ticks

[unpakwon]

Would you please explain the following in bold in easy English?

1. Mary Lou steps well beyond the not-so-helpful dichotomy of the nature/nurture aspects of leadership to a synthetic model of how one cognitively ticks---the strengths and the weaknesses---to real-world application.

In the above, especially what does "ticks" mean?

2. I also thank him for his personal support and patience during this entire project. I cherish the times he brought his work into the study to be quietly close by while I wrote.

Thank you.

[Anglika]

Would you please explain the following in bold in easy English?

1. Mary Lou steps well beyond the not-so-helpful dichotomy of the nature/nurture aspects of leadership to a synthetic model of how one cognitively ticks---the strengths and the weaknesses---to real-world application.

In the above, especially what does "ticks" mean? Like a clock - how one works [a clock ticking shows that it is working].

2. I also thank him for his personal support and patience during this entire project. I cherish the times he brought his work into the study to be quietly close by while I wrote. "He" would bring his own work into the same room and keep the author company as she wrote, keeping quiet as he did so.

Thank you.

..

[unpakwon]

Thank you for the answer.

Let me ask you one more.

In "...how one cognitively ticks...," what does "one" refer to, any individual(person) or some other thing?

[Anglika]

Thank you for the answer.

Let me ask you one more.

In "...how one cognitively ticks...," what does "one" refer to, any individual(person) or some other thing?

It a neutral word to avoid having to say you/he/she so it means any individual and can be taken to mean the reader of the passage.