Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees as if They're Real People

THE EIGHTH RULE

See Their Future

FEW PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES ARE AS FAMOUS AS THE STANFORD marshmallow experiment.

In a series of observations begun in the late 1960s and early 1970s, psychologist and Stanford professor Walter Mischel offered children a single marshmallow on the spot or two marshmallows if they waited 15 minutes without eating the one in front of them. The study has been replicated many times. Funny videos of preschoolers being tortured by the presence of a marshmallow are all over the Internet.

Some kids eat the treat before the researcher has even finished explaining the rules. Some wait patiently for the time to pass. Many who don’t eat it immediately stare at the marshmallow or consciously try to avoid looking at it. They ...