You Think You're Rational. A Decade of Experiments Says You're Not. | "Predictably Irrational" — Stagnation Assassin Book Review

Send us Fan MailYour customers are irrational. Your employees are irrational. Your board is irrational. And you — the operator who thinks you're making cold, calculated decisions based on data and logic — you're the most irrational of all.In this episode, Todd Hagopian breaks down "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely — the behavioral economics bestseller that exposes the hidden cognitive biases driving every decision in your company. From pricing anchors built on fiction to the psychological canyon between one cent and free, Ariely spent a decade proving that humans don't make random mistakes — we make the same mistakes, predictably, systematically, and expensively.Todd highlights the four insights every operator needs (anchoring, the power of FREE, social vs. market norms, and the expectation effect), then delivers the Murder Board: brilliant diagnosis, academic framing, consumer-focused experiments, and a missing treatment plan for operators.STAGNATION VERDICT: 4 Kills out of 5Key topics covered:Anchoring and arbitrary coherence: why your pricing may be built on fictionThe power of FREE: why the gap between 1¢ and zero is a psychological canyonSocial norms vs. market norms: the fastest way to kill employee loyaltyThe placebo effect in business: why brand perception changes product performanceWhy controlled lab experiments don't always map to messy boardroom realityThe gap between diagnosis and treatment in behavioral economicsGrab Todd's book "The Unfair Advantage: Weaponizing the Hypomanic Toolbox" at toddhagopian.comSubscribe to the Stagnation Assassin Show and visit stagnationassassins.com