A COLLECTION OF READERS’

PEAK MOMENTS

C HIP HEATH & DAN HEATH

A resource for the book THE POWER OF MOMENTS

© 2018 by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

Ask before distributing: brothers@heathbrothers.com
BUSINESS
The Cincinnati Zoo is an institution that creates family memories for its patrons. It has, over the past
ten years, intentionally worked to achieve that end – bringing animals and their keepers from behind the
exhibits to encounter patrons directly, setting up giraffe feeding opportunities, watching cheetahs run – are
all experiences designed to create memories for those who watch. 
What we did not have was memorable board meetings. Our board meetings – once every other month –
were a rote production consisting of the approval of the last meeting’s minutes, a director’s report, a report
on operational issues from the associate director, a review of financial statement line items and where each
stood relative to last year and the budget, a report on how much money development has brought in, a
lecture on a particular area of the zoo’s operation (research, horticulture, etc.), and then adjournment. And
we wondered why board members were not more engaged with the institution or with one another.
In November we broke that mold - specifically after reading The Power of Moments. We had a board
meeting advertised as “like no other board meeting you have ever attended.” When people arrived, they
were divided into groups of 3-4 board members and paired with one senior staff member and a junior staff
member. Then they were off to different parts of the zoo to experience drawing blood with the vet from an
elephant’s ear, to view operant conditioning training with lions or a rhino calf, to meet with high school
students attending the zoo high school, to see ultrasound training for a polar bear, etc. We then gathered
back together and board members spoke about what they had seen and learned by viewing the zoo through
the eyes of the staff. And we have kept offering that kind of activity – in a subject matter tied into what we
are discussing at the meeting – before each subsequent meeting.
Board members have gotten to know each other; they understand much more about what it is that they
are participating in; they understand the challenges on a daily basis as we all as what the future looks like
for zoos. In a word, they are more engaged. Not because we sent out a list of board expectations (one of
the suggestions at a brainstorming meeting on the subject in October), but because they understand much
more about the institution they serve and they care.  
Not every organization has the opportunity for such show-and-tell, but I would wager most have much
greater opportunities than boards take advantage of.
Stuart Dornette

I work at Sydney Opera House and we have been using your Peak Moments approach in training our Visitor
Experience team for a while now to promote the great experiences they can all offer to our many visitors,
audiences and patrons.
Here’s my personal favourite – explained in an email of thanks from an American visitor:
Saturday, 30 June 2018 20:21 PM
To: Info Desk
Subject: Katherine “The Great”
 

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Hello,
My name is XXXXXXX and my family recently visited Sydney and toured your beautiful facility. We were
there on Thursday, June 28 and had contracted with a local photographer to meet us there to take pictures
of my son’s surprise proposal to his long time girlfriend, who is traveling with us. He had planned for the
proposal to be outside the Opera House but as we arrived at the agreed upon time it began to rain very
steadily.
We were milling around the lobby fretting over what to do when one of your employees, a very nice lady
named Katherine, approached us asking if she could direct us or help in any way. We were quite desperate as
we didn’t know what to do for a back up plan or if the photographer would need to scrap the shoot alto-
gether. My husband and I pulled the girlfriend away as our son began to explain his dilemma to Katherine
who immediately flew in to action. She asked him to give her a few minutes as she had an idea for a room
that might be suitable for such an event.
We stalled the photographer and girlfriend until Katherine returned and led us up some stairs to the Utzen
Room. We were all in awe of this beautiful space and amazing view and artwork! The proposal took place in
front of the gorgeous windows overlooking Sydney Harbour and the photographer, who had entered unno-
ticed, was there to capture the precious moment.
We will be forever grateful to Katherine for going above and beyond her duties, taking time out of her busy
schedule and facilitating this special occasion for us. Both our son and his now fiance will always remember
her kindness and what turned out to be a very special proposal in a very special space in your world re-
nowned Opera House.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our trip to your wonderful country and all the lovely, friendly people we have
met here. We cannot thank you enough for the special hospitality shown to us by this incredible employee
and wanted you to know about it.
Sincerely,

XXXXXXX
Salado, Texas
Toni Williams

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 Your book really resonated with me as a believer in The Power of Mo-
ments. My longtime hashtag has been #everyminuteisamoment, and I
have a personal mission to turn ordinary moments into extraordinary
ones. 
While I was becoming the master of personal moments, I hadn’t yet
set my sights on professional ones. After reading your book, we had
a wellness committee meeting at work. We were nearing the end of
our fiscal year and were looking for a way to celebrate it. I shared the
popsicle hotline story, and our collective creative juices got flowing. The
result ...
On the last day of our fiscal year - knowing that many staff were on
vacation
- we left a bottle of champagne on each desk with a note from the CEO
thanking them for an amazing year. They also got an email letting them know the office was closing early
for the long weekend and that we’d be having a Happy New Fiscal Year breakfast celebration and providing
an easy lunch on their first day back so they didn’t have to worry about it. 
At the Fiscal New Year breakfast, complete with a waffle sta-
tion, we celebrated our successes by watching a video highlight-
ing some of the wishes we granted that year (we work for Make-
A-Wish so technically we’re professional moment makers) to a
soundtrack of the staff’s favorite songs. Each staff member was
asked to write the fiscal new year resolution and given a display
for their desk. They also got a vase and were able to create their
own bouquet of wildflowers and herbs for their desks. 
We’re not stopping there! We’ve already added in a plan to
celebrate staff work anniversaries with certificates for their
desks and monetary gifts and are moving on to birthdays and
first days. Thank you so much for writing a book that felt like a
page out of my own!
Tara Navara

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I run Collegewise, a college counseling company—families hire us to help their kids get into college. Here
are a few of the peak moments we create:

1. The first day of work—we’ve got that down, maybe even better than John Deere! Our goal is to send
them home with a great answer to the inevitable question from their loved ones, “How was your
first day at work?” One of the many “peak moments” of that day is that every new employee receives
a personalized collegiate pennant with their name on it, done in the colors of their alma maters.
I actually had a new employee in her 30’s once tell me that the
pennant was the most thoughtful thing an employer had ever done
for her.
2. 10 years ago, we decided to formalize some kind of progression as
a college counselor. So we created a Master Counselor Award. Once
a counselor has worked here for three years and helped at least
100 kids apply to college, she becomes a “Master Counselor,” she’s
eligible to train new counselors, and she receives a plaque engraved
with the names of the 100 students she’s worked with.
3. And when each of our students submits their final college application, they bang a gong in our office
to signify that they are officially DONE. We wanted to inject a sense of accomplishment independent
of whether or not the student is admitted to the schools. Parents often attend this meeting to witness
it. And thanks to the Heath Brothers, I now know that we’ve created great moments around these
because people always get their phones out to snap photos and commemorate them.

