The Mental Model of AutoCatalysis (aka “Evergreen” or “Self-Breeding”) in Business

I first heard of AutoCatalysis being used as a business tool from reading Charlie Munger.

AutoCatalysis originates in chemistry, a subject I did poorly in in high school, so I’ll give this definition from The Focus Investing Series Part 3: The Munger Network of Mental Models:

“In the autocatalysis process, properties, events or products serve as their own catalysts and are “self-breeding. For example the self-stimulated increase in the demand for air conditioning, hence the self-stimulated increase in the demand for air conditioners.”

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The Mental Model of Attribution Theory (aka “Cause Theory”) in Business

Attribution Theory could easily be called “Cause Theory” or “Explanation Theory” because it centers around the cause or explanation of why something happens.

This is critical to understand in business.

Let’s say, for example, your Web designer builds a new home page and it is considered by users to be awesome — if they attribute it to their own brilliance then that’s internal attribution.

If, on the other hand, the designer’s new Web page is criticized as shoddy and the designer attributes the fault to having too little time to do a good job, then that’s external attribution. …

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