A group of data scientists at Google embark on a four-year study of how the best teams function, and find that how a group interacts is much more important than who is in the group.
A Marine Corps general, faced with low morale among recruits, reimagines boot camp - and discovers that instilling a 'bias toward action' can turn even the most directionless teenagers into self-motivating achievers.
The filmmakers behind Disney's Frozen are on the brink of catastrophe - until they shake up their team in just the right way, spurring a creative breakthrough that leads to one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.
What do these people have in common?
They know that productivity relies on making certain choices. The way we frame our daily decisions; the big ambitions we embrace and the easy goals we ignore; the cultures we establish as leaders to drive innovation: these are the things that separate the merely busy from the genuinely productive.
At the core of Smarter Faster Better are eight key concepts - from motivation and goal-setting to focus and decision-making - that explain why some people and companies get so much done. Drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience, psychology and behavioural economics - as well as the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star generals, airplane pilots and Broadway songwriters - this painstakingly researched book explains that the most productive people, companies and organizations don't merely act differently.
They view the world, and their choices, in profoundly different ways.