The book not only intellectualized what I’d been doing instinctively for so long, but also gave me the
framework to think about how we can create even more of these moments for both our employees and our
students.
Kevin McMullin

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I work for a Finance business in the UK, Ultimate Finance, we are owned by the Tavistock Group, who
operate across Europe and the UK.
We work really hard to differentiate ourselves in our market based on our customer service ethic. Part of my
role is to build our customer service proposition and help us to retain a strong customer focus.
Having read your book ‘The Power of Moments’ I led a session with our team of Relationship Managers and
talked them through the Magic Castle Hotel and The Popsicle Hotline. …
Consequently, the individuals in the teams started to deliver ‘popsicle moments’ to our customers. These
were things like cupcakes on a random day, flowers when an employee or a customer had a baby, ringing a
customer on a Friday and saying “buy everyone in your team a bacon sandwich and send us the invoice”.
Small things, big impact, just as you suggested. Year to date we are closing in on 200 Popsicle Moments
delivered to our customer base. That phrase “popsicle moments” is embedded in our business. What is
amusing is that new joiners are using the phrase without understanding where it came from – needless to
say I delight in explaining it to them!
The final piece of this jigsaw is that whilst the popsicle moments are a good thing to do in and of themselves
we can demonstrate how they are having a direct impact on our business from a financial perspective. Our
customers are staying longer, spending more and saying great things about us! (check out our Trustpilot
page: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/ultimatefinance.co.uk ).
John Lightfoot

I‘m the head of Customer Experience at Box, just down the road in Redwood City, CA. My CEO, Aaron
Levie, read your book on his honeymoon last December and has been obsessed with blowing our customers
minds through customer experience ever since. It’s made my job a lot harder but easier same time. So thank
you! I want to share one customer experience practice we recently
implemented based on your book.
Using your principle of creating peak moments, my team and I
implemented a concierge type experience for a select group of cus-
tomers at our recent
BoxWorks conference.
While this idea has been
used by countless other
companies at confer-
ences, we went one step
further to create a memorable experience for our customers.
If you think about the whole experience of attending a confer-
ence, there’s more than just the conference itself. There’s get-
ting approval to attend, finding budget, booking travel, making
arrangements, figuring out what sessions to attend, etc. If you
think about the troughs of the conference experience, traveling
to the location is most likely one of the bigger troughs. And if
you isolate just the travel experience, getting off the plane and

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taking a taxi / Uber to the hotel is usually the least exciting part. You’re likely hungry, tired, and eager to get
to the hotel to rest.
Well, for a few select customers we sought to fill the trough and turn it into a peak. A team of four, includ-
ing myself, put together gift bags with water, snacks, facial cleansing wipes, gum, mints, and Box swag
and waited for these customers as they excited security at the airport. With signs and balloons in hand, we
made them feel like a VIP. It was a wonderful success.
Chase Zenger

One positive change we implemented is regarding our employee years of service awards. Prior to reading
your book, we distributed a general quarterly email asking the employee being honored to stop by our HR
office to pick up a certificate and gift card. It was a lost opportunity. One of our Brinker Capital teammates
identified this as an opportunity to create a moment.
 So now, each month, I send an email to our entire company acknowledging all of the employees celebrating
a work anniversary for 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of service. Then as close to the anniversary date as
possible, a meeting is set up with me to personally thank the employee. It gives me an opportunity as the
CEO to have a meaningful conversation and express my gratitude for their commitment to Brinker Capital.
We have also revisited the service award amount and increased it to $100 for each year.
The benefits we created were positive for the employee who made the recommendation and I fully give her
credit for championing this idea. My hope is this will encourage more of our team members to drive posi-
tive change within our company.
We are continuing to challenge ourselves in other ways to take these insights and make a difference. It has
awakened us to the endless opportunities of creating powerful moments in our daily service to others.
Noreen D. Beaman

I’d like to share a peak moment from Biltmore Estate, a historic, 8,000 acre property nestled in the beauti-
ful mountains of Asheville, North Carolina:
A couple from Austin, Texas (Mary Ellen and Randy) came to Biltmore to celebrate a special occasion with
some friends. Little did Mary Ellen know, but Randy was planning to propose to her during their visit
to the Estate. Biltmore has breathtaking natural beauty throughout the 8,000 acre property, and Randy
decided that the bridge over the Bass Pond would be the most picturesque place of all.
As they were strolling across the bridge, he began his nervous speech. He dropped to one knee, drew a small
box from his pocket, and asked Mary Ellen to marry him. She said yes!  He then clumsily fidgeted with the
box, and opened the top to reveal the stunning ring; unfortunately, a spring in the box malfunctioned,
sending the beautiful diamond ring (not yet insured) flying through the air and into the pond at the bottom
of the waterfall many feet below.
The couple rushed into the water, and frantically searched for the ring to no avail. Tired, wet, and desperate,
Mary Ellen approached a Biltmore gardener to explain what happened. For the next several days, Biltmore’s
gardening team, along with members of many other departments, served as a support system for the

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despairing couple, while utilizing clever approaches to locate the ring (one example was dropping dimes off
the bridge from the spot the ring was dropped, then returning to the water to see where the coins landed).
Ultimately, Biltmore worked with Randy to bring a scuba diver to the estate, who located the ring with an
underwater metal detector with a platinum setting. What could have been a depressing memory, turned
into a peak moment for Mary Ellen and Randy, as well as a fantastic story that will be shared for genera-
tions to come! 
Anna Sullins

My business partner and I run a marketing agency with a group of 15 employees who all work virtually,
from Maine to Florida. We get our team together twice a year to keep them engaged, inspired and connect-
ed. We concluded it by showing them a video we created just for them. Before the retreat, we reached out to
the spouses/loved ones of our employees secretly and asked them to create and send us a video clip of why
they are so proud of their PMG loved one. This was an AMAZING moment for our team, they are all still
talking about it and cannot believe we pulled it off. 
[Note from the Heath brothers: We chose not to share the video clip here because it felt unfair to the
participating loved ones, who may not have bargained on their comments being made public. But trust us,
it’s cool! Imagine if you were at an offsite retreat and suddenly your spouse and your kids were on screen
bragging about you!]
Also when the presentation ended, we told the team that powerful moments can really happen anytime,
anywhere if you are engaged - that they can even happen “under your chair if you look” - we taped a $100
bill under everyone’s chair. That also created a memorable moment for them! 
Maureen Condon

I run training courses and programmes for fundraisers in non-profits and charities. Here are some exam-
ples of changes I have made since reading your book.
A Transition Moment – Finishing in more style
For several years I have marked the final day of my fundraising training programmes (eg Corporate Part-
nerships Mastery) by giving them a certificate in the last five minutes of the last training day and seeing if
anyone wanted to come for a drink in the pub. Reading your book helped me be braver, to add more pomp
and ceremony.
Here is what we now do:
To amplify INSIGHT, CONNECTION AND PRIDE, I ask them to reflect on the progress they have made
over the last six months of the programme, what they are most proud of about this, and any stand out
memorable moments while doing their job which encapsulate this increased skill or confidence. Then in
groups of four they share these ideas. While they are doing this, I pop bottles of prosecco and bring them a
glass.
(Note, until now we’ve drunk from plastic cups which are clearly easy to find but clearly lessen the moment.

