Powerful Ideas That Change How You Think

A small share of causes often creates most results.

When a measure becomes a target, it stops being a good measure.

You see the winners while the failures disappear from view.

Low skill can make people worse at judging their own skill.

People rise in organizations until they reach a role they are bad at.

Work expands to fill the time available.

You keep investing because you already invested.

People notice and trust evidence that supports what they already believe.

The more a social indicator is used for control, the more it corrupts the process.

A solution creates incentives that make the problem worse.

A reward structure pushes people toward harmful behavior.

One party acts for another but has different incentives.

People ignore general probabilities when judging a specific case.

A sample misleads because the way it was selected is distorted.

What comes easily to mind feels more common or important.

Reasoning bends toward the conclusion a person wants.

Losses feel more painful than equivalent gains feel good.

Every choice costs the next-best alternative.

People underestimate how long tasks will take.

One positive trait makes everything else look better.

Competent people feel like frauds despite evidence.

Thinking about and judging your own thinking.

Contradictory beliefs or actions create mental discomfort.

Groups suppress dissent and drift into poor decisions.

Shared resources get depleted when individual incentives dominate.

Two actors choose poorly because cooperation is risky.

People take more risk when someone else bears the cost.

A choice creates costs or benefits for others not in the transaction.

People benefit from a resource without contributing to it.

People give extra weight to authority figures.

People infer what is true or right from what others do.

People adopt beliefs or behaviors because they are popular.

People prefer the current state because change feels costly.

People value something more once they own it.

People overvalue things they helped create.

An initial number or idea pulls later judgments toward it.

The way information is presented changes decisions.

People tend to stick with the preselected option.

The design of options changes what people choose.

Small design changes steer behavior without removing choice.

A thing becomes more valuable as more people use it.

A few outcomes are massively larger than the rest.

After a point, extra input produces less extra output.

Break a problem down to basics instead of copying assumptions.

Prefer the simpler explanation when it fits the evidence.

Do not assume malice when error or incompetence explains it.

People overexplain others' behavior by character and underexplain context.

People overestimate how much others notice them.

Extreme outcomes are often followed by more ordinary ones.

People expect small samples to behave like large ones.

People take more risks when they feel more protected.

Actions create effects beyond the intended result.

Corrections can sometimes make beliefs stronger.

Beliefs can persist even after their support is weakened.

Most people privately disagree but think everyone else agrees.

People often contribute less effort inside a group.

Small advantages can compound into dominant outcomes.

Many small outcomes collectively sit behind a few large ones.