Quotes from Chip Heath

Rule #2. Concrete Is Better: Use Whole Numbers to Describe Whole Objects, Not Decimals, Fractions, or Percentages.

The surprise about great service experiences is that they are mostly forgettable and occasionally remarkable

defining moment is a short experience that is both memorable and meaningful.

For numbers less than 1, you can use a method we call "counting in baskets" to make things start to show up as whole numbers. If you find that .2% of people have a certain trait, use a basket size of at least 500, maybe 1,000, to make them show up as real people. "1 out of 500" or "2 out of 1,000" makes these abstract percentages into real things.

Contrast Disney with Subway. Like Disney, Subway has created a metaphor for its frontline employees. They are "sandwich artists." This metaphor is the evil twin of Disney's "cast members." It is utterly useless as a guide to how the employee should act. Disney expects its cast members to behave like actors, but Subway does not expect its counter help to behave like artists. The

Our three-ring binders won't change a thing. But a little humor and humanity might. December

Make the baskets as small as you can while retaining the wholeness of whole numbers. If 2/3rds or .67 or 67% of people didn't like the new flavor, then make them feel like people in a room. "2 out of 3 people thought cheesy marshmallow was "disgusting." Going up to 67 out of 100 would dilute understanding.

It's easier to persevere on a long journey when you're traveling with a herd.

Defining moments rewire our understanding of ourselves or the world.

shouldn't just be big and compelling; it should "hit you in the gut.

PRIDE: Defining moments capture us at our best—moments of achievement, moments of courage.

sometimes in times of change, nobody knows how to behave, and that can lead to problems.

CONNECTION: Defining moments are social: weddings, graduations, baptisms, vacations, work triumphs

Big problem, small solution.

tripwires allow us the certainty of committing to a course of action, even a risky one, while minimizing the costs of overconfidence.

These moments are strengthened because we share them with others.

Confirmation bias = hunting for information that confirms our initial assumptions (which are often self-serving).

collection of generic properties of a concept or category.

What's working, and how can we do more of it?

psychologist analyzed 558 emotion words—every one that he could find in the English language—and found that 62 percent of them were negative versus 38 percent positive.

Big problems are rarely solved with commensurately big solutions. Instead, they are most often solved by a sequence of small solutions, sometimes over weeks, sometimes over decades. And

We are fighting a war on load times.

Kahneman says that we are quick to jump to conclusions because we give too much weight to the information that's right in front of us, while failing to consider the information that's just offstage. He called this tendency "what you see is all there is.

Programs that reduce drug use employ interactive methods, while ineffective programs don't.