In this episode of the Black Belt in Thinking podcast, Peter Cronin sits down with Mieta Fagundes, Team Lead for AI at a major Australian tech company, to unpack the increasingly popular (and misunderstood) idea of “AI brain rot.” They explore the two very different meanings behind the term: the slow erosion of thinking skills when people rely too heavily on AI tools, and the social-media-fuelled version of “brain rot” linked to endlessly scrolling shallow, hyper-optimized content.   Together they discuss how AI dependence can stunt skill development, the behavioural science behind doom-scrolling, and why platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and even children’s content like Cocomelon are engineered to trigger reinforcement loops in the brain. The conversation blends AI, behaviour psychology, and cultural trends to illuminate why attention spans are shrinking—and what we can do about it.

Link to DST discussed in the episode.   In Part 2 of this conversation, Peter Cronin and Alfredo Mycue take the discussion from theory to practice. After their first episode explored the concept of Decision Support Templates (DSTs), Peter returns with one he’s tried using in the real world—and Alfredo puts it under the microscope.   This episode features a live review of a DST, showing what works, what’s missing, and how small shifts in framing can improve the clarity and quality of decision-making. Along the way, they unpack the deeper value of templates—not just to guide decisions, but to teach people how to think and collaborate more effectively.   From closing the feedback loop to embedding shared judgment across teams, this episode is a hands-on look at how to turn decision-making tools into a learning engine.

How do you equip staff to make the right call without constant escalation? In this episode, Peter Cronin and Alfredo Mycue explore decision support templates—a powerful tool for decentralised decision-making. Learn how this military-inspired approach is helping organisations boost responsiveness, reduce bottlenecks, and build better judgment on the front lines.

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!