Here’s how a Harvard Professor helped McDonald’s increase milkshake sales by 400%. And how you can do the same: — About 10 years ago, McDonald’s marketing team received an objective from their management. Increase milkshake sales. How hard could it be? Especially for a sophisticated marketing team with an unlimited budget. So they created a focus group that fit the milkshake buyer persona, based on data of millions of customers.

Poker players use this method to increase their winnings over the long term. Here’s how you can use it in business and life: — Bad decision, good luck Mike was excited when he heard about a new cryptocurrency from his close friend. Everybody was talking about its growth potential on Reddit. He thought he was finally early enough to get huge returns in a short time. And he was so convinced; that he invested all his savings in…

We focus on success stories and ignore silent evidence. And it distorts our reality. Here’s how to avoid getting fooled by survivorship bias: — Is it possible to build a $200 million media business with only two people? And with no initial investment? Well, Joe Rogan proved it is. He started his podcast with a webcam from his bedroom in 2009. 11 years, hundreds of episodes, and millions of views later, Spotify offered him…

There are four degrees of uncertainty. And knowing them can give you an edge in business and life. Here’s how to use the Uncertainty Matrix: — In early 2002, the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq. To put the plan into action, they started working on shaping public opinion. The main argument was Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction.” But the press was not convinced. In one of the news briefings, journalists questioned Secretary of Defense Donald…

Luck surface area is a mental model that explains it’s possible to attract luck in life. Here’s how: If there was a magic potion that makes people lucky, it would be expensive. But people would still buy it. After all, everybody wants to get lucky. Now, since we don’t have…

In 2001, Jeff Bezos received advice that shaped Amazon’s fate. Here’s his story and how you can build a great business with the flywheel effect: — In 2001, Amazon was in trouble. The dot-com bubble had popped. And all tech stocks were crashing to the bottom. Every week, the news covered a tech company going out of business. Amazon’s stock also dropped 90%. So reporters expected Amazon to join other failed companies.

The Concorde fallacy is a mental bias where people continue spending resources (money, time, or effort) on failing projects because of a prior commitment. Let’s see the story of how a mental error was named after Concorde. And how to avoid it. Concorde was an impressive aircraft. It had an…

The framing effect is when people make different decisions based on how the outcome is framed. It’s an effective tool in public relations and marketing with many examples in our daily lives. In this article, you’ll find an advertising story from Mad Men to explain The Framing Effect. …

Personal SWOT Analysis is a framework to analyze your situation to make better long-term decisions. Here’s how to use it: — Think about it. You’re a one-person company. You have: A mission and goals to achieve it Income and liabilities Skills (or products) that you market to other companies or your customers Different projects you work on And if your life resembles a company, it’d make sense to manage your life…