Sutton's Law

Why do you rob banks? It's where the money is.

Pareto Principle: The 80/20 Rule

• In any marketplace, 20% of the companies in the market will account for 80% of the sales.
• 80% of the wealth in the world is held by 20% of the people.
• 80% of the taxes are paid by 20% of the people.
• 80% of sales will come from 20% of the customers.
• In your company/team, 20% of the individuals will cause 80% of your headaches.

Addressing the troublesome 20% will fix 80% of your problems.

Behavioral Economics (vs Rational Economics)

• Winners Curse by Richard Thaler
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky
  • How your nervous system works.
  • We learn things from reflexes (hot pot, tiger)
  • We also learn things slowly (classroom)
• Irrational Exuberance by Robert Shiller
  • Foolish people can drive up prices in the stock market.
• Why zebras don't get ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky
  • Stress.

Human-to-Human Interactions: The Key to Life

• Understanding the psychology of human behavior is important in analyzing any situations.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

1. Physical: Food, Clothing, and Shelter
2. Safety: Protection from harm
3. Social Interaction: need to belong and interactions w/ others

Don't Tread on Me

1. Step on someone's toe and they will cry out in pain
2. Step on someone's ego and they will forever be your enemy
3. Always praise an individual in public among her/his peer, criticize in private

The Most Important Words in the English Language

• "I admit I made a mistake"
• "I am proud of you"
• "What is your opinion?"
• "If you please"
• "Thank you"
• "We" - You get more support from the people around you

Hire people that are smarter than you, and listen to them.

Communication Skills

• an acquired skill
• requires understanding of process as well as understanding material you will present
• shorter messages have more impact (e.g., Gettysburg Address)

It's not how short you make it, it's how you make it short - Bill

Oral Presentations

• Know your audience
• Know the material
• KISS - Keep it simple, stupid
• Must make an impact in the beginning (have energy, ted talks).
• People only remember 1/3 of the presentation
• Rule of 3:
  • number of ideas to convey
  • tell them what you're going to say
  • then tell them
  • then tell them what you told them

Anchoring Effect

• "manufacturer's price" on cars makes you think it should be around that price

Status Quo Effect

it's easier to hold on to things the way it is, rather than change it

Turtles on the Fence Post

If you don't know why something is the way it is, figure it out, it has to be that way for a reason.

It's not what you don't know that kills you, but what you think you know that kills you.

• E.g., Take a spreadsheet of numbers, count how many time the number one occurs in the highest position of the number. Do this for 2....9. People think there's an equal distribution of number, but really it's not equal. Benford Law - describes this phenomenon
• People can reason from assumptions easily. But we must question our assumptions.