Not because they were persuaded with advertising. Because they were persuaded by their friends and neighbors.

So by splitting the sushi worldview into two groups—the big group that believes sushi couldn’t be worth that money and the smaller group that was willing and able to believe the story—Masa was able to peel off enough people to create a success.

The way Stephanie felt when she bought the Pumas was the product.

Some people will hear part of your message and make an assumption about what your product does. Other people will ignore that part and instead focus on the way your logo makes them feel. And a third group will ignore all that and just look at the price.

In the face of random behavior, people make up their own lies.

“I don’t want to drink coffee right now, but it would make me feel good to spend something extra to get a hot drink that’s really special—that would make me feel like a connoisseur. A treat, because I’m not like the rest of the crowd and I’m worth it.”

Make your story bigger and bigger until it’s important enough to believe.

So growth starts with better questions. Questions about storytelling, not about commodities.

These superstitious iPod owners, though, had made a decision about what their player liked (and what it didn’t like). They gave the machine a personality.