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While re-reading your book just now about how the details matter, I’m going to get champagne flutes for
next time.) And I also present them with their certificates, usually with the help of one of their coaches who
has helped on the programme. And on the final day we are doing next week, their coach is unable to join us
but has arranged for celebration cupcakes to be delivered to the venue as a surprise.
And then we go for a celebration drink in the pub, and I buy a drink for everyone to toast their success. The
whole thing now feels much more special, for them and for me.
Adding value to the already happy customers.
At the beginning of the summer I sent copies of my favourite books to 7 of my long-standing clients with
a card suggesting this book had helped me and they might find it interesting summer reading. I got lots of
delighted feedback! One, the very busy fundraising director of a cancer charity invited me for coffee and
told me ‘Rob, I NEVER get nice things through the post. At home its bills and at work its boring admin and
occasionally complaints. And then I got your brown paper package with your book, and it was about im-
proving your culture, and that’s one of my biggest challenges right now…I couldn’t believe it’.
Rob Woods
Director, Bright Spot Fundraising, UK

EDUCATION
I work at Calvin College in the Career Center and we were launching a new program that will help prepare
students for life and work after college called Calvin LifeWork. It’s a four year co-curricular program that
monthly takes students through personal growth items centered around vocation, career readiness, lead-
ership and personal finance. Much of the branding and iconography for the program utilizes hand drawn
artwork of people doing various adventure themed activities, one of those being people parachuting. One of
the posters for the kickoff event had the parachuters near text that also mentioned snacks. I asked a co-
worker if snacks will be parachuting. She said, that would be awesome. And then mentioned it to someone
else, who had the same reaction. So we asked building services if we could drop parachutes with candy bars
attached from the catwalk of the auditorium as students were coming in to the kickoff. They said yes and
that was it. A silly idea that organically got approved by people willing to not say no.
David Wilstermann, MPA

Similar to the story you told in this email, here’s what I remember: 
In 8th grade, we had a teacher who told us that we (as a class) would be putting on a variety show for the
entire school, at the end of the year. There were very few boundary conditions on what was going to end up
in the final product, but he told us upfront that we ALL needed to contribute to every part of it. We all had
to appear on stage at some point and speak, no matter how shy we were, and we all had to be involved in
the writing, editing, stage directions, costumes, and prop creation, and work backstage as well. 
We started with brainstorming sessions and pitch meetings to come up with possible acts and skits we

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could do. These were voted on. As acts were considered, students then volunteered to work on develop the
acts they were most interested in, and as they began to take shape over the coming months, some were
changed, some were scrapped/abandoned, and others were created. In the end, we put on a ~60-minute
show for the entire school and the parents. I have no idea what I learned that year scholastically, but to this
day, I am able to recall huge amounts regarding the many stages of the process, and what it took to bring it
all together—far more than just the final performance.
I found out years later, when I went back to visit this influential teacher (sometime in high school), that he
had done this same project with almost all of his classes, and with students as young as grade 6 (age 10-11). 
It’s hard to overstate the impact this single epic project had on my life. We worked hard be
cause we loved what we were working on, not because it had been assigned, or because we were being paid.
If/when we challenged each other, or argued, it was (usually) with the goal to make things better. We did
endless rewrites and rehearsals and made sure everyone participated fully, including the shy and lazy kids.
And in the end, we went live with whatever we had, and we were immensely proud of what we had created.
There were no marks or grades associated with it. We simply made something huge, from beginning to end,
that changed what we thought we were capable of. Hard to ask for more than that from an 8th grade teach-
er, the year before high school. 
Mark MacLean

Linking to The Power of Moments and Made To Stick, I planned a special historical cliffhanger to leave my
students in suspense at the end of a lesson.
The class were studying England in 1066. Edward the Confessor, King of England was lying on his death
bed. In British History the throne is traditionally passed onto the male heir. There was a problem - Edward
did not have a direct heir that would inherit the throne. He did not have any children.
There were several contenders to the throne who all believed they were the rightful true heir. I spent the
lesson exploring these individuals, including their background, relationship or connection to Edward, and
their claims or motives. 
I planned the lesson carefully so that students would understand the complex situation in 1066. However,
as the end of the lesson was approaching a student asked me who became King? I didn’t answer. I told the
class I would tell them next lesson. They didn’t think this was fair as all they wanted was a name! No, next
lesson (which was the following week) I would reveal all.
This angered some of my students, they were shocked I had refused to tell them the answer! But I kept
quiet.
The following week the majority of the class arrived at my lesson looking very smug and happy - they took
great pleasure telling me what happened in 1066 and who became King next! They couldn’t wait until the
lesson they needed to know. Some of the students had asked their parents, others had carried out indepen-
dent research online and another student had watched a whole three-part documentary with well-known
British historian Dan Snow! This wasn’t a homework or prep task to find out but their curiosity motivated
them to search and seek the information they were looking for. I had created a knowledge gap. Instead
of filling that gap for my students I left them wanting more and continuing their learning outside of the

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classroom. 
If you don’t know who became King in 1066 ... I will tell you another time!
Kate Jones

I am a counselor and a professor at a small satellite campus of Sierra College in Truckee, California. Sierra
College is a community college and many of our students work jobs outside of school and try to fit in classes
when they can. As a result, students tend to show up for classes and then leave. There is not a lot of campus
life going on. After reading your article, I was inspired to try to cre-
ate more peak moments on our campus. I began by thinking about
how to do this in the classes I teach but then expanded the idea to
something all of our students could attend. I was lucky to get great
support from our administration and other staff and as a result, the
idea for our Sierra Showcase was born.
Sierra Showcase was an opportunity for students from a wide vari-
ety of classes to get together and showcase their learning. Profes-
sors from all types of disciplines encouraged students to brainstorm
ways to show what they were learning in a fun and interactive
way. The Showcase itself was a one-night event. We set up a stage,
printed programs and made it into a show. As the emcee, I even put
on my tuxedo and try to make it fancier and set the stage as a big
event. 
The students were hesitant about the idea at first but then really
embraced it and created great presentations. We had Psychology classes re-enacting famous experiments
and leading engaging activities, Math students explaining research they had done, English students giving
TED style talks and even presenting a play they had written. We also combined the Showcase with an Art
Show, displaying student art around campus.
The students that participated were proud of their work. The spectators in the crowd were entertained and
informed. For all that were there, it truly became a peak moment. Many students commented about it for
weeks after the event and have also asked me about doing it again. I hope Sierra Showcase will become a
key event each year on our campus and I can’t wait to watch it grow.
Christopher Old

I wanted to share with you a story of a school that I’m working with here in Australia that lives and
breathes many of the principles you discuss in The Power of Moments and in the article below.
My daughter went to Silkwood School from Prep to Grade 7. (She only left at Grade 7 because at that point
in time they didn’t have a high-school which they do now). 
Our most enduring and cherished memories of her time at the school are of the celebrations and rites of
passage that the school has embedded. You can read a bit about their festivals and celebrations on their

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website: https://www.silkwood.qld.edu.au/explore/learn-
ing/school-festivals/ 
My daughter is now 23, but she and I both clearly re-
member the magical boat journey from Prep to Grade
1. We have vivid memories of the various Festivals over
the years. And, she continues to draw on the celebration
of her transition from primary to high-school. It was a
week-long celebration culminating in a day where she
received a staff which her teachers had hand-crafted
that contains many symbolic items on it depicting her
strengths and their wishes for her. (See photos.) In fact,
she and I were talking just the other day about the wil-
ly-wag tail (a bird here in Australia), that is represented
on her staff - full of character, determination and cheeky-
ness!
I thought you also might like to see a video of their
current high-school kids doing exhibitions: https://www.
youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=uZVxlsTX4QYv
I wanted to share their story with you because they do a remarkable job of creating peak moments that
matter.
Shelley Holmes

Part of what I do includes presenting professional development to teachers, administrators, and instruc-
tional coaches as well as supervising 7-12 ELA instructional coaches in the fifth largest school district in
California. Being an educator can be a lonely business. Increasing student achievement takes place in such
a continuum—one that at the secondary level is largely dependent on the degree of success students have
had in the preceding years. With overcrowded classrooms, low per pupil spending, and a multitude of other
challenges, educators can feel very unappreciated even when they are working tremendously hard. Many of
us were told as first year teachers to hold on to those sporadic moments when someone actually acknowl-
edges your efforts. One of my instructional coaches has a physical “Smile File” started during her first year
of teaching where she literally saves positive comments, emails, pictures, and whatever else will fit into
said file. Lots of teachers do! On those really rough days of teaching—the kind that make teachers question
their career moves and whether there are any openings at Macy’s—revisiting the contents of a Smile File
really can reinforce why we went into education in the first place.
You know where this is going, right? Yes—the “Moments of Pride” section of the book. I had my instruc-
tional coach team read that chapter independently, and then we talked about what it could look and sound
like for our work with teachers and admin as well as what it shouldn’t look/sound like (e.g., not program-
matic). I created slips of paper with inspirational messages as well as blank sheets where we could stop for
a second, think about those people at our various sites who were working their tails off and not necessarily
getting the recognition for it, and write to them a personalized Smile File type of comment. My recognition
notes went to some hardworking administrators including my boss. When I went into her office days later, I

