identify the major categories of causes of the problem, list all the possible sub-causes, and then drill into each one by asking "Why does this happen?" to uncover deeper levels of causes. Listen to this episode to find out the benefits, the drawbacks, and some tips and tricks about some ways that you can effectively use the Fishbone Method in your own problem-solving situations. The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

This week Peter and Mirta discuss the 5 Why's thinking process!   Sakichi Toyoda, the Japanese industrialist, inventor, and founder of Toyota Industries, developed the 5 Whys technique in the 1930s and Toyota still uses it to solve problems today!   The Five Why's is most effective when the answers come from people who have hands-on experience of the process or problem in question.   The method is remarkably simple: when a problem occurs, you drill down to its root cause by asking "Why?" five times. Then, when a counter-measure becomes apparent, you follow it through to prevent the issue from recurring.   Listen in to this episode to find out the benefits, the draw backs and some tips and tricks about some ways that you can use the 5 Why's in your own problem solving situations.   The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

The Power of One-Liners This week Peter and Mirta discuss one-liners; simple phrases that encapsulate a more complex concept. A lot of the time we may agree on a solution or a course of action, but the day-to-day grind gets in the way, and old habits kick in. Before soon, we end up doing things that end up compromising that agreement. This is where one-liners come in. They are short and punchy phrases that are repeated and act as pattern interrupts in situations where someone is going against the agreed course of action. For example, even if we all agree we will not re-schedule the jobs once the Sprint starts, someone inevitably has a job they want to squeeze in mid-Sprint. When this happens, a simple "shoving it in won't make it come out" can stop the behavior without the need for confrontational "telling off" or long-winded explanations as to why we shouldn't overload the developers. Find out more about one-liners, and how you can use them in your professional and personal life to keep on track! The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

Is Fluency better than knowledge? We learn a lot of things at school, but we often forget a lot of this information/learnings because we don't use them. How often have you had to use long division in your adult life? When people have to deliver or provide and answer and they don't have the muscle memory/fluency, they they start guessing. Then often the person on the receiving end takes the result as true, as they don't have the fluency either. So how do we build the fluency in the skills we want to get better at? Tune in to this episode to find out how to build your own fluency or the fluency of your team! If you're enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share them around! The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

On this episode Peter and Mirta discuss Behavior Forcing or Poka-yoke (Mistake Proofing), which is the use of any automatic device or method that either makes it impossible for an error to occur or makes the error immediately obvious once it has occurred.   So in a system where a mistake is happening time and time again, we introduce a forcing function which prevents people making that mistake. For example, the noise your makes in your car when you forget to put your seatbelt on. Obviously you can continue to drive the car with the noise, however the annoying dinging noise is there to help shape the behavior.   If you're enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share them around!   The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

Peter and Mirta's series on cognitive biases continues!   There are a few different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave. Each episode will touch on a different bias. So make sure you tune in to them all!   This week Peter and Mirta talk about the Hindsight Bias. Hindsight bias is our tendency to look back at an event that we could not predict at the time and think the outcome was easily predictable. It is also called the 'knew-it-all-along' effect.   For example, after attending a sports game, you might insist that you knew that the winning team was going to win beforehand.    If you're enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share them around!   The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

Peter and Mirta's series on cognitive biases continues!   There are a few different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave. Each episode will touch on a different bias. So make sure you tune in to them all!   This week Peter and Mirta talk about the Cognitive Dissonance. Cognitive Dissonance is the mental state (and discomfort) we experience when we perceive two opposing or contradictory beliefs as both being true.   For example, you may agree that a) smoking is bad for you (because it causes cancer) and b) smoking is good for you (because it relaxes you). These seemingly contradictory beliefs cannot exist at the same time, so you opt to rationalize one over the other.   If you're enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share them around!   The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

Peter and Mirta's series on cognitive biases continues!   There are a few different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave. Each episode will touch on a different bias. So make sure you tune in to them all!   This week Peter and Mirta talk about the Recency bias. Recency bias favours recent events over historic ones. Recency bias gives greater importance to the most recent event, such as the final lawyer's closing argument a jury hears before being dismissed to deliberate.   Recency bias should not be confused with anchoring or confirmation bias (which you can learn about in earlier podcasts). It commonly appears in employee evaluations, as a distortion in favour of recently completed activities or recollections.   If you're enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share them around!   The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz!

