The Size of the Box Santa Clara’s School of Law steadily raised tuition year after year, from roughly $44,000 in 2015 to $63,280 in 2025. Yet it just announced its 2026–27 tuition: $50,000. Why the sudden drop, and why such a round number? That's because, starting next year, professional school borrowing in the US will be capped at $50,000 per year. Education costs, it turns out, expand to fill the size of the box we assume to be the default. Change the box, and the “necessary” cost instantly...
2 days ago • 1 min read
On surveys According to a recent survey, 12% of Americans aged 18 to 29 say they have operated a nuclear submarine. Of course, this is not possible: only a minuscule fraction of Americans have ever been licensed to operate one. The organization that administered the survey, Pew Research Center, proactively explains that, as in a classic case of Wittgenstein's Ruler, the result should not be read as information about submarine operators but as information about the unreliability of certain...
9 days ago • 1 min read
Beyond Income:Rethinking Redistribution Gradients Recent debates focused on how many dollars should count as the poverty line. Here, I want to ask a more fundamental question: Is income the right yardstick for poverty at all? Low disposable income can mean that someone is genuinely deprived, but it can also mean that someone has deliberately traded away savings or income for other things that matter to them: a nicer place to live, more free time, a less stressful job, better education, richer...
15 days ago • 4 min read
With Black Friday weekend starting, eBooks purchased directly from my website are temporarily 10% off. The discount applies only to eBooks purchased through the links at Luca-Dellanna.com/books, not to physical editions or purchases made on other platforms. Check my books
22 days ago • 1 min read
I just opened registrations for the next edition of my Antifragile Organizations course. Registrations close at the end of December. This is the 9th edition of my course. It consists of three Zoom sessions, limited to 15 participants and fully run by me, plus two optional one-on-ones, also with me. It will help you make your career, your team, and your organization more antifragile. How antifragile is your organization? If I had only a few words to define the antifragile (a term coined by...
23 days ago • 1 min read
As this November, we're celebrating the fifth anniversary of my "Ergodicity" book, I decided to organize a workshop on the topic. Info & Registrations Managerial Transitions I was recently asked what the key skill is for a manager transitioning from one role to another. I answered with a thought experiment. Imagine a successful volleyball coach moving to basketball coaching. Some skills, such as locker room management, are probably highly transferable. Others are less so, and some must be...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
I just published my latest book, "Poverty and Prosperity." Poverty and Prosperity Get the book About the book A friend recently asked me what brought me to write it. My answer: frustration. "Frustration with what?," you might ask. The introduction of the book, copied below, answers this question. The introduction of Poverty and Prosperity "'Productive societies redistribute prosperity; unproductive ones redistribute poverty" We live in an age of unprecedented wealth, yet our prosperity hangs...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
"My team meetings could benefit from some structure." This is a common request I get from some of my clients. But focusing on structure is often a red herring. Don't get me wrong: some structure will probably help. The problem is not structure; it's the focus on structure over substance. If the problem is, as it often is, that meetings remain too superficial or do not result in much concrete progress, then the bottleneck is not a lack of structure, but a lack of focus on substance. What do I...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
The Fifth Anniversary of Ergodicity It's the fifth anniversary of my bestselling book "Ergodicity: how irreversible outcomes affect long-term performance in work, investing, relationships, sport, and beyond!" Since then, I published the third edition and got some great reviews: Get the book For those unfamiliar with ergodicity, the following excerpt from the first few pages of the book provides an introduction. Read the excerpt New podcast episode Tobias Carlisle and Jake Taylor interviewed...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read