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saw my note still propped up in front of her keyboard. A different administrator was compelled to email me
to say how much the note meant to him and that this year had been a particularly rough one. Since then,
I have seen random reminders on some of my instructional coaches’ Outlook calendars to create time to
celebrate others.
It’s such a simple thing to do in education to give someone a handwritten comment/recognition. After
we had finished writing notes to others that day and started to disperse at the end of the meeting, some
articulated how excited they were to deliver their notes. I smiled thinking about how we were all walking
proof of the boomerang effect of a note-based gratitude visit.
LaRae Blomquist

I teach at Union Middle School in San Jose, CA. This summer, our principal, Todd Feinberg, encouraged us
to read The Power of Moments. As a result, my 7th grade Language Arts colleagues (Michael Kaelin--the
brains behind the following lesson, Natalie Smith) and I have committed to beginning our conversation
about every unit about what “peak moments” we can build in to our curriculum to celebrate learning. From
there, we then backwards map our activities to lead up to this special moment. Here is our first go at it: 
On the second day of school, showed our students avideo called ‘Being 12: The Year Everything Changes,’
which shows students at another school talking candidly about what it’s like being 12. Then we had our
studentns address the following questions in paragraph form: 
• How are you feeling about becoming a 7th grader?
• Explain why you are feeling this way.
• What is it like being a kid on the verge of being a teenager?
On the third day of school, we asked every student to record a video up to 90 seconds in length, in which
they addressed at least 3-4 of the following questions, inspired by the original video: 
• What does being in 7th grade mean to you?
• As a 7th grader, do you still think of yourself as a child?
• Be honest - what are you really good at?
• What kinds of chores or responsibilities do you have at home?
• Do you gossip about other people? Do your friends gossip?
• Do you have a best friend?
• What scares you?
• What do you and your friends talk about when you are texting?
• What’s the best AND worst thing about middle school?
• What is one fun activity you did in elementary school that you wish you could do now?
• Do you follow the trends that you see at school or on TV? Why or why not?
• Tell us about what it’s like to be in 7th grade.
• What’s your routine when you get home?
• Describe how feel about your phone. If you don’t have one, describe how you feel about using

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 technology.
• What do you do that helps you forget about your troubles and escape?
• Do you worry about being popular?
• Have you ever been bullied?
• Do you think the world is getting better or worse?
• If you had one wish for your seventh grade year, what would it be?
• What really confuses you?
• If you could, what would you change about yourself?

The following Monday was “peak moment” time! To honor the work that students had done “putting them-
selves out there” in front of their peers, we held our 1st annual “Being 7th Flipgrid Film Festival,” where we
watched every student’s video, complete with the classic movie-going experience of popcorn and red licorice
for all. (Ok, so we threw in some apple juice too!) It was an amazing way to begin building community at the
start of a new school year. We are already looking to purposefully embed the next “peak moment” in our
lesson plans!
Carla Dunavan

[Heath brothers note: You’ve really got see the video to make sense of this one – it’s worth the click!]
This year our school will
be using your book, The
Power of Moments, as a
springboard for a focus
on project-based learning
and innovation. During
our staff meeting before
students arrived, several
teachers were inspired
to create a peak moment
for students’ first day of
school. They wanted to
recreate the feeling seen in
a recent Walmart back-to-
school ad. Below is a short
video of the event shared
on our district’s Facebook page. It was a day that both staff and families will never forget!
https://youtu.be/t78g632U1G0
Roberta Ballard

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As I began to map out my plans for the first semester for my AP Calculus class, one particular lesson
jumped out as an opportunity to create a memorable experience for my students. One of the natural appli-
cations of calculus is its overlap with the kinematics equations that students learn in physics. Each year, my
students perform an activity where they determine the speed of their fastball using calculus. They throw a
ball in the air, use a stopwatch and a meter stick to take certain measurements, and apply their knowledge
of derivatives to a standard physics equation for displacement. While this has always been a meaningful
experience for my students, I wanted to make it more memorable. I wanted this activity to create a buzz in
the hallway when my students left the classroom and to become a conversation point when their parents
asked them: “What did you do at school today?”
I reached out to our local minor league baseball team, the Salem Red Sox. They donated a pair of free tickets
to any game in the 2019 season for me to award to the male and female student with the fastest fastball in
each of my classes. The Red Sox also sent their mascot, Mugsy, to my school to participate with my students
in the activity. As word spread among my school’s faculty about all this, our public relations’ coordinator
contacted local media. Two media outlets came to highlight this event. They took photos and video of my
students interacting with Mugsy while throwing their balls in their air and even interviewed students on
camera. The story aired on WSLS (https://www.wsls.com/education/roanoke-valley-school-teams-up-with-
salem-red-sox-for-math-lesson) and RVTV is returning for an additional interview with my school’s director
and me. Pictures documenting the event are posted to the Roanoke Valley Governor’s School Facebook
page, the Roanoke City Public School’s Facebook page, and Jenna Zibton WSLS 10 News’ Facebook page.
While reaching out to the community certainly took some time and coordination, my heart was overjoyed
when I saw my student’s enthusiasm as they performed the activity and when I saw their child-at-heart at-
titudes that countered that of the stereotypical high school junior as they interacted with Mugsy. Reaching
out to the community not only added elements of playfulness and competition to my calculus classroom,
but it also showed my students that their community is supportive of them in their learning endeavors.
Melissa Fisher

For the past six months or so, assistant principals from all schools and I have met to find ways to create
better “moments” within our school system. We began throwing around ideas about pits and milestones
and transitions that we take for granted, and we turned our eyes toward our new teacher orientation.
When our teachers—some experienced, some still with crispy diplomas—meet us for the first time (not
including their early encounters with our lovely HR director), what will they come away with? What do
they really need at this time? We concluded that they really just needed three things: to sign up for health
insurance, to visit their classrooms, and to get to know the people they’d already contractually obligated
themselves to be around for the next year. This could all be done in a day, right? Absolutely.
When planning the day, we decided that we could get all the business done in the morning, then kick
everyone out to explore their classrooms in the afternoon. It is so tempting to turn these introductory
days into a numbing blur of information and decrees. Bueller? Bueller? How do we help our new people to
understand our priorities? How do we help them to understand that we are glad they chose us? How do we
connect with them and assuage the nerves they probably feel on their first day in a new place? Isn’t it ironic
that in a people business, we sometimes neglect to meet our adult people where they are and consider their
unspoken needs?

