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 -- author Charles Duhigg 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.

Motivation: Reimagining boot camp, nursing home rebellions, and the locus of control -- Teams: Psychological safety at Google and Saturday Night Live -- Focus: Cognitive tunneling, Air France Flight 447, and the power of mental models -- Goal setting: Smart goals, stretch goals, and the Yom Kippur War -- Managing others: Solving a kidnapping with lean and agile thinking and a culture of trust -- Decision making: Forecasting the future (and winning at poker) with Bayesian psychology -- Innovation: How idea brokers and creative desperation saved Disney's Frozen -- Absorbing data: Turning information into knowledge in Cincinnati's public schools. -- Appendix: A reader's guide to using these ideas.