In this episode Peter talks with Sydney buyers agent Rhiannan Jenkins about the biases in house buying and how learning about these bias could help you in the future.   Many of us are convinced we're logical. But our property buying and selling decisions are rooted in psychological biases, many of which we're not even aware of. Rhiannan points out our price perceptions can be framed by messages from the media about pricing. How a price-related frame might work is that as soon as the market levels off we frame the purchase as if it's suddenly a bargain. Listen in to find out what other biases we often don't realise we have when in the process of buying or selling a house. If you find value in the episode or any you have listened to in the past, please recommend and share with others so that we can continue to provide this content for you. 

Peter and Mirta's series on cognitive biases continues!  There are a few different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave. Each episode will touch on a different bias. So make sure you tune in to them all! This week Peter and Mirta talk about the Fallacy of division, which is the cognitive bias that occurs when a person reasons that something that is true for a whole must also be true of all or some of its parts. For example: If a cake is moist that must mean that all the ingredients of the cake are moist. Which is very much not the case, as flour, sugar and a bunch of other ingredients are in fact dry.  If you're enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share them around! The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz! 

Peter and Mirta's series on cognitive biases continues!  There are a few different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave. Each episode will touch on a different bias. So make sure you tune in to them all! This week Peter and Mirta talk about the Framing Effect, which is the cognitive bias where an individual's choice from a set of options is influenced more by how the information is worded than by the information itself. For example: If you're concerned about your blood sugar level, and you choose a chocolate that is ‘90% sugar-free' over one that is ‘10% sugar. If you're enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share them around! The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz! 

Peter and Mirta's series on cognitive biases continues!  There are a few different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave. Each episode will touch on a different bias. So make sure you tune in to them all! This week Peter and Mirta talk about the Optimism bias (or the optimistic bias) which is a bias that causes someone to believe that they themselves are less likely to experience a negative event. It is also known as unrealistic optimism or comparative optimism. For example: people believing that they are less at risk of being a crime victim, smokers believing that they are less likely to contract lung cancer or disease than other smokers, first-time bungee jumpers believing that they are less at risk of an injury than other jumpers, or traders who think they are less exposed to potential losses in the markets. If you're enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share them around! The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz! 

Peter and Mirta start a new series on cognitive biases!  There are a few different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave. Each episode will touch on a different bias. So make sure you tune in to them all! This week Peter and Luke talk about the Survivorship Bias, which is a bias that can lead to overly optimistic beliefs because multiple failures are ignored. It can also lead to the false belief that the successes in a group have some special property, rather than just coincidence For example, if three of the five students with the best college grades went to the same high school, that can lead one to believe that the high school must offer an excellent education when, in fact, it may be just a much larger school instead. This can be better understood by looking at the grades of all the other students from that high school, not just the ones who made the top-five selection process. If you're enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share them around! The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz! 

Peter and Mirta start a new series on cognitive biases!  There are a few different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave. Each episode will touch on a different bias. So make sure you tune in to them all! This week Peter and Mirta talk about the Anchoring Bias, which is the tendency to over-rely on existing information or the first available information we get.  For example, if we walk into a store and the first TV we see is $4999, our brains have a tendency to use this first piece of information as an anchor to other prices. As we walk through the store, TVs that we see over that price will all of a sudden seem too expensive, and TVs under that price will seem like a bargain (given similar specs). As such we are vulnerable to being taken advantage of by marketers and salespeople who use this bias to their advantage. If you're enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share them around! The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message at peter.cronin@viago.com.au or mirta@viago.co.nz! 

