The One Thing

1. Series of 'one things' lead to extraordinary results ( domino effect )

2. Most successful people/business have a clear 'One Thing' that defines them
3. At any point of time there may be multiple To-Dos but they will all be unequal in terms of the
impact they may create. It is critical to figure what leads to the most impact and focus on that
first instead of just ticking off a checklist.

1. Trying to do multiple things at once leads to distraction and reduces efficiency, leads to
mistakes and stress - I need to increase focus on one key thing that I am working on and
remove distractions in my everyday life
2. Good habits lead to extraordinary results - I need to work on developing good habits, one
habit at a time
3. Do what matters the most the first thing each day, when will power is at its highest ( I had
read another book which said that ego depletion is a fake concept but I feel that will power does
deplete over a day)

1. Pursuing 'The One Thing' will lead to life going out of balance and into extremes because of
the amount of focussed attention it requires. Personal life to be counterbalanced by spending
just enough time to ensure all aspects are taken care of . Work life to be heavily prioritised in
favour of 'The One Thing' and anything else to be

2. Adopt a 'growth-mindset' - Think big, avoid incremental thinking and don't fear failure ( I think
this is an extremely critical point for me and how my career evolves from here . I see a huge
scope of improvement here. )

1. Today I learnt about The Focusing Question - " What is the One Thing! I can do such that by
doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary ". I will incorporate this question in my
thinking from now on. I realised that while I do try to prioritise things and do one thing at a time
my prioritisation was not always correct.
I usually weighed down hard things when prioritising for both short and long term .
This is one big change I will start bringing in me from today. I will prioritise on the basis of the
delta that can be created by my actions and not on how easily a goal can be met.

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2. The Focusing Question should be Big and Specific - Again I have been guilty of being vague
in my goals only because it is easier to not be Big and Specific. Very clear action point here also
about how to frame the Focusing Question.

3. Figure out the benchmark that is already set by people who have worked on the same
question before and then try to figure out the next thing to do to solve the problem.

1. Happiness comes when what we do is aligned with our purpose. Work aligned with purpose
leads to more engagement, gives life meaning and allows us to persevere through tough times

2. Purpose can be realised by having clear priority. Goal setting should be done in a nested way
that can link The One Thing ( top priority) to what I should be doing now .

Here is what my current goal setting looks like-

Successful CEO -> Business and Product Leader -> 98% monthly retention ( 6-12 month goal) -
> Trial Lifecycle implementation ( 1 month goal) -> Close flow for above ( week's goal)-> AC
mapping tool scale up with ACs having the option to add time ( goal for Tuesday) -> Read The
One Thing ( immediate goal for the weekend)

1. I needed to block time everyday in the morning for my One Thing and protect that time block
to ensure I work on the One Thing without any distraction - I have blocked 9-11 everyday for
this. while recommended is 4 hours , I want to start with two hour blocks, ensure I am doing this
well and then scale up.
2. Time block for planning - I have blocked one hour every Friday to plan the next week/month
and do a retrospective of what I achieved in the week vs my targets .
3. Block time for leaves - ( blockinh leaves for two weekends + 1 working day in March )
4. I need to start approaching the One Thing with the goal of mastery with purpose - doing it the
best it can be done ( this will involve getting out of the comfort zone, doing things which may not
come naturally to me )
5. I will be sending out a weekly progress report to you on Saturday mornings with details of
where I stand wrt my goals for the week .

1. Read about blockers to get The One Thing done - fear of saying no, fear of chaos, managing
health and managing environment; I think 2 and 3 are something I need to actively work on this
quarter - I have to let go of my worry for smaller things and I will improve my diet to lose some
weight

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Deep Work

- Distraction free , high intensity, focussed work helps in faster learning of Hard things and helps
produce output at a high level
- in contrast, shallow work is interrupted by distractions which leads to suboptimal focus and
hence low productivity

I have started blocking time in my calendar to ensure that I focus on the key tasks and projects .
I am already seeing slight improvement in my productivity over the day as important tasks get
picked up early in the day .

Here is the key action step for me -

1. Create Time blocks for everything that I need to accomplish in a day . - this should minimise
time spent on shallow work , increase productivity by prioritising more deep work and also
provide downtime for rejuvenation for the next day. I did this to some extent last week but by
being more thoughtful I think I can manage my day even better .

CCO

Read the first chapter of CCO today.

1.Great Customer experience creates a growth engine - in order to deliver a great experience,
we should have a one company view of the customer journey and all actions should be taken
considering the customer in mind and at an overall level instead of in silos.

- Business plans should be made keeping customers at the top - and then picking up stages in
the journey where work needs to be done to maximise business impact .

3. Role of the CCO is to align the org to work together on delivering great experience to
customers

1. The entire org should be aligned on the key customer experience goals and actions should
be taken accordingly.
2. Key customer experiences changes to be made after understanding the customer journey
and their pain points fully -
3. We need to rigorously understand the reason behind customers churning out - this can help
us prioritise the changes we want to make in the customer journey

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Finished reading chapter 3: ' Honor and Manage Customer as Assets' and chapter 4: 'Align
around Experience'

1. Track absolute no of customers gained and lost - both volume and value
2. Track a few simple customer behaviour metrics which indicate strength of their engagement
3. Adopt a set of common metrics across the org ( standardised definitions)
4. Start removing rules which don't add value to customers or don't make sense from a
customer point of view
5. Tell the "why" behind customer exits to all employees
6. Create a customer journey defining the various stages by customer's needs
7. We need to know how we are going to improve our customers'lives across the various stages
of their journey - i.e. the experience we provide to the customers at every stage should help
solve the customer's needs at that particular stage
8. Use the customer journey framework to diagnose the 'why' behind customer growth/churn,
drive accountability across the org, prioritise investments and hence experience of the
customers

Finished Reading Chapter 5: 'Build a Customer Listening Path' and Chapter 6: 'Proactive
Experience Reliability and Innovation '

Below are the key takeaways .

1. Collect feedback from multiple sources

2. Build one company categorisation of issues
3. Present information collected based on the stage of the journey
4. Experience the journey of the customer to understand the pain points and challenges
5. Create a story of customer's lives as they traverse through the product journey
6 . Develop a Early Warning System of operational metrics which track customer experience at
critical touchpoints
7. Create Customer Experience Development teams to evaluate and understand what
customers need and improve/redesign experiences
8. The role of the CCO is to drive org to know about interruptions in customer's lives and
facilitate a one company response to improvement and innovation

Finished Reading Chapter 5: 'Build a Customer Listening Path' and Chapter 6: 'Proactive
Experience Reliability and Innovation '

Below are the key takeaways .

