Toy motivation. In 1994, David Novak was promoted to Pizza Hut CEO. He wasn’t excited. "It was a graveyard for executives," he said. "Morale was down, business was down. It needed energy injected into the business.” The solution? A rubber chicken. Novak handed out a mini rubber chicken toy (and a relatively small cash bonus) to hundreds of high-performing employees. Not much of a gift, but a surprising impact. The tiny gift had a dramatic impact. "This took off like you wouldn't believe it...

It's not new. It's Black Friday today, and you'll undoubtedly see news articles and social posts lamenting modern-day consumers' unparalleled and insatiable demand. Yet, history suggests this isn't the case. David Grann shares what happened in Cherokee Outlet in 1893 in his book The Killers of the Flower Moon. “After the U.S. government purchased the land from the Cherokee, it announced that a settler would be able to claim one of the 42,000 parcels of land—if he or she got to the spot...

Well Done! You don't follow the crowd. Thank you for opening today’s email. Because psychology suggests you wouldn’t. There’s a psychological principle known as negative social proof. Definition = if you make an unwanted behaviour seem commonplace, more people will perform the unwanted behaviour. Few examples: “Visitors steal 5 tons a year” increased wood theft at an Arizona park (Cialdini, 1984) “Many miss their NHS appointments” increased no-shows (Martin, 2024) “Over 1,000 people will...