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We wanted our new staff members to be proud of their decision and to be validated for the important ways
we expect them to contribute to our system. Before their arrival, the Superintendent and each Principal
made a quick YouTube video clip, tailored to each new employee, which was then emailed to them, wel-
coming them to Pirate Nation. Hopefully, this provided some Elevation and made them feel that they were
uniquely important to us. This set the tone and informed them where and when to meet for the actual day
of Orientation.
In an odd blend of Surprise and Delight and maybe Pride, we conspired with the high school band director
to have the Pirate Regiment waiting at the entrance of our Orientation location, bursting into the high
school’s fight song as each employee exited their car and approached the waiting red carpet. Was this
elevation? Was this pride? Was it shock and awe? Maybe some of all 3? What we do know is that a bunch of
nervous employees started their day with confused laughter and the music of champions.
As they walked in, we had their names on placards at tables, sorted by school. They were able to pick up
a muffin, a sweaty bottle of cold water, and meet some new friends. Then came some good old fashioned
surprise and delight in the form of a special education teacher with some minimal acting experience (think,
VHS days) and a cheesy, yet spicy, sense of humor that occasionally makes us cringe through laughter when
he emcees the high school’s honor night. This kind soul, armed with a page of jokes and a skin thick enough
to withstand repeated barrages of awkward silence, gave a 15 minute stand-up routine as the stragglers
walked in. (Did you know that Adam and Eve’s social security numbers were 1 & 2? I did not.) Yes, that
would be 15 minutes of silly fun, in which there were lots of confused half smiles and looking to one’s
neighbor, followed by mutual giggles. The giggling increased over time as people became more comfortable,
and wasn’t that the goal?
After all that merriment, the superintendent introduced a few of our curricular priorities with the promise
they would learn more as the year progressed. Then each table group was given a clue to get them to their
Escape Room. You read that right—Escape Room. This served to build some bonding among people who
had never met, and we even threw in some helpful reminders about teaching in each kit. The Middle School
team won (because the Primary people didn’t know how to work Twitter and post their win), and we all
lived happily ever after.
But, seriously, teachers got signed up for their sweet state health insurance, were able to ask questions,
and then sent on their merry way. After being released to lunch and their classrooms, teachers found a
hand-written note from their building’s administrator and a basket of goodies on their desk. One last hug,
if you will.
Pike County Schools, its community, and its leaders are nothing if not a little eccentric. It’s who we are, and
it’s what helps to influence a lot of the choices we make. We want people who are not afraid to be a little
different, who pause to enjoy the successes and positive moments that are around us all the time, as well as
to offer support to each other when the pits happen. We hope to transfer that same outlook to our students
as they grow and seek to solve the world’s problems and find their own respective joys. For us, our work on
our Moments Team has been a reminder for many in leadership that this starts with our example. Victories
don’t just happen. Becoming a new employee doesn’t just happen. It takes a loss from an employer, time,
and effort to replace that loss. It takes an employee who is willing to make a change, take a chance, and go
through the daunting process of submitting an application on that terrible web site software. It was im-
portant to celebrate this shared victory, and new teacher orientation was such a beautiful place to recognize
the milestone. Hopefully, we were able to connect with our new people, they were able to connect with each

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other, and they left, proud of their choice, and knowing that we were too. 
Michael Duncan

FAMILY
On the side, I do travel writing (some of which is over at www.ExploreYourWorlds.com) and am just wrap-
ping up a book essentially on how to travel (since most are about where to travel or what to do). There’s an
entire chapter now that outlines your EPIC approach and quotes from the book because I’ve always written
about “magic moments” on a trip and had previously referenced Kahneman on peak and end experiences,
but your book gave me the framework for describing how to create them. So, many thanks for that.
Back to the “potential” peak moments, I’m planning on doing several on this upcoming trip with my wife,
son and his wife (they’ve been married less than a year). The trip itself is an elevated moment, so that part
is easy. One thing we’re doing is this: I’ve planned most of the trip but each person has “homework.” They
are to choose one subject that they’re interested in, but also think others would find interesting. They are
to research it and create an “experience” on the trip related to that. Since we’re headed to the Dolomites
in Italy, for example, my son is planning on us visiting a local group that still practices yodeling. Then we
go to Slovenia where I’m hunting down a rural producer of handmade felt to give us a class. My wife and
daughter-in-law are keeping theirs a secret. But the point is that for each of us, there’s an aspect of insight
in learning something new in a new place, an element of pride in creating the experience for others and,
hopefully, in us learning new skills and obviously, an element of connection and collective joy in doing it
together.
I should add that we also intentionally chose to visit Hisa Franko, a restaurant in rural Slovenia headed
by Ana Ros who, last year was rated as the world’s top female chef. We’re not hard core foodies per se, but
after seeing her on Netflix’s Chef’s Table, we decided to splurge on a dinner there precisely to create a peak
experience in the middle of our trip (a point where enthusiasm often wanes).
We’ll see how it plays out, but I wanted to share what an influence your book has been on me, my clients,
my own upcoming book and now, hopefully, on our family as we travel attempting to creating defining
moments on the trip.
Steve Brock
(Want to know how the vacation turned out? Read the description here.)

We recently moved my in-laws into a retirement community and we all trekked down to AZ in late August
for a visit. My mother-in-law had only 4 plates and a couple of pans. There were 8 of us. Instead of solving
the problem by buying paper plates (which I immediately wanted to do), we instead ate all meals in shifts.
Which worked out because we couldn’t cook enough food at one time to feed all of us at once anyway. It was
a huge hassle for me as a cook. But the kids LOVED it. My daughter still talks about watching Pirates of the
Caribbean while eating a plate of fried cauliflower. She usually doesn’t get to watch PG movies, she usually
doesn’t get to eat in front of the TV, and she doesn’t usually like cauliflower. 

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There was a swimming pool in the complex and she announced she wanted to go swimming with her clothes
on. My first reaction was to say no, but then I thought, “Why not?” So at 6 am the next morning (before it
got too hot), she and her dad went swimming - while wearing her clothes. I don’t know why this was such a
big deal to her but it was. She still talks about it.
I’m the do-your-homework, eat-your-vegetables, brush-your-teeth kind of parent. It’s not that I’m now
relaxing the rules more often (I’m not), but I’m now actively looking for moments where she and I can do
the unexpected. You’ve changed how I parent. And my 10 year old is having a much more memorable life!
Stacey Howe – Lott

Milestone birthdays (30, 40, 50, etc.) are usually memorable because quite often they involve parties. For
my wife Jane’s 50th birthday, I gave her (us) improv lessons which were a blast. But for her 52nd birthday I
had my most creative and challenging idea ever. To commemorate 52, it occurred to me that there are 52
weeks in a year. With that in mind I decided to give Jane a gift a week for an entire year. It turned out to be
great for three reasons:
• It gave Jane something to look forward to every week.
• I learned more about her because I had to pay close attention to her likes, dislikes and needs.
• I spent more time with our daughter Abigail because she helped me pick out many of the gifts.
Brian Ahearn

At Thanksgiving dinner in my family, we go around and say what we’re grateful for. Yes, it’s lovely. But it’s
become rote. Family, food, safety. Of course I want my children to be grateful for those things. But come on,
let’s go a little deeper this year, kiddos!
It’s time to mix it up. It’s time to break the script.
This year, I’m choosing to create a Pass the Gratitude Hat.
I’ll write our names on slips of paper and toss them in a hat. Each person will pick a name out and tell that
person:
1. what they love about them
2. one of their favorite stories about that person
3. why they’re grateful for them in their life
And since every table will have introverts who rightfully need time to process, I’ll pass the hat before we sit
down to give us some time to think about what we want to say. What we want to give to each other.
In the outside world, there’s so much focus on our differences right now with the polarizing climate of
distrust, blame and fear. We’re hurting. No matter our circumstances.
And we are just getting lonelier. Over 40% of Americans are reporting they feel lonely. (Up from just 20% in
1980!)  We are all longing for deeper connection.
So, whether you’re at the head of the table or showing up as a guest, wouldn’t it be fun to be a disrupter and