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1. Collect feedback from multiple sources
2. Build one company categorisation of issues
3. Present information collected based on the stage of the journey
4. Experience the journey of the customer to understand the pain points and challenges
5. Create a story of customer's lives as they traverse through the product journey
6 . Develop a Early Warning System of operational metrics which track customer experience at
critical touchpoints
7. Create Customer Experience Development teams to evaluate and understand what
customers need and improve/redesign experiences
8. The role of the CCO is to drive org to know about interruptions in customer's lives and
facilitate a one company response to improvement and innovation

I have finished reading the book . Some of the content in the last two chapters were a repeat of
what was already discussed earlier .

Here are the learnings from the last two chapters

1. Show proof of work - metrics , customer journey impact from the start to convince the org that
a CCO can add value and get everyone to believe in 'Customer driven growth'
2. Show metrics and insights which relate customer experiences to customer base
growth/shrinking
3. CCO needs to unite the leadership and get them to agree on One-Company approach to
customer driven growth and then start building on key customer journey touchpoints to improve
experience .

Clear Thinking

1. Clear thinking in ordinary moments positions one better to handle the future
2. Default behaviours biologically ingrained within us lead to sub-optimal decision making which
are not in our best interest
3. We need to identify the moments when we need to apply our judgement and pause to think .
4. Reacting without reasoning makes all situations worse
5. Categories of default behaviour
i) Emotional default - when we are driven by our feelings instead of conscious reasoning-
ii) Ego default - driven by our tendency to appear successful and feel right . When others don't
appreciate us as much as we think we deserve to be we revert to ego default decisioning
iii) social default - driven by our tendency to confirm
iv) Inertia default - resisting change even in the face of changing circumstances

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6. It is difficult to change habits through will power alone. Changing environments where people
you spend time with have the same behaviours and traits one desires is a much more effective
way to change default

Started chapter 2 - "Building Strength" and read about Self Accountability and Self-knowledge

Here are the learnings

1.if we can train ourselves to consistently think, feel and act in ways that further our most
important goals then we don't resort to default behaviour and actions
2. We need to hold ourselves accountable for our abilities /inabilities and actions - avoid
excuses , blaming external environment and start taking every action after thinking if it will make
things better or worse for you.
3. Realise that you don't control everything but control your response to everything
4. We need to know our strengths and weaknesses and operate accordingly.
5. We need to know when we are vulnerable to our default behaviour to minimise being
exploited by them

Finished reading chapter 2 today.

Here are the learnings
1. Self control - we need to manage our emotions, not follow them blindly and think clearly
before responding to any situation
2. Self control leads to disciplined consistency which gives us persistence to go after our goals
in the long run
3. Self confidence - we need to trust our abilities and think independently which empowers
resilience and adaptability in face of changing circumstances
4. We must accept reality in all circumstances, see a problem from multiple points of view and
focus on what is right instead of who is right . We need to have the strength to accept our
mistakes and then do the right thing .
5. To become stronger I need to raise the standards to which I hold myself - this can be done by
being surrounded by people who have set themselves high standards
6. To raise my standards I need to choose my exemplars and imitate them in my decision
making - for this I need to first have a list of exemplars and how they have reacted in the past to
different situations. I can start with some of my current and ex-managers as exemplars as each
of them have some good habit/skill that I can pick up

Finished reading the 3rd chapter - 'Managing Weakness' today

Here are the key learnings

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1. Weaknesses are either biologically inbuilt like stress and distraction or acquired e.g. actions
on emotional impulse
2. Inbuilt weaknesses can be managed by creating safeguards , while acquired weaknesses
can be managed by safeguards and by building strength
3. Blind spots - limitations which prevent us from knowing our weaknesses - this may happen
either because our flaws are too ingrained in our behaviour ,we resist information which goes
against our own self image and due to limited perspective of a situation
4. we need to view the situation from other's frame of reference as well to get the full
perspective, this will help us make better decisions
5. Safeguard strategies for better decision making
5.1 Avoid making decisions in unfavorable conditions e.g. when hungry, tired , stressed or angry
5.2 create rules and follow them instead of having to make decisions everyday which needs
much more self control and effort
5.3 create friction which makes it difficult to do things you want to avoid
5.4 create checklists which can be used before responding to any situation
5.5 Shift perspective to see things from other's frame of reference and then take decisions
6. 4 steps to handle a mistake are I) accept responsibility, ii) Learn from the mistake ,iii) commit
to doing better ,iv) repair the damage

Here are the key learnings

1. Decision making is a four stage process - define the problem, explore possible solutions,
evaluate the options, judge and execute the best option
2. While making any decision we need to ensure that our defaults are in check
3. First principle of decision making is that the decider defines the problem
4. Problem definition should have what we want to achieve and the obstacles; use all the
relevant information available when defining the problem
5. Need to identify the root cause of the problem and not just work on the symptoms
6. Build a problem-solution firewall to separate the problem defining phase from the problem
solving phase - This ensures that we think through the problem statement before jumping into
solutions
7. I need to write down the problem statement in simple words before starting the problem
solving process
8. Test whether the problem solving approach is solving the root cause or only the symptom .
Ask whether this approach will permanently solve the problem or will the problem return in the
future
9. Perform a premortem to prepare for the possible setbacks and problems that may arise in the
future
10. Indulge in Second-Level thinking by asking "And then what?" . This will ensure that the long
term and second order consequences are built in the solution right from the beginning
11. Second level thinking helps uncover information we need to make a better decision

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12. 3+Principle - I need to ensure that I consider at least 3 solutions. Thinking of more than two
solutions helps understand the problem better
13. If stuck in binary thinking - removing one of the options and considering one option helps to
see the problem through a new lens and shows alternative paths
14. Combining the two binary options in the final solution helps in ending up with a solution
which is superior to both standalone binary options
15. Consider the opportunity cost when choosing one option over others
16. View opportunity costs through three lenses : 1) compared with what? 2) And then what ? 3)
at the expense of what ?

