Companies aren’t families. They’re battlefields in a civil war. Yet despite this capacity for internecine warfare, most companies roll along relatively peacefully, year after year, because they have routines—habits—that create truces that allow everyone to set aside their rivalries long enough to get a day’s work done.

For a habit to stay changed, people must believe change is possible.

America is the Saudi Arabia of coal.

Belief is easier when it occurs within a community.

The best agencies understood the importance of routines. The worst agencies were headed by people who never thought about it, and then wondered why no one followed their orders.

Rather, to change a habit, you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine.

The brain has this amazing ability to find happiness even when the memories of it are gone.