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focus the conversation on what matters: each other.
This also allows for one conversation at the dinner table. You may have to ask Aunt Betty to stop talking
over your husband but you can do that!
You can leave the dinner table stuffed with food or full of gratitude and love.
Who am I kidding…I probably will be both.Think in moments. Because you have the power to make this
moment count.
Katherine Kennedy

PERSONAL
Although this is not exactly the kind of moment you were asking to hear about, I had to share one from my
childhood that has followed me throughout my life. When I was eleven years old a new family moved into
the neighborhood that had a baby with two older siblings. I was very interested in babies at that time and
began hanging around their house. The mother took me under her wing and taught me all about baby and
child care and allowed me to babysit her kids not long after. I went on to become a much requested baby
sitter with as many as three standing babysitting jobs on the weekends, and was able to use my earnings to
buy my own clothes and record albums.
As an adult my love for children developed in to careers in pediatric nursing and as a children’s photog-
rapher. But this is not about child care. My moment came when one day this mother casually said to me
“You will be successful in anything you do.” I did not think much about it until one of my first jobs as a
young adult working for a department store. I was the person who sat at the door to the dressing room
and handed out the number card for the items that people took into the dressing rooms. I was supposed
to check that they left with the same number of items, but many times people would slip by me, leaving a
pile of price tags that they had removed from the clothes, as they ran out of the store. I was quite naive and
it never occurred to me that this was happening. After a few days of this I was called into the manager’s
office and shown a pile of price tags that had been found in the dressing rooms and I was given my notice of
termination. On my way home, I suddenly remembered what this wise mother had told me, and I laughed
as I said to myself, “Well Mrs. F, you were wrong about this one.” But I really didn’t like this job anyway, so I
shrugged it off, and went to look for another job the next day.
I am now 72 years old and still working at a job I love as a pediatric nurse. As I look back over the years, I
have to say that Mrs. F was right, as I feel that I have done my best at everything I have tried and I have
had the confidence to try many things. I often marvel at how one casual statement from someone you look
up to can shape your world for a lifetime. I only hope that I have passed her legacy on as I have encouraged
other young people to follow their dreams with the knowledge that they are capable of attaining anything
they want to do.
Dee Vixie

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I decided I needed to create a moment for our family friend who had recently graduated from Texas Tech,
the first in his family to go to college. Joshua Hines is an amazing young man who has overcome so much.
Poverty, food insecurity, changing schools and homes constantly. My brother-in-law met Josh when Josh
was in Kindergarten, and has been a mentor to Josh since that time. Soon, Josh began to spend a lot of
time with my family and my children, who call him a sibling after 15 years of togetherness. 
Josh graduated in December 2017, but decided not to walk in the graduation ceremony since none of his
family would be able to make the trip to Lubbock. So, book in
hand, I decided to make a special graduation at home. To make
sure it was a “moment”, we:
• Enlisted the help of a video editor friend of mine to create a
video set to music with pictures of Josh over the years that we
have known him, and photos stolen from his Facebook account of
his high school and college days
• Ordered a cap and gown with Texas Tech colors, that luckily
arrived from China with a few days to spare
• Invited all of the families who helped Josh along the way,
including neighbors who helped us pay for his college tuition and
spending money, his family, and his girlfriend’s family (who have
also played a big role in his success, driving him to and from Texas
Tech and supporting him as though he was their child).
• Created a program, for all to follow along. At the
end of the formal program, anyone who wanted to
could offer words of advice or a toast to Josh. By
the time his mom stood up and thanked everyone
for helping Josh become the wonderful man he is,
there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
• Asked my nephew to emcee the event, and my
brother-in-law to give the commencement address
• Josh thought it was just a small gathering to
celebrate his graduation, and was completely
shocked when I took him upstairs to put on his
cap and gown, and the processional music started
playing.
It was a wonderful moment for all!  
Melanie Trent

What sticks out in my mind is a parents evening, where one of my very difficult disadvantaged Year 10
students attended the evening on his own. He went round every single one of his teachers and received
nothing but negativity about his poor attitude, behaviour and under performance. When I spoke with him,
for our usual joke/connection he was deflated and broken. He didn’t need reminding about how difficult his

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life was - even though his teachers had done exactly that. I asked him what he needed to improve on and
he didn’t have a clue, so I said that we would go around again, with me with him (as the Vice Principal) and
make sure he had some takeaways that he could work on.
The first teacher we went to, attempted to refuse saying in front of him that it was a waste of time (some-
thing I straightened out afterwards!) and that he had spent all of the time checking his phone. I asked if we
could focus on 1 or 2 areas that he could work on to improve and we moved on.
Whilst waiting for the next appointment, I asked why he was still checking his mobile phone and he told me
that his Dad was coming. He went through the evening believing that his dad was going to come, as his Dad
has said he was half an hour away - this came out when challenged by teachers for looking at his phone. This
was a repetitive pattern during his school career … in 4 years I or anyone at the school had yet to meet his
Dad!
I told him that tonight, for one night only, that I would be his Dad! We went around every teacher again,
and left with a list of tangible and bite-sized areas for his improvement. He thanked me for believing in
him.
He did improve his attitude and did make graduation. He undoubtedly showed much more determination
as he finnish his exams in Year 11 than at that point in Year 10!
The power of #noticing!
Nick Heard

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Jonathan’s Journey has a wonderful story. Earlier this year, our department suffered a terrible loss of one
of our own. Our colleague and friend, Linda, was unexpectedly hospitalized and sadly lost her life in Febru-
ary. She was the biggest fan of the UConn women’s basketball team; this gave us an idea on how to honor
her memory.

Jonathan is the name of the team’s mascot. We purchased a ‘Jonathan,’ complete with the UConn lanyard,
and launched a campaign called Jonathan’s Journey. Anyone in our department going on vacation can
reserve Jonathan and take him out to see the wonders of the world. Jonathan has already been to the
Ossippee Valley Fair in Hiram, Maine, went boating on the lakes of Maine, visited Myrtle Beach in South
Carolina, immersed in literary culture by sitting on the fence of Stephen King’s home in Bangor, Maine, and
most recently came back from a Mediterranean Cruise (those pics haven’t come back yet)!!  Thank you for
sharing the story about Joshie the Giraffe. 
Brenda Steeves, Tanja Ramsdell, Judy Pierce, Angela Ferland, Melissa Morin, Vicki Pierson,
Mary Seavey, Elise Morin, Sarah Kupfer, Jessie Fleming, Donna Jauregui, and Cindy

As the director of the college counseling department for our district at KIPP, our work with Latinx students
gets complicated pretty quickly. Strong family units are a strength of our culture and it can easily become
an anchor that keeps our students from taking a chance on college or on leaving San Antonio to take advan-
tage of a great educational opportunity out of state.
One of the things that drives our programming is to help build intrinsic motivation for our students as the

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typical “you’ll make more money” doesn’t resonate as well as “think of the opportunities for your parents if
you got a degree and a great job….”. We are following the Cultural Wealth model as we develop our program-
ming with our largely Latinx juniors and seniors (98%).
So this year, I started day one with seniors with a story that was a moment for me that would resonate
with my students. In 2009 I invited my parents and sister to join me in Chicago. At that time I had amassed
rewards points with Hilton and I secured a suite for us at the Palmer Hotel. When we pulled into the hotel,
my father was awestruck. He told me, “did you know that in the 50’s your grandfather cut vegetables in
the kitchen of this hotel and in the 60’s, I washed dishes in the kitchen of this hotel. I’ve never even seen a
room and now we are staying here?” I told him, “Not only are we staying here, we are on the Executive Level
floor, our elevator has a couch! And if you get hungry you can grab a snack for free from the lounge.”
I know I’ll never be rich, committing to education and social work but this moment made me feel wealthy
because I could see the pride in my father’s eyes. We talked about the numerous jobs he had in Chicago
before he married and we lived there. My father told me, if you want to be free, have your own business;
if you want to be successful, get an education. It was a great moment of what America is to us as an immi-
grant family.
Ruben Rodriguez