1. After we have defined the problem statement and created a list of possible solutions we need
to evaluate the options we have
2. We need to decide the criteria for evaluating the options and design framework for applying
those criteria
3. Criteria should be simple and clear , must favor the options which lead to the goal and be
decisive i.e favour one option over the another
4. We must be clear about the most important criteria . We should critically evaluate and rank
order all criteria in order of importance - this takes us out of reactive mode and leads towards
deliberative thinking whenever we are making decisions .
5. In order to apply the criteria , we need to have information about the options - information we
have should be relevant and accurate
6. Targeting Principle - we must know what we are looking for even before we start looking .
7. Most information is irrelevant. We need to be able to separate signals from noise
8. Hi Fi Principle - get information that is close to the source . People close to the problem know
more about it and can provide unfiltered information which is closest to the truth, however they
may lack the bigger picture and have a limited perspective . It is our job to understand the blind
spots and perspectives of our sources of information and use multiple sources to come to a
conclusion
9. Ask detailed questions to find how people think . This leads to gain in perspective and
knowledge
10. 3 kinds of questions we must ask
10.1 what variables could be used to make this particular decision and relationship between
these variables
10.2 what is it that you know about this problem that others don't
10.3 what process would you follow for decision making
11. Hi Ex principle - get expert advice
12. We must ask experts how they think and learn how they evaluate things
13. Choose experts carefully

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Finished chapter 4 today . Here are the learnings .

1. Decisions can be classified based on how consequential they are and their revisability.
2. If the cost of undoing any decision is low we should take it as soon as possible
3. If the cost of undoing any decision is high we should take it as late as possible - when stakes
are high and decisions can't be reversed we need to keep many options open and continue
gathering relevant information which will help us make a decision.
4. To avoid analysis paralysis we need to stop gathering information once one of the below
conditions is met
4.1 we are unable to get additional useful information
4.2 we start to lose opportunities because of the delay in decision making
4.3 or when we have enough information to decide which option to pick
5. It is better to have a margin of safety in highly consequential decisions - we need to plan for
the worst case scenarios and ensure we are cushioned against outcomes in such scenarios
6. For highly consequential decisions, it is better if we perform small, low risk experiments which
allow us to keep our options open while helping us gain information which can be used to make
the final
decision
7. After making a decision we must not announce it in a hurry - rather we should sleep over it
and evaluate it again from a new perspective. We should even write down the logic of our
decision and then evaluate it again the next day to ensure we did not miss anything when
making the decision .
7. Create fail safes which will prevent catastrophes if something starts going wrong
8. Making prior commitments around specific scenarios ensure that when things start going
wrong we don't revert to default thinking but use the fail safe plan created for the particular
scenario
9. We should clearly communicate the context, strategy and rationales to our teams along with
the boundaries of actions that should be taken . Then the team would be empowered to take
their actions . This ensures that the business does not have a single point of failure
10. When we evaluate a decision we must focus on the process and not the outcome
11. We need to evaluate the reasoning used at the time of decision making to evaluate our
decisions ,- keeping a record of our thought process at the time of making decisions will help us
evaluate our decisions better .
12. We must make our decision making process transparent and open for scrutiny
13. Writing down our thoughts also helps us in clear thinking , allows us to share our thoughts
with others and get new perspectives and also creates a record of the decision making process
used in the org

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Finished reading the book today . The last section was 'Wanting What Matters' .

1. A good decision comes down to I) knowing how to get what we want and ii) knowing what's
worth wanting
2. Our defaults lead us to pursue goals that may not lead us to what we truly want and lead us
to regret later in life
3. Hedonic Treadmill - phenomenon describing people wanting more all the time and never
being satisfied. These are people whose happiness is always contingent on some event
4. Happiness is a choice where one chooses daily optimism and hope over pessimism and
despair
5. Thinking about the end of life helps in gaining insights about what really matters . We can see
the gaps between where we want to be and where we are.
6. We regret things we fail to try more than the things we tried but failed
7. Good judgment is about being effective at achieving what matters in life . To develop good
judgement we need to ask two questions - what do I want in life ? And is what I want actually
worth wanting ?

10
The Last Lecture

- Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want
something
- Time must be explicitly managed; just like money - ask yourself, are you spending your
time on the right things
- You can always change your plan, but only if you have one
- Delegate
- Dream big
- Earnest is better than hip
- Complaining does not work as a strategy - Dont complain, just work harder
- Treat the disease, not the symptom
- Dont obsess over what others think about you
- Whether you think you can or can’t, you are right
- Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted
- All you have to do is ask

Can’t Hurt Me
Writer: David Noggins

What are the things that are good for me but make me uncomfortable:
- Eating Sugar
- Minimizing Drinking
- Exercising
- Thinking through a problem before starting work on it

Challenge 1:
- Create a journal of factors that are stalling your growth; insecurities that haunt you
- Write all your insecurities, dreams and goals in post-it mirror; be truthful about your
current situation and the necessary steps needed to get you to your goal.Hold yourself
accountable for small steps that will take you to your goal

Challenge 2:
- Hold yourself accountable for small steps that you take towards your goal . Figure out
what are the steps needed to achieve your goals and track every small step you take
towards achieving these tiny goals

11
Challenge 3
- First step on the journey towards a calloused mind is stepping outside your comfort zone
on a regular basis; create a list of things you dont like to do or that make you
uncomfortable but are good for you. Find areas of your life where you can improve upon
and work on them bit by bit

Challenge 4
- Strive after excellence. You should aim to surpass standards set.Work hard and spend
time analysing so that you can work smart. Use others negativity to fuel yourself to work
hard and succeed

Challenge 5
- Visualise overcoming obstacles and achieving your goals. Paint a picture of what
success looks like. Visualise the challenges you will face and determine how you will
attack them.Be as prepared as you possibly can. Be prepared with answers to simple
questions - “Why are you doing this ?” “What is driving you ?” “ Where is the darkness
you are using as a fuel coming from ?” “What has calloused your mind ?” . Work hard -
be ready to suffer

Challenge 6:
- Create a journal with your failures and achievements - this should serve you as an
inspiration - log

Challenge 7
- Set ambitious goals and continuously improve in your tasks
- Compete against your self

Challenge 8
- Compartmentalize your day - Schedule every half hour of your day
- Track your day find periods of wasted time and eliminate them

Challenge 9
- Stay in constant pursuit of your goal and put unending effort
- Always try to find more and get better

Challenge 10
- Create After Action Reports
- Log your failures - including what you did well, how you prepared for the task , your
mental state
- Create a list of things you can fix
- Try Again

