Andrew Hozyaev

I learned about the different cognitive biases that hinder decision-making. 

I learned about how to properly handle my stress. Not only to reach out and ask for help from my coworkers, but also to reach to family and friends. I found that the stress from work was affecting my personal life, and that by reaching out and talking with family I was able to separate my work stress from my personal life. 

The material helped me expand on my communication skills with management. I like to think that I have been pretty open with them and come to them with questions and concerns fairly regularly, but I have learned new ways to make my conversations more effective and clear.

There was a chapter in the material about going beyond your usual circles. I think I have been a little guilty of trying to work with people that are more familiar to me, and I realize that's wrong. I need those broader perspectives that only come with working with everyone. 

I learned about this effects affinity and confirmation bias. It seems sort of natural to rank the people you manage and allocate certain tasks to certain people, however, doing so creates an environment that keeps certain people down and raises others. An organization should be set on lifting everyone up.