The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life

sum of their parts, where 1 + 1 = 3. Had I hired a 16-year-old Richard Branson and created a culture that got the best out of him, I would have had a $20 billion company on my hands.

The truth is, your destination will be defined by the sum total of the ingenuity, ideas and execution of the group of

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The great illusion in life and business that makes the kaizen philosophy of incremental improvements so poorly adopted, disregarded and overlooked, is that small things are just small things. This is objectively true, but a large number of small things is a large thing, and it’s easier, more inclusive of all team members, and therefore more achieva

With these five buckets and their interconnected relationship in mind, it’s clear that an investment in the first bucket (knowledge) is the highest-yielding investment you can make. Because when that knowledge is applied (skill), it inevitably cascades to fill your remaining buckets.

‘If you question a person about performing a future behavior, the likelihood of that behavior happening will change.’

people that you assemble. Every great idea, everything you create, your marketing, your products, your strategy - all of it will come from the minds of the people you hire.

Choose to do the tenth rep when it would be easier to stop at nine. Choose to have the difficult conversation when it would be easier to avoid it. Choose to ask the extra question when it would be easier to stay silent. Prove to yourself – in a thousand tiny ways, at every opportunity you get – that you have what it takes to overcome the challenges

Although Build-A-Bear is not a ‘store’; they call their locations ‘workshops’, and above every bear hangs a sign that evokes the mere exposure and endowment effects, to encourage the children to touch the bears: Dress me, Hug me, Hear me, Fluff Me, Choose me!