12
The Effective Executive

Introduction:
1. Learn to manage your own self effectively
2. Executives are not “natural”. They have learned to be effective and have practiced
effectiveness till it became a habit
3. Effective executives follow the below practices: (self scores out of 10 as on 6th Feb
2024)
a. They ask - “What needs to be done” - 7
b. They ask - “What is right for the enterprise” - 8
c. They develop action plans - 7
d. They take responsibility for actions - 8
e. They take responsibility for communication - 6
f. They are focussed on opportunities rather than problems - 5
g. They run productive meetings - 6
h. They say “we” rather than “I” - 8
4. Effective executives focus on 1-2 tasks at a time which are high priority and delegate the
rest of the work to others
5. Executives then write an Action Plan
a. First define the Desired Result
b. Define the constraints
c. Create Action Plan which is a statement of intent which gets revised often as new
opportunities arise
d. Create a system to check the progress against the expectations
e. Action Plan should determine how the executive spends his time
6. Executives then Act on the Plan
a. Responsibility for Actions
i. A decision has not been made until people know
1. The accountable person
2. Deadline
3. Names of people who need to know, understand and approve the
decision
ii. All decisions must be reviewed periodically - checking the results of a
decision against expectations shows executives what their strengths are ,
where they need to improve and where they lack the knowledge or
information
b. Responsibility for communication
i. Executives need to make sure that their action plans and their information
needs are understood
c. Focus on Opportunities
i. Exploiting opportunities produces results - while problems have to be
taken care of, problem solving only prevents damage
ii. Executives need to scan for changes inside and outside the organization.
Possible opportunities can be found in below situations

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 1. An unexpected success or failure in the industry
2. Gap between what exists and what could exist in a market,
process, product or service
3. Innovation in process, product or service
4. Changes in industry structure
5. Demographics
6. Changes in mind-set, values, perception, mood or meaning
7. New knowledge or new technology
iii. Executives need to make sure that problems do not overwhelm
opportunities and put their best people on the best opportunities
d. Make Meetings productive
i. Decide what kind of meeting it is and accordingly get attendees to
prepare for the meeting
ii. Great follow-ups are just as important as the meeting itself
e. Think and Say “We”
i. Effective executives think of the needs and the opportunities of the
organisation before they think of their own needs and opportunities

Chapter 1: Effectiveness Can be Learned

1. Job of the Executive is to “get the right things done”

2. Intelligence, imagination and knowledge are essential resources, but only effectiveness
converts them into results
3. Historically for manual work we only needed efficiency , that is the ability to do things
right rather than the ability to do the right things - Only a small proportion of employees
used to be knowledge workers and the goal of the organisation used to be efficiency in
the performance of the manual worker
4. Knowledge worker - Working on the right thing makes a knowledge worker effective. He
can not be supervised closely but only be helped and he must direct himself towards
performance and contribution
5. Knowledge workers produce knowledge, ideas and information which can then be used
as an input to a process to convert the idea into reality
6. Knowledge work is not defined by quantity or costs but by its results
7. Those knowledge workers who are expected by virtue of their position or their
knowledge to make decisions in the normal course of their work that have significant
impact on the performance and results of the whole are “Executives”
8. Any knowledge worker who makes decisions and takes responsibility for his contribution
is an “Executive” - he may be a manager or an individual contributor
9. There are 4 major realities in the life of an executive over which he has no control
a. The executive’s time tends to belong to everyone else
b. Executives have to keep on “operating” unless they take positive action to
change the reality in which they live and work - this usually happens when the

14
 executive lets the flow of events determine what he works on - Executives must
use certain criteria which will help them understand the truly important and work
only on that
c. An executive is effective only if other people within the organization make use of
what he contributes
d. Executive sees and understands the organisation from within very clearly but the
outside world is distorted. However, customers who pay for the products and
services are the ones who decide the results for the organisation. Unless the
Executive makes special effort to gain direct access to outside reality, he will
become increasingly inside focussed
e. The relevant outside events are rarely available in quantifiable format until it is
too late to act on them
f. The truly important events are outside are not the trends but the changes in
trends
g. These changes may be qualitative in nature needing perception to understand
h. It is not always possible to find people of great knowledge for all executive
positions. Sudden quantum jump in human abilities is not possible, increasing
effectiveness maybe the only way to significantly raise executive performance.
i. We can extend the range of human beings through the tool they have to work
with increasing effectiveness
j. There is no “effective personality” - All effective executives have one thing in
common which is the ability to get things done
k. Effectiveness is a habit that is a complex of practices and practices can always
be learned
l. There are 5 habits that need to be acquired to be an effective executive
i. Effective executives know where their time goes
ii. Effective executives focus on outward contribution i.e. results over efforts
iii. They build on strengths - they start with things they can do
iv. They focus on few major areas where superior performance will produce
outstanding results
v. They make effective decisions - They know that effective decision is
always a judgement based on “dissenting opinions” rather than “consenus
on facts”. They know that they need to make few, fundamental decisions
and not quick decisions

15
Chapter 2: Know Thy Time
1. Effective executives do not start with their tasks they start with their time - they know that
time is the limiting factor; it is an irreplaceable, perishable resource always in short
supply
2. They find out where their time actually goes, cut back unproductive demands on their
time and then consolidate discretionary time into largest possible continuous units
3. Man is ill-equipped to manage time - If we rely on memory , we usually do not know how
time has been spent
4. Any executive has to spend a lot of time doing activities which do not contribute at all
5. On the other hand important tasks take a fairly large quantum of time for effectiveness
and hence executives must be able to have time in fairly large chunks
6. All decisions related to people working in the organisation must take a lot of time as fast
personnel decisions are rarely right. People are alway “almost fits” for their role and
hence it needs a lot of time, thought and judgement to get the work done by the people
7. Other than that, executives must spend a fair amount of time with the people in their time
to understand their views and give him all the information he needs to get his work done.
8. Time-Diagnosis : First step towards executive effectiveness is to record actual time-use -
The time use record must be made in the “real” time
9. Once time use is recorded , one must find the nonproductive, time wasting activities and
get rid of them is possible
10. An executive can eliminate things that i) need not be done at all as they do not
contribute to results, ii) can be done by someone else just as well, iii) where he himself
wastes time of others without contributing to their effectiveness
11. Executives should also be concerned with time loss that results from poor management
and deficient organization
12. Typically below scenarios lead to management time wastage
a. Recurring crisis
b. Overstaffing leading to people issues
c. Excessive meetings due to a malorganisation - excessive meetings signify that
responsibility is diffused and information is not addressed to the people who
need it
d. Malfunction in information
13. Consolidating Discretionary time - Executive who records and analyses his time and
then attempts to manage it can determine how much he has for his important tasks
14. Executives will need to spend their time in running the org, hence whatever discretionary
time they save must be organised in large chunks so that important things can get done
15. Time that is shown by record and analysis as available must be consolidated to ensure
best possible use
16. Effective executives control their time management perpetually. They keep a log and
analyse it periodically. They set themselves deadlines for the important activities based
on their judgement and the discretionary time available

Chapter 3: What Can I contribute ?