Episode 3 of the series on cognitive bias!  There are a few of the different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave. Each episode will touch on a different bias. So make sure you tune in to them all! This week Peter and Mirta talk about the Availability Bias, which is the human tendency to think that examples of things that come readily to mind are more representative than is actually the case. Naturally, the things that are most memorable can be brought to mind most quickly. However, there are a number of factors that influence how well we remember things. For example, we tend to remember things that we observed ourselves more easily than things that we only heard about. If your enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share it around! The hosts also love to hear any feedback or answer questions you may have, so feel free to send them a message!  Peter Cronin - peter.cronin@viago.co.nz  Mirta Fagundes dos Santos - mirta@viago.co.nz

Episode 2 of the series on cognitive bias!  There are a few of the different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave. Each episode will touch on a different bias. So make sure you tune in to them all! This week Peter and Mirta talk about the Halo Bias and how it is a type of cognitive bias in which our overall impression of a person, influences how we feel and think about their character. Essentially, your overall impression of a person (He/she dresses well) impacts your evaluations of that person's specific traits (He/she must be smart!) If your enjoying the series and getting value out of the episodes please remember to share it around!

Peter and Mirta start a new series on cognitive bias!  There are a few of the different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how you think, how you feel, and how you behave. Each episode will touch on a different bias. So make sure you tune in to them all! This week Peter and Mirta talk about confirmation bias, and how it is the tendency to listen more often to information that confirms our existing beliefs. Through this bias, people tend to favour information that reinforces the things they already think or believe.  

Behaviour Changes (ABC) - Episode 3 Our final episode of our behaviour change mini series! How do we apply behaviour change? Peter and Mirta finish up a three part series on behaviour, diving into how to apply behaviour change and all the learnings that have been discussed in the previous two episodes. Using examples and stories about application that have worked in the past, Peter and Mirta really give away all the tips and tricks that you as the listener need to apply these tools in your life Tune in to find out more about behaviour change and how it has benefited so many people, in business and in their personal lives.  If you gained any value out of the episode we would love for you to share it!

Behaviour Changes (ABC) - Episode 2 Supercharge your business! This is episode two of our Behaviour Change (ABC) mini series. In this episode the two Peter's talks to Craig Chilcott about the massive changes that occurred in his business after leaning about ABC. There are some great stories in this episode that demonstrate the power of the tool. Beyond the tool, the team dive into a lot of great leadership and management skills that I think many listeners would benefit greatly from! "My best year was $2million, once I went to behaviours, to ABC, $10million" - Craig Chilcott If you would like to learn more about ABC, maybe even do a course on how to apply the tools talked about in this episode, don't hesitate to get in touch! https://viagointernational.com/

Behaviour Changes (ABC) - Episode 1 Why do people do what they do? Peter and Mirta start a three part series on behaviour, more specifically behaviour change. In this first episode they touch on 'what is behaviuor change' and break down the three parts of ABC A- Antecedent B- Behaviour C - Consequence  Tune in to find out more about behaviour change and how it has benefited so many people, in business and in their personal lives.  If you gained any value out of the episode we would love for you to share it!

Listen in to this episode to find out more about how 'First Principles' - the fundamental concepts or assumptions on which a theory, system, or method is based, is key to innovating like a tech entrepreneur! In this podcast Peter breaks down the following steps, and gives you the listener practical steps (and some special Hacks!) on how you can apply them to your own situation. STEP 1: Identify and define your current assumptions STEP 2: Breakdown the problem into its fundamental principles STEP 3: Create new solutions from scratch   For access to the visuals mentioned in the podcast click the link below!   https://blackbeltinthinking.com/blog/podcast-innovate-like-a-tech-entrepreneur-how-to-reason-from-first-principles/

What a year for the BBIT!! BBIT went digital and is now the most available to people it has ever been. In this podcast the team take a look back on the year and discuss the biggest wins for our participants and what they have got out of the course. As well as taking time to touch on what we (the team) have got out of creating and leading the course this past year.  It has been a great year and we want to congratulate all those who have completed a BBIT course this year. We also encourage anyone who hasn't done BBIT and wants to join/know more to reach out!   BBiT 2021 by the numbers 7 Cohorts 113 participants Participants from over 11 countries Over 2,700 clouds and druids created Over 15,800 assumptions raised The number of problems solved = endless...  

