The world is a bell curve. Classroom test scores, employee performance in a company or how many people really, really like you. No matter the population you're studying, they always fit neatly across the standard deviations of the famous bell curve.

What I thought I developed all of those years ago was a pattern to understand communication.

Starbucks was founded around the experience and the environment of their stores. Starbucks was about a space with comfortable chairs, lots of power outlets, tables and desks at which we could work and the option to spend as much time in their stores as we wanted without any pressure to buy. The coffee was incidental.

The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.

Panic causes tunnel vision. Calm acceptance of danger allows us to more easily assess the situation and see the options.

Great leaders don’t try to be perfect. They try to be themselves. And that’s what makes them great.

Usually what happens is somebody grabs me and they always pull me off to the side. Nobody ever does it publically. They say, "I didn't want to be here." Or, "I don't usually like people like you." Or, "I didn't believe the things you actually talked about would work. I'm here to tell you that you converted me." That happens a lot.