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1. The effective executive focuses on contribution; focus on contribution is the key to
effectiveness
2. He asks: “What can I contribute that will significantly affect the performance and the
results of the institution I serve?”
3. Executives who focus only one efforts render themselves ineffective
4. Focus on contribution turns the executive’s attention away from his own department and
towards the performance of the whole organization. He is then likely to think through
what relationships his skills, his specialty and his function have to the entire organization
and its purpose. He therefore will also come to think in terms of the customer
5. Asking “ What can I contribute” can help unlock unused potential in the job and find new
ways to impact the organization. Those who do not ask “What can I contribute?” are not
only likely to aim too low and at the wrong things
6. Every org needs performance in three major areas: Results, building of values and
developing people for tomorrow
7. An executive’s focus on contribution by itself is a powerful force in developing people .
People adjust to the level of the demands made on them
8. The most common cause of executive failure is inability or unwillingness to change with
the demands of the new position
9. The man of knowledge has always been expected to take responsibility for being
understood. Only then will he be called effective if he concerns himself with the
“usability” of his knowledge
10. Effective executives ask their colleagues : “ What contribution from me do you require to
make your contribution to the organisation ? when do you need this, how do you need it
and in what form ?”
11. All executives must be “specialists” with expertise in at least one area and they must
know how to relate their own area of expertise to the universe of knowledge in the
organisation
12. Executives who have good Human Relations focus on contribution in their own work and
in their relationship with others; they dont have a “talent for people”
13. The focus on contribution supplies the four basic requirements of effective human
relations: communications, teamwork, self-development and development of others
14. Effective Executives ask their men: “ What are the contributions for which this
organisation and I, your superior should hold you accountable ? What should we expect
of you ? What is the best utilisation of your ability ?”
15. Focus on contribution leads to communication as the executives have to think: “Who has
to use my output for it to become effective”. This leads to sideways communication and
results in teamwork
16. The executive who thinks about their own contribution are forced to think about what
self-development they need to make the required contribution
17. They also simulate others to develop themselves. He sets standards which are not
personal but grounded in the requirement of the task. People in general grow according
to the demands they make on themselves

17
 18. Effective Meeting - Effective executives know what they expect out of a meeting and
ensure that the purpose is thought through and spelled out before a meeting is called
19. Cardinal rule for a meeting is to ensure that it focuses on contribution
20. Focusing on contribution ensures that the executive looks outside to the markets,
customers and understands the results being produced by the organisation

Chapter 4: Making Strength Productive

1. Making strength productive is the unique purpose of the organisation and the effective
executive makes strength productive. Organisation’s task is to use the strength of each
man as a building block for joint performance and in process it can make a man’s
weaknesses irrelevant
Staffing for Strength
2. The effective executive fills positions and promotes on the basis of what a man can do.
Staffing decisions are made to maximise strength and not to minimise weakness
3. Staffing to avoid weakness results in mediocrity and only weak men try to avoid
weakness . Such men see strength as a threat to themselves.
4. Effective Executives ask “What does he contribute”, “What can he do uncommonly
well?”. They look for excellence in one major area and not for performance that gets by
all around
5. A man who does not ask “what can a man do” is bound to accept far less than their
associates can really contribute. The really demanding boss always starts out with what
a man should be able to do well and then demands that he really do it
6. However it is not easy to alway staff people by their strengths; usually an executive’s
immediate task is to fill a job and not to place a man. Hence the executive starts looking
for a man for the job and gets misled by looking for the “least misfit” which leads to
mediocrity
7. Jobs have to be objective; that is determined by task rather than by personality.
Structuring the job to fit the personalities available does not help except in a small
organisation where the change in definition, structure or position of a job does not lead
to multiple other changes
8. Making jobs impersonal encourages diversity. People only tolerate diversity if they are
task focussed and not personality focussed.
9. Achievement must be measured against objective criteria of contribution and
performance. This is possible only if jobs are defined and structured impersonally
10. Structuring jobs to fit personality is almost certain to lead to favoritism and conformity
11. Usually men who build first-class executive teams are not close to their immediate
colleagues and sub-ordinates and only have a professional relationship with them
12. Effective executives usually follow four rules to ensure they staff for strength:
a. They are forever on guard against the “impossible” job and they make sure that
the job is well designed. He knows that the test of organisation is not genius but
to make common people achieve uncommon performance- any job that has
defeated two or three men in succession, even though each had performed well
in his previous assignments, must be assumed unfit for human beings.

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 b. Make each job demanding and big. It should have a challenge to bring out
whatever strength a man may have.
c. They know that they have to start with what a man can do rather than what a job
requires. This means that they have to think about people long before they have
to make a decision about them. All one should measure in such cases is
performance. The below 4 questions can be used for an appraisal
i. What has he done well?
ii. What, therefore, is he likely to do to well ?
iii. What does he have to learn or to acquired to be able to get the full benefit
from his strength?
iv. If I had a son or daughter , would I be willing to have him or her work
under this person ? If yes, then why? If no, then why ?
d. They know that in order to get strength they have to put up with weaknesses
13. The executive needs to ask: “ Does this man have strength in one major area ? And is
this strength relevant to the task ?
14. It is the duty of the executive to ruthlessly remove anyone who consistently fails to
perform with high distinction
15. Every decision is gamble - but by basing it on what a man can do, it becomes a rational
gamble

How do I Manage My Boss?

16. The effective executive makes the strengths of his own boss productive
17. They ask: “ What can my boss do really well? What has he done really well ? What does
he need to know to use his strength ? What does he need to get from me to perform?”
18. They know that their boss has their own ways of being effective and they look for these
ways - they may be manners, habits, ways of working

Making Yourself Effective

19. Effective Executives lead from strength in their own work
20. The assertion that “somebody else will not let me do anything” should always be
suspected as a cover-up for inertia
21. If you start out with the question: “What can I do?” you will most certainly realise that you
can do much more than you have time and resources for
22. Effective Executives know how they achieve their results - eg.reading vs listening;
morning vs late nights etc. Temperament is also a big factor in accomplishment and
effective executives know how they work the best.
23. They try to be themselves; never pretend and ask themselves: “What are the things that
I seem to be able to do with relative ease, while they come rather hard to other people?”
24. Making strength productive should be an attitude - always ask “ what can this man do “
instead of “what can this man not do”
25. Effective executives know that only strength produces results. The task is to multiply
performance of the whole by putting to use whatever strength there is in individuals

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Chapter 5: First Things First

