If performance is better than expectations, the customer’s perception of quality will be high. If performance is lower than expectations, the perception of quality will be low—no matter how good the offer is in absolute terms.

If you want to make others feel Important and safe around you, always remember to treat people with appreciation, courtesy, and respect.

Hindsight Bias is the natural tendency to kick yourself for things you “should have known.” If you lose your job, you “should have known it was coming.” If the price of a particular stock you own drops 80 percent overnight, you “should have sold it.” If you launch a product and no one buys it, you “should have known it wouldn’t work.” Baloney. If y

Every time you switch the focus of your Attention from one subject to another, you incur the Cognitive Switching Penalty. In order to take action, your brain has to “load” the context of what you’re doing into working memory. If you constantly switch the focus of your Attention, you’re forcing your brain to spend time and effort thrashing, loading

Most successful businesses offer value in multiple forms.

Scalability is typically limited by the amount of required human involvement in a process. Starbucks is able to enhance their ability to Duplicate lattes via Automation. Starbucks employees are involved in making drinks, but the process is semiautomated: a machine actually makes the espresso, many of the ingredients are prepared ahead of time, and

The first phase of every negotiation is the Setup: setting the stage for a satisfying outcome to the negotiation. The more you can stack the odds in your favor before you start negotiating, the better the deal you’ll be able to strike: Who is involved in the negotiation, and are they open to dealing with you? Who are you negotiating with, and do th

If you can do it, it ain’t braggin’. —DIZZY DEAN, HALL OF FAME BASEBALL PLAYER

Effective communication can only occur when both parties feel safe. As soon as people start to feel unimportant or threatened in a conversation, they start “stonewalling,” shutting down communication. The threatened party may continue to interact, but mentally and emotionally, they’ve withdrawn from the conversation. The only way to prevent stonewa