Smarter Faster Better Charles Duhigg

The author struggled with work-life balance when writing his first book. He learned from surgeon Atul Gawande that productivity means deliberately making time for leisure and family. The author defines productivity as accomplishing meaningful goals efficiently.
The author found that highly productive people and companies share eight key techniques:

Developing motivation and a sense of control. The Marines taught recruits motivation by giving them choices and authority.
Establishing psychological safety. Google and SNL succeeded by fostering an environment where people felt comfortable taking risks.
Using mental models to maintain focus. Pilots averted disaster by telling themselves a story that helped them land a plane.
Setting ambitious long-term goals and concrete short-term objectives. Israel was unprepared for war due to focusing on the wrong goals.
Building trust and managing others. The FBI solved a kidnapping using an agile style and techniques from an auto plant.
Making decisions by envisioning multiple possible futures. A poker player won by imagining many ways a hand could unfold rather than hoping for one outcome.
Encouraging productive tension and a sense of crisis. Disney made Frozen this way.
Turning information into knowledge. Schools improved by making information harder to absorb so students grappled with it.

A case study shows that motivation depends on brain regions like the striatum. Damage to these areas causes apathy and lack of drive even with intact cognition.
Experiments found that the striatum activates and people feel motivated when they have control and autonomy. Boredom results without choice or control. Motivation can be learned by providing opportunities for choice and control.
The Marines aimed to build recruits’ internal locus of control - the belief that outcomes result from their choices. Basic training gave recruits control of challenges to become “addicted” to that feeling. Obstacles like the Crucible taught self-motivation, teamwork, and problem-solving under stress.
A recruit figured out how to get his team across a pit with gas masks on that prevented speech. Though against the rules, the drill sergeant praised their solution. After many obstacles, recruits received the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, becoming Marines. Boot camp teaches surpassing your limits, though the rewards are intangible.

Research shows that satisfaction and retention rates are high for Marines. This is likely because the Marine Corps helps recruits develop an internal locus of control, which studies show contributes to happiness, health, and longevity.

Small acts of defiance in nursing homes, like refusing restrictive rules, gave residents a sense of control and empowerment over their lives. This boosted their well-being.
Challenging and meaningful choices that make us feel in control and give our actions purpose can build an internal locus of control. Reenlisting gave one Marine motivation to push himself.
A legally blind and albino woman overcame obstacles through determination and excelled as a teacher. Her defiant approach to life gave her a strong internal locus of control.
Julia Rozovsky’s story shows how insights can come from difficult experiences. Her unfulfilling study group taught her the importance of psychological safety for team effectiveness. She applied this at Google to help teams improve.

Key lessons:

Psychological safety enables teamwork, learning, creativity, and success.
Difficult experiences can provide useful insights if we reflect on them.
Finding meaning in setbacks helps us grow.

Julia’s case competition team succeeded because they built psychological safety through mutual support. Her study group lacked it due to subtle criticisms and power dynamics, causing it to struggle.
Google’s Project Aristotle analyzed team data to determine keys to effectiveness. They found no patterns in composition or skills but found psychological safety, dependability, structure, meaning, and impact were critical. Psychological safety was most important.
Amy Edmondson found hospital teams with strong psychological safety openly reported and discussed errors, enabling learning. Other teams discouraged openness despite cohesion. Norms and leadership shape psychological safety.
Saturday Night Live’s early success was due to relationships that built psychological safety to take creative risks. Close bonds overcame lack of experience. While dynamics evolved, early relationships enabled effectiveness.
Although SNL had rivalry and conflict, psychological safety allowed pitching and criticizing ideas. Diversity of perspectives combined with safety to express them was key.
Researchers studied group dynamics and intelligence to determine superior team factors.

• Psychological safety allows team members to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other without fear of punishment or humiliation. It is key for teams to succeed.

• Successful teams have two attributes: equal distribution of conversational turn-taking so all voices are heard, and high social sensitivity so members understand each other’s emotional states.

• Lorne Michaels created a psychologically safe environment at SNL by giving everyone a voice and bringing together socially sensitive people. He modeled listening and encouraged sensitivity.

• Google’s Project Aristotle found psychological safety, equality of voice, and social sensitivity were most important for team success. Leaders should model listening, asking questions, admitting ignorance, and encouraging all to speak.

• The Air France 447 crash shows how overreliance on automation and lack of situational awareness can have tragic consequences. The pilots reacted incorrectly to warnings, causing a stall, and did not recognize the severity until too late.

• Reactive thinking and habituated responses can be dangerous in emergencies. Some people focus better in chaos by determining where to direct their attention based on the situation. The pilots relied on a habitual response that was incorrect for their altitude.

• The key lessons are that reactive habits are dangerous in emergencies, focus should be adapted to the situation, and some handle complexity better by focusing on what really matters rather than habits.

• In summary, team success depends most on the social dynamics and environment, not individual talent. Psychological safety, balance of voice, and social sensitivity are most important. For individuals in emergencies, adapting focus to the situation and avoiding reactive habits are key.

Researchers found that people skilled at developing useful mental models tend to be visual thinkers who imagine future scenarios in detail. This helps them choose what to focus on and notice unexpected events. Developing mental models is key to productivity and sound judgment.
Studies of productive executives found “superstars” tended to work on a few projects at a time, choose complex assignments, and join new projects early. This helped them build better mental models and become more productive. Key traits include visual thinking, narrating experiences, imagining the future, choosing where to focus, and noticing surprises.
The story of Qantas Flight 32 shows how important mental models and a questioning culture are for high performance. The captain drilled his crew on emergency scenarios and encouraged dissent. When an engine exploded, their preparation and teamwork allowed them to land safely. Questioning, theorizing, and imagining success/failure help teams achieve difficult goals.
On QF32, too much information overwhelmed the pilots until the captain had them “forget” most indicators and imagine flying a Cessna. His mental model provided focus and allowed him to land the damaged plane. The story shows how strong mental models can provide focus when there is too much information.
In 1973, Israel’s military intelligence chief, Eli Zeira, used a strict formula to dismiss the risk of war, though evidence mounted of an imminent attack. Researchers developed a questionnaire to measure “need for cognitive closure,” the desire for quick, confident judgments over ambiguity. People high in this trait tend to be decisive and successful but make overconfident judgments and ignore contradictory evidence. Zeira seemed to display this tendency.
Most people prefer some order and chaos, but 20% show a high need for closure: decisiveness, predictability, and avoiding ambiguity. This can lead to close-mindedness, hasty decisions, and unwillingness to reconsider views. In 1973, Zeira showed this trait, ridiculing dissent and sticking to his mistaken view that Egypt/Syria would not attack. His need for closure blinded him to warning signs, and Israel was caught by surprise in the Yom Kippur War.
The Yom Kippur War showed how a high need for closure can disadvantage in situations requiring openness to evidence and willingness to reevaluate views. Zeira’s desire for decisiveness led him to lock into an incorrect assessment of the situation.
Toyota and GM partnered to reopen GM’s old Fremont plant as NUMMI to build cars together. Toyota wanted to build in the U.S., and GM wanted to learn Toyota’s techniques.
80% of NUMMI workers had to be former GM employees. Rick Madrid, a former GM worker with a history of drinking on the job, interviewed and was hired.
Madrid was honest in his interview about the poor management at GM. His feedback impressed the executives, and he got a job at NUMMI.
Before starting work, Madrid and others trained at a Toyota factory in Japan for two weeks. At first, the factory seemed the same as GM’s. But Madrid saw Toyota focused much more on quality control and valuing worker input.
When a mistake was made, the whole line stopped to fix it properly. Workers were encouraged to suggest improvements. This was unlike GM where mistakes and input were ignored.
After training, Madrid returned to NUMMI committed to the Toyota way. He found management open to feedback and focused on continuous improvement and quality. Workers were empowered and motivated.
Over time, the plant became highly efficient using Toyota’s methods. Absenteeism and defects dropped dramatically while productivity and quality rose. GM and Toyota’s partnership was a success, in large part because they adopted Toyota’s culture and empowered workers like Madrid.

The key details are:

Rick Madrid, a former negligent GM worker, got a second chance at the new NUMMI plant and embraced the Toyota way of empowering workers and focusing on quality.
After seeing the difference in culture between Toyota and GM during his Japan training, Madrid committed to the Toyota approach.
NUMMI adopted Toyota’s methods and empowered workers, achieving huge improvements in productivity, quality, and morale.
The partnership between Toyota and GM succeeded largely due to creating a culture where workers felt motivated and able to contribute ideas, unlike the old GM approach.
Annie Duke struggled with anxiety and panic attacks in graduate school, forcing her to drop out. Her brother suggested she try playing poker to help with her anxiety. She found she enjoyed it and had a talent for it.
With practice and her brother’s help, Annie improved at poker and entered her first tournament, winning $30,000. She and her husband then moved to Las Vegas so she could play professionally.
In a high-stakes tournament, Annie has to decide whether to match a large bet from an opponent, “the FossilMan,” or fold. Despite not knowing his cards, she determines he likely has a very strong hand. She folds, giving up the chance to win a lot of money. It turns out she made the right choice; the FossilMan had two kings.
The hand shows the challenge of making decisions with incomplete information and uncertainty. Annie’s ability to predict likely outcomes and choose the best path forward, despite anxiety, has made her a successful professional poker player. Her skills enable her to envision various possible futures and determine the odds of each to make the best choice, even if it’s difficult.
However, at times her anxiety can still paralyze her decision making, as seen when she dropped out of graduate school. Annie’s life experiences with an alcoholic mother and study of psychology have contributed to her ability to read situations and people, but also struggles with anxiety.

The key points are that Annie Duke became a professional poker player after struggling with anxiety in graduate school, that she has developed skills in envisioning possible outcomes and determining the best choices, and that at times her anxiety still interferes with decision making. Her difficult life and study of psychology have shaped her abilities, for better and worse.

The future is uncertain and unpredictable. While we can calculate probabilities and make forecasts, there are no guarantees. Learning to be comfortable with uncertainty and determine what we know and don’t know can help in dealing with uncertainty.
The Good Judgement Project found that with training, ordinary people could make predictions more accurate than experts. They taught probabilistic thinking: envisioning multiple possible futures, estimating the likelihood of each, and combining them into an overall prediction. This approach significantly improved forecasting accuracy.
Probabilistic thinking involves accepting uncertainty and considering undesirable outcomes, not just hoping for the best. It can guide decision making from careers to relationships, though it’s difficult to choose based on probabilities rather than certainties. Experts get comfortable with uncertainty; novices seek certainty and make less accurate predictions.
A MIT study explored how people intuitively develop probabilistic thinking to make predictions for events like life spans, congressional careers, and baking times. Our assumptions come from experience but are often biased towards success and ignore failure. To improve, we need to learn from failures and disappointments, not just successes. Ask about failures, analyze your own mistakes, notice struggles, and question optimistic assumptions.
Professional poker player Annie Duke uses probabilistic thinking to envision multiple outcomes, determine likelihoods, and make the best choice given available information. This helps her overcome anxiety and become world-class. The approach applies beyond poker, to choices like jobs or retirement planning.
The musical West Side Story resulted from a creative risk and difficult collaboration. Jerome Robbins envisioned an innovative modern musical but conflicts, control issues, and busy schedules stalled progress for years. Connecting collaborators and reviving the project produced a hit that revolutionized musical theater. Creative risks can pay off, even after a rocky process.
In summary, thinking probabilistically by envisioning multiple futures, accepting uncertainty, and learning from failures can help in grappling with unpredictability and making difficult choices. Collaboration involves risks and challenges, but pushing creative boundaries and sticking with a promising idea can lead to great success.

• Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, and Arthur Laurents struggled for years to create the musical West Side Story. They wanted to produce something innovative that broke from formulaic conventions.

• Robbins pushed his collaborators out of their comfort zone by criticizing predictable ideas and demanding creativity. He suggested unconventional elements like a mambo dance scene for the main characters’ first meeting.

• West Side Story ultimately succeeded by combining proven elements in new ways, putting familiar experiences in unfamiliar settings. The team had to become “brokers” who imported and exported ideas across domains.

• The creative team for Frozen also aimed to create something new by subverting the standard fairy tale. But executing their vision was difficult, and the movie did not initially work.

• Jennifer Lee, one of the writers, suggested showing how sisters can grow apart but come back together. The team drew from their own experiences with siblings to develop Anna and Elsa’s relationship.

• The songwriters wrote “Let It Go” while anxiously trying to compose many songs. The song conveyed Elsa’s journey and helped the team see how to portray her character. It broke through their creative struggles.

• Promoting Lee to co-director created a “intermediate disturbance” that spurred new thinking. Lee realized they needed to slow the pace, focus on the sisters, and have their love save the day. Some small disruption can boost creativity.

• Key lessons: Tap into your experiences for ideas. Embrace anxiety and stress. Maintain distance from your creations. Become an “innovation broker” by combining diverse knowledge. Allow for occasional disturbances to routine.

• Creativity requires novelty and surprise. Look inward for source material. Critique your own ideas. Change power dynamics. Get new input.

• The example of Frozen shows how creativity relies on mixing new input, looking inward, embracing difficulty, and brokering between domains. Directors combined experiences to find an ending focused on love over fear.

• South Avondale Elementary struggled despite resources. A 2008 initiative aimed to change how teachers used data to improve performance. Initially, teachers rarely used the data, but new principal Brian Summe turned that around through professional development and by making data discussions mandatory. He also led discussions on how to address challenges instead of just identifying them. Major improvements resulted, showing creativity can come from small changes to process and an emphasis on collaborative problem-solving.

Delia Morris was a high school student from Cincinnati who experienced poverty and homelessness. Despite challenges, she was a gifted student with the support of her teachers, especially Ms. Thole and Mr. Edwards.
Mr. Edwards taught an engineering class that focused on the “engineering design process,” which taught critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Delia used this process to determine that babysitting her newborn niece would negatively impact her education and future goals. She was able to reframe the decision and find an alternative solution with her father’s support.
As a senior, Delia faced increasing hardships but maintained excellent grades, showing resilience and strong decision-making ability. With the support of her teachers, she won scholarships and enrolled at the University of Cincinnati.
College has been difficult as Delia is often the only woman or black student in her classes. However, the Gen-1 program provides extra support for first-generation college students like her. Mr. Edwards’ problem-solving techniques have also helped her overcome challenges.
Research shows that introducing difficulties or obstacles in learning, known as “disfluency,” can aid understanding and retention. For example, taking notes by hand versus typing leads to better learning. Mr. Edwards created disfluency for students through the engineering design process. This process helped Delia reframe her choice around babysitting and make a better decision.
Overall, Delia’s story shows how support systems, critical thinking skills, and embracing difficulty can help students from disadvantaged backgrounds overcome significant challenges to pursue higher education. With the help of her teachers and programs like Gen-1, Delia was able to achieve her goal of enrolling in college despite facing poverty, lack of stable housing, and other hardships.

The Crucible is a 54-hour field training exercise that is the final challenge in U.S. Marine Corps recruit training. It emphasizes teamwork, courage, and the Corps’ core values of honor, courage, and commitment.
The event involves loaded marches over difficult terrain, obstacle courses, water confidence courses, and limited food and sleep. Recruits must work together in teams to overcome physical and mental challenges.
The Crucible builds recruits’ confidence in themselves and each other through shared hardship. They learn that by banding together, they can accomplish difficult tasks that would be impossible alone. This cultivates an “all for one, one for all” mentality.
The team-building during the Crucible forges a strong connection between recruits that stays with them into active duty. The shared experience creates social bonds that prove crucial for challenges they will face as Marines.
The Crucible reinforces the Marine Corps’ values and prepares recruits for the demands of military life by instilling a sense of group identity, shared purpose, and commitment to the team over self.
While team-building activities are used by many groups, the Crucible is an intense and transformative experience unique to the Marine Corps. It serves as a rite of passage that marks recruits’ transition into becoming United States Marines.
Overall, the Crucible powerfully achieves the Marine Corps’ goals of developing individuals’ character, commitment, and dedication to the group. The challenging shared experience forges strong bonds between teammates and identification with the Corps’ values.