1. If there is one secret of effectiveness, it is concentration. determination to say “No” to

tasks that is not their major opportunity
2. Concentration is also dictated by the fact that most of us find it hard enough to do well
Effective Executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time
3. Executives need to concentrate the strengths available with them on major opportunities
4. The executive will always face a time deficit - it requires self-discipline and an iron even
one thing at a time
5. Concentration is needed because the executive has multiple things to do and doing one
thing at a time ensures that things get done fast. The more one can concentrate time,
effort and resources the greater the number and diversity of tasks one can actually
perform. This is the secret of people who do do many things in their career
6. Effective executives allow a fair margin of time beyond what is actually needed to
accomplish their top priority task - Usually, others underestimate the time for every task,
expecting that everything will go right, they almost always work harder but dont get as
much done
7. Effective Executives set an easy pace but keep going steadily, they do not hurry
8. They know that they have to get many things done effectively therefore they concentrate
their energy on doing one thing at a time, and on doing first things first
9. The first rule for the concentration of the executive efforts is to eliminate the past that
has ceased to be productive. This includes yesterday’s successes as well as activities
which was expected to do well but for some reason has not done well
10. Effective Executive always asks - “Is this still worth doing?” and gets rid of the activity if
the answer is ‘No”. They always stop an old activity before starting a new one to ensure
that organisation remains lean
11. It is risky to hire new people for today’s top opportunities where the risk may be high- it is
better to move people who have proven their capacity to perform to the new priority
projects
12. There are always more productive tasks for tomorrow than there is time to do them and
more opportunities than there are capable people to take care of them. A decision
therefore has to be made as to which tasks deserve priority and which are of less
importance
13. If the priority gets decided by inward thinking, influenced by activities taken up in the
past then the important tasks will get sacrificed as they always keep getting postponed
14. The reason why so few executives concentrate is the difficulty of setting posteriorities -
that is, deciding what tasks not to tackle and of sticking to the decision
15. That one actually abandons what one postpones makes executives, shy from
postponing altogether; setting a posteriority is also unpleasant as every posteriority is
somebody else’s top priority
16. Courage rather than analysis dictates the truly important rules for identifying priorities:
a. Pick the future and not the past
b. Focus on opportunity and not problems
c. Choose your own direction and not jump on the bandwagon

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 d. Aim high, something that will make a difference and not something that is safe
17. The effective executive does not truly commit himself beyond the one task he
concentrates on right now. Then he reviews the situation and picks the next one task
that now comes first

Chapter 6: The Elements of Decision Making

- Making Decisions is an Executive specific task; they are expected to make decisions
which will have significant impact on the organisation, its performance and results
- Effective Executives make decisions as a systematic process with clearly defined
elements and in a distinct sequence of steps
- Effective executives do not make a great many decisions. They concentrate on the
important ones. They try to think through what is strategic and generic, rather than “solve
problems”. They try to make a few important decisions on the highest level of conceptual
understanding. They are not concerned about the speed of decision making but want to
take decisions which have are sound and have high impact
- They know when the decision has to be made on the basis of principles and when it
should be made pragmatically
- They know that the most time consuming step is not making the decision but putting it
into effect

The Elements of the Decision Process

1. Realisation that a problem is generic and be solve through decision which establishes a
rule, a principle
a. The first question that an effective decision maker asks is: “Is this a generic
situation or an exception ?” The generic always has to to be answered through a
rule, while the exception can only be handled as such and as it comes
b. There are 4 types of problems
i. Truly generic where the individual occurrence is only a symptoms -
should be solved through rules
ii. Problem which may be unique for the executive or the institution but is
actually generic - should be solved through rules but will need experience
of others
iii. The truly exceptional -
iv. Early manifestation of a new generic problem
c. Once the right principle has been developed, all manifestations of the same
generic problem can be handled pragmatically -
d. Key mistakes in decision making at this stage
i. It is a common mistake to treat a generic problem as it were a series of
unique events and solving it without understanding the principles
ii. Treating a new event as another example of the old problem
iii. Erroneous definition of the fundamental problem

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 iv. Incomplete definition of the problem
e. The effective decision-maker, always assumes initially that the problem is
generic - he assumes that the event that has occurred is only a symptom and
looks for root cause
f. If the event is truly unique, then it can be heralded as a new underlying problem
which may end up manifesting into a generic situation
g. Efffective decision maker ensures that even the temporary solutions follow the
right principles
h. One the principles are set, most of the problems can be handled by applying the
rules
i. The decision maker always tests for signs that something atypical is happening -
he always writes what his solution should result in and then tests regularly to see
if this really happens
2. Defining the specifications/boundary conditions which the problem has to satisfy
a. Specify what the decision has to accomplish, what the are the objectives the
decision has to reach - a decision has to specify certain boundary conditions to
be effective
b. Define the boundary conditions concisely and clearly for effective decision
making
c. Clear thinking about boundary conditions helps in deciding when to change the
decision - As boundary conditions change, the decision should accordingly adapt
d. The most dangerous decision is the one which is grossly improbable - such
decisions usually need to satisfy incompatible specifications and hence can be
identified early
e. Thinking through the boundary conditions is the most difficult step in decision-
making process
3. Thinking through what is “right” i.e the solution which will fully satisfy the boundary
conditions before attention is given to the compromises, adaptations and concessions
needed to make the decision acceptable
a. If decision maker do not start with what “right” is they may end up making the
wrong compromise which do not satisfy the boundary conditions
b. Do not start with the question: “What is acceptable” instead start with “What is
right”
4. Building into the decision the action to carry it out
a. Converting the decision into effective action is the most time consuming step
b. Converting a decision into action requires answering the below questions
i. Who has to know of the decision ?
ii. What action has to be taken?
iii. Who has to take it ?
iv. What does the action have to be so that the people who have to do it can
do it ?
c. The action must be appropriate to the capacities of the people who have to carry
it out - One must ask “What kind of people do we have to make this decision
effective?”

