Benjamin Franklin, who said, “If you would persuade, appeal to interest and not to reason.” Munger writes, “This maxim is a wise guide to a great and simple precaution in life: Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.” Incentives are pivotal in every area of life, whether it’s motivating employees or cajoling the most recalcitrant of adversaries: your children. Munger notes that the Soviet Union suffered from its Communist leaders’ “foolish and willful ignorance of the superpower of rewards,” which led them to disincentivize much
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