When my son was turning 18 years old, I felt this date needed to be celebrated with more than just a
birthday cake and candles.  We did two things.  First, I found a walking bridge in a quiet park, and on his
birthday, we walked over the bridge, pausing in the middle.  We talked about the significance of turning 18
and all the changes being “legal” and “no longer a minor” meant, and that turning 18 was like walking over
a one-way bridge.  Your childhood is on one side, and your future is on the other.
The second thing we did was give him a box with 18 of life’s “gifts” in it.  Below is a list of those gifts, plus a
few more we’ve added along the way.
WHITE OUT TAPE - Think of this as your personal tape of forgiveness.  Don’t forget you can use this on
yourself.
CALCULATOR - What you do now WILL count.
PERMANENT MARKER – A gentle reminder that what you do from this day forward will be considered by
society as Permanent.
CHANGE – You’ll be do a lot of this over your lifetime.  Be the change you want to see in others!
FLASHLIGHT - This is a reminder of the light inside of you … let it shine brightly and remember to shine
your light in to dark places.
DUCK TAPE - This will remind you to hold on to your values.
FIRST AID KIT - Take risks and be prepared for the results.
DECK OF CARDS - It’s not what you’re dealt in life …instead, it’s how you deal with it.  You’ve got a winning
hand, play it well.
RULER - Use it to measure your progress against your goals and try not to compare yourself against others.

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THANK YOU NOTES - Make sure you remain humble and thank people along the way for the assistance
they provide.
DENTAL FLOSS - We have given you a winning smile.  Use it with abandonment, but remember to nurture
and care for it because it doesn’t come with a longevity guarantee.
TOILET PAPER (or a plunger) - Remember “shit happens” and when it does, take responsibility for your role
(if any in it) - get busy and clean it up!
COOLER - Always keep your cool.  When things warm up, open the cooler to get a cold drink and cool down
before taking action.
BIBLE - It stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth
BATTERY - Be careful what you think, there are no neutral thoughts; only positive & negative
EXTENSION CORD - Ralph Waldo Emerson said: The task ahead of us is never as great as the power behind
us.
CLOCK Remember to embrace the day, it’s the only one you get
JOURNAL It’s time to write your own story
STAR (a Christmas Ornament) Continue to be amazed at the glories of the heavens and to trust in the
wisdom of our creator
COMPASS Find your North Star and fix your own compass to it.  Check your bearings when you aren’t
feeling peaceful.
HELP WANTED SIGN -Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
MAP (with home marked on it) Everyone has their own map, because God does not whisper YOUR life’s
direction into anyone else’s ear.  This map will also guide you back home to those who love you the most.
Our son is now 37 years old and has a great life. 

Cheryl Clark Norton

HEALTH CARE
As the new Chief Nurse Executive in an organization, I discovered our falls rate was unexpectedly high. I
visited with the leaders and staff about the goal of reducing our preventable falls rate, adhering to our
policy, and resolving any staff knowledge, skill or equipment needs related to falls prevention. The nominal
changes in our next quarter result made clear that my tactical leadership style and discussions did not in-
fluence improvement at a rate our patients deserved. I knew I needed to craft a powerful vision that would
inspire sweeping change in our shared understanding of the impact of preventable patient falls.
The Power of Moments inspired me to share the story of my grandmother, whose death was hastened by a
preventable fall.

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In a “case presentation” entitled “Meet Alice,” I explained her clinical course, including how at the age of 92,
she push-mowed her own half acre lawn just months before the hospitalization in which she died. I shared
how even though her admitting diagnosis was ultimately terminal, her fall hastened her death in a matter
of days. She suffered a broken hip in the fall, underwent immediate surgery, and was up walking with a
walker less than some 6 hours after surgery. However, the energy required for her body to heal from the
fracture and surgery caused her bone marrow disorder to accelerate, ultimately killing her months earlier
than her prognosis predicted.
I shared how the patient and the family felt cheated by having moments stolen from them, and turned to
the group to share how the steps we take for safety are crucial because THOSE MOMENTS MATTER. I chal-
lenged the team to stand together on the side of safety, to do whatever we must to optimize every moment
for our patients because once lost…we can never give those moments back to families. 
At the end of the presentation, I shared, “…and some of those moments belonged to my Grandmother
Alice and me” while a picture of her in an impossibly large authentic Mexican sombrero, enjoying her
taco themed 90th birthday, showed on the screen. The room was silent, and tears fell among some of our
leaders. I thanked them for crossing over with me to stand on the side of safety and leading from the heart
to reduce falls, because those moments matter. I am proud to say the fall rate decreased exponentially and
progress was sustained.
My grandmother’s sombrero hangs in my current office as a reminder of my “real job” here…to keep pa-
tients safe and keep teams inspired with The Power of Moments.
Robin Shepherd

As the system Vice President of Patient

Experience at Advocate Aurora Health, we
have created a Peak Moment approach as
our service differentiation strategy.  Every
patient has a special story to share, and as
care providers, we need to slow down, listen,
and connect to find out what matters most to
patients, their family, and loved ones. 
Below is a LinkedIn post on a recent news
story that shares a patient’s peak moment
at a critical time in his life, which seamlessly
blends a medical miracle with caring & com-
passion.   He was on a heart pump, waiting for a potential match of a donor heart.
[Note from Dan Heath: See this link for the rest of the story, including a video. Spoiler alert: The nurses
created a “Date Night” for the patient. Notice the Hawaiian shirt & scrub pants in the pic below. ]
Bradley Kruger
Advocate Aurora Health
System Vice President - Patient Experience

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SPORTS/COACHING
In some ways your book makes me regret all of the times I could have created a peak moment but didn’t,
largely because it didn’t come to mind until too late. That said, reading the book has helped me look for
opportunities to create them.
I did have one event that was meaningful many years ago. I love to coach my sons in any sport...except
basketball. I know nothing about the sport and can barely make a layup. This was 3rd grader basketball that
our church runs for the community, no one was volunteering, so I stepped into the role. Our church has a
ministry specifically for kids and adults with cognitive challenges, so I wasn’t surprised when I discovered
that one of my players was autistic. He had a fair amount of enthusiasm, but he really didn’t like to be near
other players and didn’t have enough arm strength to shoot the ball. Our team ended up being the Cleve-
land Browns of the league. 
At the beginning of the last game, I approached the coach of the other team. Anticipating another blow out,
I asked the opposing coach if at the beginning of the second half we could set up a play specifically for this
boy. I would stand under our basket with our player next to me, and our best dribbler would bring the ball
up the court and pass it to me. I then handed the ball to our player and lifted him up, and he dunked the
ball. For the rest of the period he ran up and down the court yelling “I dunked it, I dunked it!”. His dad was
grinning ear to ear. It was not only a special moment for the player, it was a special moment for all on the
court. I frankly don’t remember any other game from any of the years I coached basketball, but I’ll remem-
ber that one.
Mark Berg, CFP

Training for an endurance run is an arduous and - by definition - repetitive task. You run. And then you
run again, further. Sure, you mix up short, mid-week runs with longer weekend runs. You can add hills and
sprints, but essentially you run. Training with a group adds a social element. But frankly, it’s all running.
As part of a mentoring team for a first-time half marathon training course, I had the opportunity to suggest
we elevate the experience at the midpoint through the training program. Great idea, we all agreed. The end
result was the “Half Way 10K”, a six-mile run held during our typical Saturday distance run when we were
scheduled to expand our distance to six miles. Six miles doesn’t sound like a long run to a marathoner, but
when you training for your first, it can be daunting.
Breaking from the regular routine, we started under the start/finish arch (picture: a large inflatable archway
found at most distance races), blaring rock and roll music, and (of course) a starting gun. Coming back to-
wards the finish line six miles later, elapsed time was flashing and crowd had formed cheering us on. People
were taking pictures on their phones. There was excitement around it.
There was even race bling, with a slightly different twist. Rather than shiny medals runners accustomed to
receive when they finish, these medals were (fresh, fragrant, yummy) donuts, with inspirational phrases
stapled to the ribbons that were placed over each person’s head.

