1: It was the early 1990s. Scientists surgically positioned what looked like “a small joystick and dozens of wires” into the skulls of a group of rats, writes Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit.
Their goal? To be able to observe in minute detail what was happening inside the brains of rodents.
Each animal was then placed in a T-shaped maze behind a partition with chocolate at one end. … continue reading
1: The year was 2004, the early days of the Iraqi War. Riots were occurring in Kufa, a small city 90 miles south of Baghdad.
While meeting with Kufa’s mayor, a U.S. Army major made an odd request: “Could they keep the food vendors out of the plazas?” Charles Duhigg writes in The Power of Habit.
The mayor agreed to the request. A couple of weeks later, a crowd began … continue reading
1: Lisa Allen was thirty-four years old. She had struggled with obesity since she was a child. Lisa started smoking and drinking at sixteen. She had moved from one dead-end job to another, never working for the same employer for more than a year. She was $10,000 in debt and collection agencies were chasing her, writes Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit.
After her husband fell in love … continue reading
1: It was the late 1980’s. Times were tough in Texas. The price of oil had fallen more than 50 percent. Banks were failing. The economy was in a tailspin. Oilman and former Texas Governor John Connolly wept on national news as his possessions were auctioned off to pay debtors.
Dallas-based TD Industries was also struggling. The firm specialized in installing large-scale commercial and industrial HVAC and plumbing systems. Their … continue reading
1: Adam Levine struggled in school. He “found it impossible to sit still, stay focused, or finish his schoolwork. He was hyperactive and impulsive,” Carmine Gallo writes in The Storyteller’s Secret.
Years later, as an aspiring musician, he continued to have trouble focusing – not in class, but in the studio. “I had 30 ideas floating through my mind and just couldn’t document them… When I can’t pay attention, … continue reading
1: One of the biggest mistakes we make as presenters is being overly complicated and sharing too much information.
“Any fool can make something complicated. It’s hard to make something simple,” says Virgin founder Richard Branson in Carmine Gallo‘s The Storyteller’s Secret.
“From the beginning, Virgin used clear, ordinary language,” Richard recalls. “If I could quickly understand a campaign concept, it was good to go. If something can’t … continue reading
1: Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk has been viewed over 71 million times making it the most viewed talk in TED’s 30-year history.
Wow.
How our educational system kills creativity is “certainly a topic of popular interest,” Carmine Gallo observes in his book The Storyteller’s Secret. Yet, this alone does not explain its popularity.
“What does explain it?” asks Carmine.
“If they’re laughing, they’re listening,” says Sir Ken.
In … continue reading
1: A standing ovation following a TED talk is a rare occurrence.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield had the TED audience on their feet after his 2014 talk “What I learned from going blind in space.”
The critical moment of Chris’s story?
When his eyes slammed shut in the middle of a space walk while his spaceship was traveling around the world at five miles per second, Carmine Gallo shares in … continue reading
NotTheBigCompany.
No spaces.
That’s the phrase we use to define our workplace culture at PCI. It’s our business philosophy. Even how we live our lives.
“What comes to mind when you hear the phrase ‘the big company'”?
That’s the question I ask our new hires on their first day of work. Which we call “NotTheTypicalFirstDay@Work.” We have all our new hires start on the same day each … continue reading
1: Do we believe all meaningful problems are deeply rooted and difficult to change.”
David Yeager, a mindset researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, shares a story which reveals how deep people’s skepticism can run about the power of short interventions to improve people’s lives.
This week we’re examining multiple studies which show our mindset, or how we think about something, can have a profound impact on … continue reading
