I like to take CEOs into consumers' homes to see the "real world." CEOs have privileged lives with big incomes, lots of help, access to just about anything they wish. The average consumer lives on $53,000 a year and has daily tradeoffs and compromises that must be made. I took a CEO into a trailer park so he could observe first-hand - and understand - how consumers use his product.

Take an expansive view of the consumers needs and expand beyond your current boundaries.

Too many companies are happy to have workers to dread working. They have the wrong attitude because they have the wrong leadership.

People underestimate the power of the Internet. For some consumers, it is the source of all information. Younger adults are on their phones more than they watch television. They don't read newspapers. It is their real world. It is not a set of virtual lenses.

A curious mind does not jump to conclusions but tests carefully and thoroughly. A curious mind will draw on all of life's experience to get to the big "uh huh." The curious cut the data by quintile, by segment, and by user.

I admire many entrepreneurs. They bring energy, excitement, youthful enthusiasm. What they lack in process, they make up for in gumption.

Our most exciting discoveries come from studying anomalies. The once-in-1000 occurrence is worth getting detail on.