The 6 Big Ideas:

• The most harmful effects are from the small transgressions that accumulate over time

• Don’t abuse the power of urgency – you will be ignored if you make everything urgent

• Experience can backfire when we become too accustomed to how things were and miss change

• A powerful way to make people grow is to make them do uncomfortable things

• Multitasking doesn’t work

• People need direction and guidance during stressful situations

My Highlights From the Book:

The most harmful effects are from the small transgressions that accumulate over time:

Disconnect between the act and the consequences is why the most dangerous types of drugs are the seemingly harmless ones.

Don’t abuse the power of urgency – you will be ignored if you make everything urgent:

Make a point to say things are “not urgent, take your time” so when the matter is urgent, people will respond appropriately.

Labels like “urgent” or “top secret” backfire if overused and lose credibility.

Experience can backfire when we become too accustomed to how things were and miss change:

In order to properly evaluate the signs of danger and give a fresh dispassionate appraisal of the latest threat, the people need to be unbiased by previous exposure to threats that did not materialize. The worst thing is for people to have too much experience.

A powerful way to make people grow is to make them do uncomfortable things:

Antidote to rigidity is to put ourselves in situations in which we are not masters.

Multitasking doesn’t work:

It takes between 15-25 minutes to recover from distractions and return to the original task.

People need direction and guidance during stressful situations:

Give people who are freaked out responsibility, it works.

Always need to make sure your team has hope:

Hope and despair are self-fulfilling prophecies.