In summary, the Crucible event uses a grueling team-building challenge to help transform recruits into Marines. By overcoming adversity together, recruits develop psychological connections, group identity, and adoption of the Marine Corps’ core principles of honor, courage, and commitment. The Crucible serves as a defining moment in recruits’ journey to becoming Marines.

Captain Richard de Crespigny and his copilots faced an uncontained engine failure on Qantas Flight 32, an Airbus A380 aircraft, in November 2010.
An uncontained engine failure means debris from the exploding engine damaged other parts of the plane. In this case, the engine blew apart and sent shrapnel into the wing tanks, damaging the wing and fuel lines. The pilots had to determine the severity of the damage while still in the air.
The pilots conducted troubleshooting and systems checks for over an hour to determine what components were damaged. They had to find enough working systems and components to make a safe landing, all while dumping fuel to reach safe landing weight.
Captain de Crespigny relied on his extensive experience flying the A380 to methodically work through all possibilities. His familiarity with the aircraft allowed him to remain calm while assessing the situation. The less experienced first officer followed de Crespigny’s lead.
The pilots determined that while some hydraulic and electrical systems were damaged, the plane still had sufficient controls and steering ability to attempt a landing. They landed the plane safely with no loss of life. Their successful crisis management and recovery demonstrated expert judgment under extreme pressure.
Captain de Crespigny attributed their successful handling of the crisis to several factors: the crew’s technical proficiency and familiarity with emergency checklists and procedures; a “startle-free” cockpit culture where the crew felt comfortable speaking up; de Crespigny’s experience as a trainer; and maintaining a diagnostic mindset focused on resolving problems rather than reacting emotionally.
The pilots’ ability to stay focused on the tasks required to assess damage and safely land the plane demonstrated how experienced crews can overcome “attentional tunneling” in crisis situations. Their calm, methodical approach made the difference in averting disaster.
Qantas used this experience to further improve training and preparation of flight crews. The precise manner in which the pilots diagnosed issues and attempted solutions provided valuable insights for continued learning and safety improvements.

Does this summary accurately reflect the key details, events, and takeaways regarding Qantas Flight 32 and how its crew successfully responded to the crisis? Please let me know if I should clarify or expand the summary in any way.

In 1984, Toyota and GM formed the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) joint venture to operate a former GM plant in Fremont, California. Toyota brought its innovative lean manufacturing and quality control techniques to revitalize the plant’s operations. Under the joint venture, productivity and quality significantly improved.

A key part of NUMMI’s success was Rick Madrid, a former felon who embraced Toyota’s focus on teamwork and continuous improvement. He helped implement Toyota’s system at the plant and became an example of NUMMI’s transformative impact.

In 2009, GM withdrew from the venture during bankruptcy. Toyota closed the plant shortly after. NUMMI had become an important model of lean manufacturing and helped rejuvenate U.S. auto manufacturing. Its techniques were studied globally.

Researchers saw NUMMI as demonstrating how Japanese and American practices could combine. For Toyota, it showed the Toyota Production System could work in America. For GM, it was a way to learn lean methods and profitably build small cars.

NUMMI highlights:

•Formed in 1984 by Toyota and GM to take over troubled GM plant

•Toyota instituted lean manufacturing and quality control; productivity and quality rose

•Rick Madrid, ex-felon, helped implement Toyota’s system; celebrated for success

•GM left in 2009; Toyota closed plant. Landmark for lean methods and U.S. revival

•Showed combining Japanese and U.S. practices; Toyota Production System could work in U.S.; GM learned lean and small-car profitability

•Widely studied as model for lean manufacturing globally

The summary concisely captures the key events, outcomes, and significance of the NUMMI joint venture based on the information provided. All major elements from the input are incorporated in a high-level overview of this influential case of operational innovation and transformation. Please let me know if you would like me to clarify or expand my summary further.

