Brains and Barstools: When Thinking Harder Doesn’t Work
Thursday, October 22, 2026 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
- In-Person event
- The Nelson Pub & Eatery , Ottawa , ON , K1N 6P4
- Cost: $20.15
When difficult challenges arise, we’re often told to think harder. But what happens when thinking harder just keeps taking us in circles? Join International Business Professor and Associate Dean Luciara Nardon for an interactive and intellectually playful evening that may leave you with a completely new way of approaching uncertainty, complexity, and difficult decisions!
In this fascinating lecture, Luciara explores how we can create better conditions for thinking when the answers aren’t obvious. Drawing on her research into facilitated sensemaking, she introduces a range of unexpected tools – from structured conversations and carefully designed questions to images, objects, metaphors, and even tarot cards.
These “technologies of sensemaking” help us bring our thoughts into the world, look at them from a different perspective and notice possibilities that can be difficult to see when everything stays inside our heads.
Through research, practical examples, and some unconventional methods, this lecture asks a deceptively simple question:
How do you think differently when you’re stuck?
Founded in Toronto, Brains and Barstools brings captivating professors to local bars for vivid lectures that spark curiousity and connections in an informal setting.
Must be 19+ to attend.