Chip Conley

Isn't it ironic that pay, perks, and benefits all cost your company at the bottom line, but authentic recognition, especially when it's most unexpected, costs very little and gives the most impressive return on investment?

When I started my hotel company, Joie de Vivre, at the age of 26, I saw this venture as my ticket to freedom.

The more externally chaotic the world becomes, the more we need sound internal logic, especially when it comes to our emotions.

Social scientists have found that the fastest way to feel happiness is to practice gratitude.

People don't realize how much control they do have. The more you can show them this control, the easier it is to tap back into the creative side of the brain that allows people to see possibilities and options.

Companies and leaders are role models - not just with the business community - but in the broader world.

When any of us thinks of ourselves as a role model - whether that's as a parent being observed by their kids or a leader under the microscope of their followers - it creates a natural stepping up of how we carry ourselves and what we expect from ourselves.

In general, I'm not much into etiquette and am a rule-breaker and rebel by nature.

The intersection of psychology and business is typically seen as being as congested, stressful, and emotionally barren as a peak commute traffic day on the L.A. freeways. But, thankfully, we live in an era in which neuroscientists are teaching us about the malleability of our brain and the emotionally contagious nature of our workplaces.

We're all human. It's the most important, neglected fact in business.

I'd done my time in corporate America, from McDonald's making shakes to Morgan Stanley making deals and, yet, I felt awfully constrained by the uniform - not just my clothes, but how I felt I needed to conform - that a traditional job required me to wear.

When people get into that fight-or-flight place, then they move away from the creative centers of their brain.