Researchers studied 200 tech startups in Silicon Valley. They found the companies tended to follow one of five “organizational blueprints” at founding.
NUMMI followed the “commitment” model, valuing long-term relationships. This led to job security, shared decision making, and efforts to improve quality and productivity. It built trust and a devoted culture.
NUMMI showed the potential of empowering workers and lean manufacturing. But it was subject to economic challenges and closed in 2010.
The summary notes NUMMI’s success in empowering workers and team collaboration. But it also highlights the difficulties of sustaining this model long-term in a competitive industry.
Annie Duke won a major poker tournament in 2004 through skill and strategy. She calculated odds and made optimal decisions, gaining a chip lead.
On the final hand, Duke had a hand with good odds of improving. She called bets to keep her opponent betting, then won the tournament.
Her victory showed poker as a game of skill. The right strategy and mindset can overcome luck.
The summary outlines how Duke’s background, her calculating approach, and her balanced mindset led to her success as a professional poker player. Her victory demonstrated the role of skill and decision making in the game.
Frozen, released by Disney in 2013, went through many changes before succeeding. Early versions were more faithful to the Snow Queen tale but didn’t work.
Jennifer Lee suggested making Elsa a complex character struggling with her powers. The song “Let It Go” also reshaped the story. New tools created realistic snow effects.
Co-director Chris Buck said the sister relationship was most resonant. Frozen showed innovation and perseverance reviving Disney animation.
The summary highlights how an open, collaborative creative process, key decisions around characters and music, technological innovations, and a focus on relationships led to Frozen’s eventual success. Experimentation and learning from failure were instrumental to the outcome.

Does this summary accurately reflect the key details and main takeaways from the sources? Let me know if you have any feedback or need any clarification. I’m happy to revise the summary.

Management should encourage teams to take risks and think creatively without instilling a fear of failure. Several factors can foster team creativity:

•Diverse life experiences. Teams should share life stories and draw analogies from different experiences. Creativity comes from exposure to different perspectives.

•Feedback and revision. Creativity is iterative. Teams should share ideas early and get feedback to improve concepts. Revision in response to feedback leads to better outcomes.

•Visionary leadership. Leaders establish a shared vision but give teams freedom to operate. They motivate and assemble the right mix of talents. Leaders like Steve Jobs and Ed Catmull built great teams through this approach.

•Luck and unexpected discovery. Creativity involves an element of luck, play, experimentation, and making unexpected connections. Post-it Notes and cellophane emerged through accidental discovery, not just planning.

•Networks and psychological safety. Teams need to build trust to share ideas without fear of judgment or failure. People feel empowered to take risks when supported.

Cincinnati Public Schools used data and analysis to turn around low-performing elementary schools. They targeted resources, monitored progress, made adjustments and built capacity through professional development and collaboration. Their reforms focused on students’ academic, social and emotional needs. Student outcomes, gaps, and graduation rates improved.

While data is key, information overload can lead to “overchoice” and poor decisions. Tools like “winnowing” and “scaffolding” filter and frame information to guide choices. Strong leadership and culture are also essential.

Disfluency, or difficulty processing information, can lead to deeper learning and better decisions. However, effects seem complex. Situations and manipulations affect impact. Disfluency may lead to less generalizable effects than thought.

Studies found handwritten notes led to better learning than laptop notes. Laptops encourage mindless transcription, not synthesis. More content does not mean better processing or encoding. Time to study is less efficient than concise notes.

“Gen 1” programs support first-generation college students facing additional challenges.

In summary, creativity, data-driven decision making, and learning strategies depend on balancing constraints and freedom, using tools to frame information, building capacity, and recognizing complexity. Strong leadership, culture, and networks enable people to take risks, learn and improve. But effects vary in different contexts.

#book-summary