The Big Idea: Productivity can be learned.

Chapter 1: Motivation

• To feel motivated, people must feel like they are in control.
• Leadership is learned.
• Don’t praise people for intelligence; praise them for effort.
• A bias towards action keeps people motivated.
• Start with why; why are you doing what you’re doing?
• Examples: Marine boot camp, renegade nursing home patients.

Chapter 2: Teams

• Group norms (culture) matter more than anything.
• People need to feel safe to make and report mistakes, to experiment.
• Friends working together works because they feel safe.
• Teams need to believe their work is important.
• Teams need to believe their work is personally meaningful.
• Teams need clear goals and defined roles.
• Team members need to know they can depend on one another.
• Teams need psychological safety.
• Examples: Google People Analytics, hospitals, Saturday Night Live.

Chapter 3: Focus

• Cognitive tunneling is when brains are forced to transition abruptly from relaxed automation to panicked attention.
• People who remain calm and show good judgment in stressful situations tend to create mental models and engage in constant forecasting.  They visualize scenarios.
• Productive people engage in fewer projects, challenge themselves constantly, and love to forecast future scenarios.
• Try to anticipate what’s next through scenario planning (Southwest Airlines book).
• Examples: Air France flight 447

Chapter 4: Goal Setting

• Having SMART goals will help you to continuously improve.
• However, only having audacious, inspirational stretch goals will lead to the big leaps forward. Stretch goals force you to challenge assumptions and try completely new approaches.
• Examples: Yom Kippur War, Toyota high-speed rail.

Chapter 5: Managing Others

• It’s the culture that makes Toyota successful.
• “Star-based” startups had the most home runs but also the most failures.  “Culture-based” startups had the highest probability of survival and success.
• Lean management requires handing decision-making control to the front line worker. This requires a culture of trust.
• Example: Frank Janssen kidnapping, Toyota Production System.

Chapter 6: Decision Making

• Learn to be comfortable with uncertainty.
• Study statistics for better decision-making.
• Examples: poker professional Annie Duke.

Chapter 7: Innovation

• Most innovation is a new application of an old idea.
• “Creativity is just connecting things.” — Steve Jobs
• Mild disturbances to a team or situation can yield innovation.
• Sometimes, stress and pressure can yield innovation.
• Examples: Disney’s Frozen, Westside Story.

Chapter 8: Absorbing Data

• Too much data results in information blindness and the inability to make good decisions.
• Data is vital, but people must also be trained in the ability to use the data.
• Being forced to do think critically about the data (take careful notes, teach it to someone, apply it) is much more important than having access to the data.
• Examples: Data in Cincinnati public schools, typed notes vs hand-written notes.