In organisations, when things are going well, why do people feel compelled to get involved and focus on the little things? In this episode the Peter's talk about how when things are going well in an organisation, people at an advisory level (board members, committees etc.)  start to feel "not useful". They start to focus less on the large effects that the organisation is trying to achieve and start interfering/medaling in operations to make themselves feel better.  Listen in to hear the ways that Peter Thorby combats this type of behaviour, and how you could apply these same methods to your organisation!   If you get value from the episode please share with someone you feel will also get something out of it! 

In this episode Peter, Ben and Luke discusses the topic of Why people do what they do. In business or in life, there are a lot of policies, both informal and formal that dictate the actions that we take. This episode is chat about why we have those policies, how they were created, and what people should do if certain policies are hindering them.  There are many different examples talked in this episode with some great learnings and discoveries! Tune in and find out more about Why people do what they do!

In this episode James Powell discusses a tool/technique used to implement impossible solutions. Often when we are looking for breakthrough solutions there is a difficulty that the ideas we come up with are too ordinary. However, the big, bold ideas seem impossible and not achievable. James breaks down, and gives insight into, a tool that has been used in companies all over the world to implement these “impossible solutions” - and with great success. Tune in and find out how you could possibly get the same results! If you find value in the episode or ones you have listened to in the past, please recommend and share so that we can continue to provide this content for you. 

In this episode Bryce England takes us though the tool of Predictions. Every day as humans we make a range of predictions. We plan out and predict how we think our day will go, but how often does everything go as we predicated? Coming from a consulting background, Bryce has had years of experience using predictions to help his clients businesses. Listen in to the episode to find out how cause and effect logic can help you with your predictions. 

In this episode Peter talks with Luke about certain ways he has been involved with expert knowledge capture. As a junior consultant implementing projects around the world, making the right decisions is important. Having expert knowledge to help make those important decisions can be the difference between a smooth project or a train crash. Listen in to find out some of the best ways to capture knowledge from the experts in your business!

In this episode Mirta and Peter discuss the 5 Layers of Decision Making, a tool that helps the speed and reliability of sales/decision making conversations. This is achieved by allowing you to more quickly and accurately identify objections and overcome them. A couple of great stories in this episode that show just how useful the tool is. And of course we included a couple of steps so that you can start using the tool too!

Today Peter talks with Ben Gorringe about a tool (Assumptions) that is useful to view the world through a different set of eyes. So often we make decisions based on the old saying "We have always done it this way", yet often because of this, we miss out on so many opportunities to make better decisions or do things a better way. We don't consider why. Listen in to find out more about how the assumptions we make every day affect our lives and how questioning our assumptions can improve many aspects of our lives, both personal and in business.

An interesting podcast this week with Jarrod Saxton, where we talk all about finding out our purpose in life and delve into the process that Jarrod uses with his clients!  Using critical thing and a logical process Jarrod has helped many people find their meaning. Would definitely recommend giving this one a listen! 

On this podcast Peter Thorby takes us through a process he uses to help build succession plans for New Zealand farmers. Succession planning is often a task that is forgotten or put off due to the many conflicts that can arise from the necessary discussions. The tool/process that Peter uses helps make all of that a lot easier, listen in to find out more. 

Today Peter talks with Mirta Fagundes (Behavioral Expert) about the importance of using Effects when communicating with others. The podcast delves into the benefits both in personal and business life when using effects, and what steps you as the listener can do right now, to start implementing the use of effects in your life right now. 

Chandell's purpose is to inspire confidence in others so THEY can make empowered decisions.  You will learn a practical approach to making empowered decisions. 

Solving Persistent Problems Peter interviews James Powell about a tool known as the "Druid". The Druid is a tool that helps people understand the deeper cause under persistent problems and how to solve them permanently. The episode was a live webinar with a select group of listeners, so includes the question and answer section of the webinar.