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It created lots of buzz, caused runners to hang around, nibbling on donuts and downing sports drink while
reinforcing the sense of community so important to succeeding when taking on a new. It so obviously
elevated the distance run that week, and set a new tone for what was to come.
Paul Katz

CHANGE AGENTS
For decades, the idea of celebrating the situation for cats in animal shelters would have seemed painfully
absurd. At most shelters in the U.S., the vast majority of cats were euthanized, and even as things improved
for dogs, conditions for cats stagnated or even got worse. The Million Cat Challenge aimed to reverse that
with a campaign to save a million cats from euthanasia in comparison to the participating shelters own
baseline before the campaign. We knew it was an ambitious goal when we conceived of the notion, and
when the shelters in the Challenge blew past the goal a year ahead of schedule, we knew a major celebration
was the only fitting response.
We also saw it as an opportunity to reenergize the participants and launch the next phase of our campaign,
#AllTheCats, the right outcome for every single cat that enters a North American animal shelter.
We held the announcement/celebration at our profession’s largest conference and livestreamed on Face-
book to create the broadest sense of inclusion.
We sent invites to every shelter in the challenge customized with the number of cats they’d “contributed”
to the number we were going to announce so that each shelter would know they were a part of the million
without calling out to publically whether they’d done better or worse than anyone else – they only knew
their own number and we only announced the aggregate number.
We blew out the budget on making it feel really special: MCC colored flowers, cupcakes, huge balloons,
champagne glasses (plastic cheapo ones but still), streamers, light up cat ears, confetti blasters – for so
long everything was so grim and serious when it came to cats and shelters, many people in the audience
can remember working 8 hour shifts half of which were spent euthanizing healthy cats and the other half
of which were spent admitting more cats who would die at their hands a few days later – I wanted this to
feel absolutely opposite and it did. I cried when I came around the corner and saw the hall decorated in
readiness for the party. It felt like the recognition our profession deserves and how we should be able to feel
about our work for cats.
We had a huge turnout for the event, really there’s never been anything like this for our profession before.
Way beyond our expectations.
We told a story that aimed to make each shelter and each person feel included in the achievement whether
they saved one cat or 40,000 towards the million.
Here’s the moment of the announcement: https://www.dropbox.com/s/e6hihkgv3n72tm9/mil-
lion-cat-challenge-expo2018_reveal_hb2%20one%20minute%20mcc%20celebration.mp4?dl=0 (turn up
the volume on your speakers for full effect :-))

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We passed out actual champagne to toast the great moment.
After the announcement we told them about the new campaign goal (#AlltheCats) and passed out “prom-
ise” postcards with pins on them designed to look like the markers on the map of million cat challengers.
Each person wrote a promise for how they would participate in MCC 2.0 and took the pin as a reminder
of their promise. They were nice looking metal pins, not cheapo buttons. We will send them the postcards
next year. We seeded the audience with people we’d talked to ahead of time about what they were moved to
promise and invited the audience to shout out their promises as people were writing the postcards. We had
a parallel “promise” campaign for the Facebook participants (we listed specific things they could promise to
do that would contribute to moving the campaign forward).
Every attendee at the party got a T-shirt with the number on it. Again, they were nice T-shirts with a cute
design, not cheapo boxy ones. We want people to really wear these around and see them next year at the
conference to extend the feeling of that moment into people’s lives.
It was tons of fun, for sure one of the peak moments of my life and I’ve heard from many people that they
found it very moving and inspiring. These are the promise postcards after the party:

Kate Hurley

We were fortunate to receive funding for personal development such that we could fund 2 staff to get their
driver’s license - a big deal here, especially for women! It’s a daunting endeavor and most people don’t pass
the first time and then give up. Our two staff members were no exception and both failed the 1st time. To
encourage them and acknowledge their effort, we made a hand drawn poster and put it on the office door
so they could see it as soon as they arrived. It said, “When we fall, we get up, because the ground is no place
for a CHAMPION ....and you are a champion! Don’t give up!” This was met with tears and laughter, such
that they both tried again. One succeeded and another poster was put up on the door to celebrate. This staff
said that she could hardly wait to get to the office because she knew we would be there to celebrate with
her! The other woman is still trying, though she was close to giving up. We have faith that she will try again
and succeed this time. 
We have really taken the peak moments to heart. It makes a huge difference. Something so simple....!
Jill Thompson - Director

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I work in resource development (fundraising) in the nonprofit sector. We have a society of donors who have
left legacy gifts, also known as after-life or planned gifts because they are gifts left through a will, trust,
retirement account, or life insurance policy. Legacy gifts are considered the philanthropic vehicles that are
made by only the most committed donors – both because they are so personal and because they have the
possibility of creating the most impactful change for an organization – so this group of donors is especially
important. Last year, I planned an inagural donor appreciation event for these donors, and as I did so, I
kept referring back the elements that create peak moments so that the night would be memorable. Here’s
how I framed this cocktail and dinner event using the elements in your book:
1.  Elevation: Our events are typically casual and low-key. I boosted the sensory appeal with a more
formal, cocktail feel, bringing on a jazz musician to play live background music, hiring an out-of-the-
box caterer to cater and tend bar with some dramatic décor, having a greeter with ready-made cursive
name tags at the door. Plus – a surprise gift (see “Connection”).
2. Pride: A slideshow at the event listed the name of every donor in the society. You can bet the first thing
they did when they walked in was look to see where their names were listed.
3. Insight: We are a Jewish organization, so I had the Rabbi deliver a D’var Torah (a talk relating to the
weekly portion of the Torah) about the topic of generosity. The Rabbi connected a tenet of faith to the
philanthropy of these donors.
4.  Connection: My favorite part of the night! Weeks before the event, I had the children served by our
organization answer different prompts, e.g. “draw a photo of what [org] means to you” or “what is your
favorite place at [org]? Draw or write it!” or “what does it mean to be a part of this community?” I put
these pages together in different combinations into booklets that we called Legacy Letters – from the
generation that will be most impacted, to the generation who has made arrangements to provide for
that benefit – to serve as gifts to these donors. We snuck some elevation into this part, too. I could
have handed these booklets out as favors as guests left at the end of the night. Instead, we made it
a peak moment. First, I wrapped each book in brown wrapping paper with a bow. Then, I had a staff
member who works directly with these students made a speech teeing up these gifts, talking about the
impact our organization has on this young generation. Then, we walked around and handed out the
booklets one by one to the seated guests, and we asked them to all open them at the same time. Talk
about anticipation followed by connection! As the guests unwrapped the books and flipped through
them, they were delighted to learn that each booklet was unique, taking time to share and contrast
their booklet with their neighbor’s. It was a moment they did not forget.
 Aviv Sheetrit

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