Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness.

There is a simple way to package information that, under the right circumstances, can make it irresistible. All you have to do is find it.

Basketball is an intricate, high-speed game filled with split-second, spontaneous decisions. But that spontaneity is possible only when everyone first engages in hours of highly repetitive and structured practice--perfecting their shooting, dribbling, and passing and running plays over and over again--and agrees to play a carefully defined role on the court. This is the critical lesson of improve, too, and it is also a key to understanding a puzzle of Millennium Challenge: spontaneity isn't random.

Policy is driven by more than politics, however. It is equally driven by ideas.

I interviewed one of the most powerful lawyers in the world and he told me, "At the time, it was the worst thing in the world not to be able to get a job at a fancy law firm, but it's the greatest thing that ever happened in my life." It was a humble acknowledgment of how forces much larger than himself shaped his career. I really wanted to bring that point home.

What is learned out of hard work and trial is inevitably more powerful than what is learned easily.

The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter.