A company president had people waiting in the reception area clamoring for his attention. A mid-level manager interviewing for a position in the firm was waiting too. The president was due to conduct a phone call with the press that could not be postponed. The job candidate offered to come back another day, but the president asked him to wait until the press conference was over. Then he invited the candidate into his office and gave him 30 minutes of his time, as if there was nothing in the world more important than that young man. The manager took the position with the company and never forgot the attention paid to him by a very busy man.

A young man from Columbia escaped poverty by making a treacherous journey across the sea in a small boat. He entered Princeton University under false pretenses, using a fake Social Security card to get federal aid. He studied hard, making all A's his first semester. But when asked to verify his eligibility for aid the following semester, he decided to come clean. Without condoning his illegal actions, a university official helped the young man make things right. He graduated Magna Cum Laude, went to Harvard Medical School and is now a respected cardiac surgeon.

A financial services company was frustrated because employees were resisting a change that would help the company's competitive position. Leaders in the company shifted their approach, showing employees how the changes would benefit society (affordable housing), customers (lower prices), teams (less duplication of effort) and employees (better jobs). The leaders' willingness to consider the project from the employees' perspective yielded an improvement in employee motivation (from 35.4% to 57.1% in one month) and a 10% increase in efficiency in one year.