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 d. One has to make sure that the measurement of performance and incentives
reflect the changes in the actions required from people
e. Think about - “what action commitments a specific design requires, what work
assignments will follow from it and what people are available to carry it out”
5. Getting “feedback” which tests the validity and effectiveness of the decision against the
actual course of events
a. Even the best decisions go wrong or eventually become obsolete
b. Effective decision makers closely track the impact of their decisions - they check
whether the assumptions on which the decision was made is still valid or whether
they need to be thought through again
c. Failure to get feedback is the reason for persisting with a course of action even
after it has become obsolete
d. Decision makers must ensure that they have direct exposure to reality so that
they can watch the impact of their decisions unfold

Chapter 7 : Effective Decisions

1. A decision is a choice between alternatives; usually neither of these alternatives would

be “right” or “wrong”
2. Decision making starts with opinions which are untested hypotheses. Decision makers
ensure that hypotheses are tested and proved/disproved before making a decision
3. Clash and conflict between divergent opinions helps in better decision making
4. A great deal of work needs to go into deciding/finding the appropriate measurement for
the matter being discussed
5. Effective decision makers assumed that traditional measurement reflects yesterday’s
decision and need for a new one indicates that the measurement is not longer relevant
6. Finding the appropriate measurement is not a mathematical exercise but a risk-taking
judgement where we closely look at the information and risks associated with different
types of measurements and choose on the basis of our goals
7. We must always have alternatives when making a decision; alternatives lead to open-
minded decision making
8. One must never make a decision unless there is a disagreement; effective decisions
makers organise disagreements
9. There are three main reasons for insistence on disagreement
a. Disagreements provide alternatives to the decision
b. Disagreement stimulates the imagination
c. Ensures everyone is heard and we do not favour one person’s opinions over the
others
10. Effective Executive remains concerned with “understanding” during the entire hypothesis
testing and evaluation of alternatives exercise. He uses conflict of opinion to think
through all alternatives and ensure that he has looked at all major aspects of the matter
carefully

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 11. Effective decision makers also ask: “Is a decision really necessary ?” One alternative is
always to do nothing
12. We must act if the condition is likely to degenerate if nothing is done or if an available
opportunity is likely to vanish unless we act.
13. Guidelines for acting on decision
a. Act if on balance the benefits greatly outweigh cost and risk
b. Act or do not act; but do not “hedge” or compromise - hedging always violates
the boundary conditions
14. The effective decisions may not always be a pleasant or a popular one - decision making
in such situations becomes as much about courage as about judgement
15. The effective executive never rushes into a decision unless he is sure he understands it
16. Decision making cannot be confined to a small group at the top; the ability to make
effective decisions determines the effectiveness of every knowledge worker
17. Even when we use computers for decision making the knowledge worker should have a
clear understanding of the boundary conditions which requires judgement
18.

The Power Of Geography

Australia:
- Prisoners sent here, gold rush, Europeans mostly; killed natives
- US building bases
- Major part uninhabitable except for a coastal belt starting Brisbane towards Adelaide and
then near Perth
- Wary of China and its activities in the India Ocean

Iran:
- Natural borders
- 60% Persians
- Named Iran from Persia to include the non Persians
- Oil money used to get drained out
- Once that was stopped, relations went sour with US and UK
- Predominantly Shia - in conflict with Sunnis in Iraq earlier , now have setup Shia majority
govt in Iraq
- Influences politics in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen by supporting Shias
- Religious priests are supreme
- No economic growth
- Multiple sanctions due to nuclear program
- Control the straits of Hormuz, hence influences geopolitics a lot
- For once, may have sided with US when ISIS terror was growing

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Saudi Arabia
- Sauds were leaders of a tribe in Central and North of current Saudi Arabia
- They got in a alliances with Wahabis who dominated the religious areas while Sauds led
in politics
- There are minorities near the Gulf and along Yemen border
- Heavily dependent on oil for its economy
- Saudis gave contract to a US company (SOCAL) to drill oil, gradually bought into it and
is now called SAUDI ARAMCO
- Predominantly Sunni population with Shia minority
- Iran and Turkey are its enemy
- USA has been protecting Saudi in return for supply of oil
- They are even ok to partner with Israel without a permanent solution for the Palestine
problem
- Crown Prince MBS is trying to modernise the economy and lifestyle and create alternate
revenue opportunities like renewable energy and services

United Kingdom
- Water around UK protects it from invasion and has help shape the culture of the country
- 1707 Scotland and England joined and became a single entity; there is a natural
boundary between these two countries
- No part in UK is more than 120km from the sea, widest at 500km
- Regions within UK have distinct culture because they developed in isolation, influenced
by arrival of Romans, Anglo Saxons, Vikings and Normans
- East-West is the main geographical divide- East is lower and West is higher with more
rain
- 43 AD Romans invaded England and established a city at head of estuary of Thames;
London- 300 years they left. They dominated the area on the East (roughly around the
East West divide
- England was then invaded by Angles, Saxons and Jutes from Germany and Denmark
- Scotti tribe of Ireland expanded in Western Scotland around this time
- Normans entered in 1066 - broke England’s link with Scandinavia and oriented it
towards Western Europe
- Among the m King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215 - to reduce power of monarchs
Around 1500-1600 , kings reberlled against church and propelled England firmly into
Protestantism
Seas were used to expand and occupy other regions and oak forests were fit for making
ships
- Power weakened in WW2 and had to handover bases to US in return for ships
- Scotland’s independence could be a huge moment in the history UK
- So far UK has been close to both EU and US,. while independently trading with
countries like China , Japan etc as well

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 -

;Greece
- Mountains to the north are natural barrier
- Group of many islands; seas are really important for growth and defence
- Persians invaded Greece in480 bc - inspired movie 300
- Athens, Sparta and Macedonian regions used to be at war - Athens had once
conquerred upto Anatolia region in Turkey ( this is still a bone of contention)
- Rome nquered Greece and since then all powers who want to control the Aegean want
Greece to be weak
- Byzantium (now Istanbul) was Greek till captured by Ottomans in 1453
- 2 Balkan wars starting 1912 against Bulgaria and Turkey expanded Greece territory
( Serbia was an ally
- Civil war after WW2 between communists and capitalists - communists fled after
Yugoslavia fell
- Democracy introduced in 1974
- Greece is the gateway for illegal migrants into Europe
- Tensions continue between Greece and turkey for both land and water control (both are
Nato powers)
- Cyprius - independence from England in 1960 led to war between Greek majority and
Turkish minority community
- Northern Cypruse controlled by Turkey today
- Turkey started drilling in Greece territory and have an alliance with Libya
- Greece will need to be the first line of defence for the West if Russia breaks out of Black
Sea
- Will become a crucial transit route of gas in the Mediterranean

