“That’s irrelevant.” This sentence is sometimes used to imply that irrelevance is synonymous with triviality. If something is irrelevant, it doesn’t matter. It’s meaningless. Not true. Irrelevance is a distraction, and a dangerous one. Imagine walking up to two doors. One door is wood, locked, simple. It leads to the room you seek. The other

People who do important work often delude ourselves about relevance in two ways: We believe what we do is relevant to everyone. We can connect it to everyday life, ergo, it is relevant. Everyone can see the door, everyone already has a key, and they can open the door anytime they like. We believe that

It’s late at night, and you’re looking for something to watch on TV. Do you choose the movie you’ve seen before or a new one you know nothing about? For most people, each of these is appealing for different reasons. Novelty is exciting, but risky. Familiarity is comforting, but redundant. We all want some of