Turkey
- Turks came from Mongolia and Kazakhstan
- Established Ottoman empire - had captured Balkas, Crimea, North Africa
- Large parts were confiscated after they ended up on the wrong side in the World wars
- Strategic location - Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits
- NATO’s southernmost border
- Wanted to be invited into EU - but not great Human Rights record neither “European”
- 50% population leaving in greater Istanbul area close to sea of Marmalles
- Rest of the people in Anatolia
- 18% are Kurds - some tried to create a separate nation
- Erdogan initially started with Kurds on his side - but after attacks from Kurds has sent
troops in Kurd areas including those in Syria also and occupied strategic locations
- Does not want to recognised the Armenian genocide
- Erdogan aligned with fundamentalists Islamists including Muslim brotherhood
- Bought weapons from Russia, US unhappy

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 - Concept of “Mavi Watan” - islands in and around turkey to be Turkish, control over parts
of Black Sea, Crimea
- Current govt are “Neo-Ottomans” - trying to expand starting from the East

Sahel
- Area between Sahara and Rainforests/Savannah
- Multiple ethnic conflicts; govts usually favour their own ethinicity over others. Difficult to
properly govern outside the popular cities
- Influenced by Arabic Islamists
- Illegal mineral mining by multiple different groups
- French govt has multiple vested interests in this area (Uranium majorly)- they also have
their troops here
- Europe is also wary about immigrants from this part
- Countries - Mauritiania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Sudan

Ethiopia
- Fortunate because of fresh water supply originating from the Highlands; unfortunate
because no sea bordering the country
- Multiple ethnic groups leading to conflicts
- Never ruled by European powers
- Trying to be aligned with all regional and Int’l powers
- Hydroelectricity is a great development opportunity
- Egypt is worried that Nile water supply can be stopped
- However, Egypt is not a position for an armed conflict
- Eriteria used to be a part of Ethiopia but split after conflicts and UN had to intervene to
form a buffer zone

Influence:

Preface:
1. Majority of the tactics used by people for persuasion fall under seven basic categories
- Reciprocation
- Liking
- Social proof
- Authority
- Scarcity
- Commitment and consistency
- Unity
2. One of the main motives of a persuader is to build a positive relationship - Reciprocation,
Liking and Unity are appropriate for such tasks

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 3. Other motive could be goal of reducing uncertainty - Principles of social proof and
authority are useful here
4. If the goal is to motivate action - then consistency and scarcity could be used as guiding
principles to motivate someone to make the desired action

Chapter 1:
1. Fixed-action patterns are identified regular, mechanical patterns in a wide variety of
species triggered by certain specific feature of the overall environment
2. When we ask someone to for a favor, we will be more successful if we provide a
reason.Providing any reason triggers an automatic compliance response in humans (in
certain situations)
3. Similarly, customers value expensive goods highly when they are not aware of the item’s
quality because of the stereotype that price = quality
4. All organisms have certain automatic responses to a trigger feature - this helps them
preserve time, energy and mental capacity. However, this makes us vulnerable to
mistakes as we are mindlessly reacting to only one part of the information available to
us.
5. The chances of error increase even further when other individuals seek to profit from our
behaviours by manipulating trigger features and stimulating us a behaviour desired by
them e.g.
6. Persuasion can be understood in terms of automatic, shortcut responses when one
person is made to comply with another person because of certain triggers used. Humans
have developed their own trigger feature for compliance and these features can be used
as levers by people to get others to agree to their requests. E.g. fake online reviews
create the impression that the product is good making us buy the product
7. Perceptual contrast - The tendency to see two things that are different from one another
as being more different than they actually are - is a lever of influence used by some
compliance practitioners e.g. real estate agents may show prospective buyers
unattractive options first and then show a more attractive house, which starts to seem
even more attractive because of the first few options shown.

Chapter 2: Reciprocation
1. Humans try to repay what another person has provided us
2. While obligations extend into the future their span is not unlimited , especially for small
favours
3. Power of Reciprocation can be used to get others to comply
4. Rule of Reciprocation is so strong it usually overpowers other factors like like/dislike
towards a person when making a decision to comply
5. Do not minimise the favor by saying “no-big deal” instead say “ you would do the same
for me”
6. Sending gifts increases survey completion rate

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7. After accepting a gift customers are willing to purchase products and agree to requests
they have otherwise declined
8. Reciprocity rule is heavily used in politics
9. Cuban missile crisis was resolved using principle of reciprocity and not through
unwillingness to compromise
10. Customising the gift to recipient’s preferences or current needs can supercharge the
gift’s impact
11. Hotel example - guests who faced issues which got resolved gave better ratings than
those who never faced any issues - unique customisability of the reaction to a mistake
that allows it to be experienced as a personalised gift or service. In short, problem-free
may not feel as good as problem-freed
12. The rule enforces uninvited debts through uninvited favours -
13. Reciprocity may extend to groups that the person who has done the favour maybe a part
of
14. The rule can trigger unequal exchanges - this rule allows one person to choose the
nature of the indebting first favour and the nature of the debt-cancelling return favour.
We could easily be manipulated into an unfair exchange by those who might wish to
exploit the rule
15. Reciprocal concessions: An obligation to make a concession to someone who has made
a concession for us
16. Rejection the Retreat - One way to increase the chances for compliance is to make a
larger request that will likely be turned down and then make a smaller request which was
the motive all along
17. The size of the second request does not matter as long as it is smaller than the first
request.
18. However, if the first set of demands are seen as extreme, any subsequent retreat may
not be viewed as a genuine concession
19. The truly gifted negotiator has their initial position just exaggerated
20. The larger-then-smaller request uses both reciprocity principle and the contrast principle
21. Watergate scandal is an example of people succumbing to someone using rejection-
then-retreat
22. The person asking for favour has a win-win - either they get more than what they need
or the rejection-then-retreat force wins and they get what they had initially planned to get
23. Research indicates that victims of rejection-then-retreat are more likely to carry out the
requests after agreeing to do it
24. There are a pair of positive by-products of the act of concession – feelings of greater
responsibility and satisfaction with the arrangement
25. Requester’s concession in the rejection-then-retreat techniques caused targets to feel
more responsible for having “dictated” the final agreement. Person who feels responsible
for the terms of the contract will be more likely to live up to that contract
26. Also, it appears that an agreement that has been forged through the concessions of
one’s opponents is quite satisfying. Satisfied people are more likely to accept similar
arrangements in the future

29
27. When people try to profit from us using the above techniques we must defuse the energy
from these techniques. I.e. we reject the rule for reciprocation the moment we realise the
favor is done or concession made in order to gain profit from you.
28. We must accept offer from individuals - as some individuals may be genuine as well.
However, we must only accept offers for what they fundamentally are and not for what
they represented to be
29. If we realise that the offer is a compliance tactic we can get free of the reciprocation rule
- rule says that favour must be met with favours; tricks or sales pitches need not be met
with a favour
30.

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