harder i work, the more i have of it. it turns out luck is not just for the lucky. my first guest says you should structure your life in such a way when lightning strikes, you're ready to bottle it. thor muller, the author of "get lucky." let's define, thor, our terminology first. you say luck is something that can be broken apart and studied, perhaps even directed. that's not luck, is it? >> most people think about blind luck, right, when you put your money on double zero and might come up, but it has nothing to do with that outcome. what we're interested in is the luck you can influence. that's serendipty. so the guy who came up with the

term a couple hundred years ago meant something interacting wit creativity. chance is the stuff we don't know, can't control, and in a highly connected world, most of the opportunities are outside of what we currently know at any given time. creativity is what we do with it, so chance plus creativity. it's like an equation. you can influence both parts of that. >> this comes into business more than we expect. the back story of any business seems to be this logical plan that all made sense, but, in fact, when you're playing the story forward, the luck in serendipity come to play pretty bit. >> what's an example in a real company, google is one you've given before, but is it really luck? >> i'll give you an example of a whole industry that's been structured around this idea of planned serendipity, the

pharmaceutical industry. the pharmaceutical industry does a lot of planning, but blockbuster drugs have been the result of looking for one thing and finding another. one of my favorite examples is this chemist at a pharmaceutical firm several decades ago who was looking for an ulcer medication and ended up spending his day mixing chemicals and one day one of the beakers overflowed. later that day he licked his finger to turn a document -- don't ask me why he wasn't wearing gloves -- but it was the sweetest he's ever tasted. one lick. in a normal organization, this would have been irrelevant, right? and yet he found this unusual and important, so he goes to his bosses and tells them about this discovery, and they also find

this interesting. they end up creating a whole new division that's focussed on food products, right, because this is a breakthrough in artificial sweeteners. so this is a huge change, a divergence in what they do, the sweetener, nutrisweet. >> because of the structure -- first of all, you have to have a lab. in other words, they created their luck is what you're trying to say. >> it's not enough to stumble on something interesting, right, to taste the sweetness, he had to recognize that it was important and be able to take action on it, both individually, but also as an organization. we find american pharmaceutical forms have been better at this kind of discovery and taking action on it than those of the pharmaceutical firms of other nations. >> what are the ways that companies can kind of build that

into their organization? >> lick whatever they are working on. >> lick everything. >> so what we did is went out and talked to many entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs are very good at this, by the way, they have to be open to the unexpected. but as we get more and more certain about what we're doing, we start to make commitments to our business plan, so it's harder to take advantage of these unexpected opportunities, so we discovered eight skills of planned serendipity, so if you practice these skills and implement them in your business, you can do the kinds of things that google does. google, for instance, has their famous 20% -- >> extra time, yeah. >> give their engineers 20% of their time to work on side projects. they know some will be the next gmail, which started off as a side project, but also the effort engineers are doing will

give them the eyes to see new things, make connections. turns out other great firms, like 3m, helped pioneer the concept. 3m developed the post-it note largely on that premise as well. >> one of them that you mention is also pixar, that a surprising amount of luck comes into what they are doing, because they force the interaction of people, which i always thought was interesting, when you take an engineer and artist and force them into the same lunch line, all of a sudden problems get solved that you didn't even know were problems. >> right, turns out it's not enough to have diversity of people, different outlooks. if they are sitting in cubicles never talking to each other, diversity doesn't help you. it's important because people get stuck in different places associati, so if they come together, they can help each other. steve jobs recognizes so many great breakthroughs was when an

animator would run into an engineer, so when he built their campus, he tried to get all the bathrooms in the center, the architect talked him out of the bathrooms, but everything else they put in the center. >> it's funny, though, you mention steve jobs, because what we know of apple, they work completely differently from that model. they arer ha very siloed and everything is top down, right, people aren't from the bottom coming from ideas, it was one guy, two guys. >> i believe the new apple facility has some of the same design elements included, so -- but, you know, pixar and apple are very different cultures, so we have this idea of evaluating this chance and ideas from anywhere is part of a culture. >> i just wonder if there may be some -- i don't know, what your

idea of how creativity works in a company like apple where maybe they are sort of thinking about and trying to make their own luck without some of these collisions that occur. >> collisions can happen a lot of different ways. you talk to any great scientist and they will tell you they had a, you know, slow hunch when it came to their great breakthroughs, some book they read, some conversation, somebody they've met, that ended up in their head, in their brain, fermenting, right, colliding with other ideas, and some point down the road, they had their breakthrough, so apple, absolutely, allows its large workforce to have creative collisions, but in different kinds of ways. >> about a minute left, the person going to work monday morning, i'm sure they'll buy you book, what's the thing they should do monday morning, i saw this program sunday morning and they said do this to increase

the luck that i'm going to have on monday morning. >> start a side project. find a way. if you need to get buy off from your boss or wife or husband, do it. find the thing which you are interested in or passionate about and it's different from your primary work, because that will allow you to rise above the mundane experience of life and make those connections. >> i can think of a half dozen examples of that in corporate life. thor muller, along with his co-author. up next, apple stores earned more per square foot than any other retail in the world. some of the skreeecrets to thei success when "press: here" continues.

. welcome back to "press: here." there are lots of secrets to apple's retail success. many of them have been revealed by my next guest. each morning in every apple store in the world, from time

square in new york to beijing in china, apple employees tilt the screen of each and every laptop computer to a specific angle. he's the author of six books, he's a former reporter, now working as a communications coach for fortune 500 companies. so what's the angle? >> they actually use an iphone level. >> an app, yeah. >> an app. it used to be -- when i put this book to bed, it was 90 degrees, then somebody called me, it's no longer 90 degrees. we thought 90 degrees was too stark, so we tilt it back just slightly. >> who cares, what difference does it make? >> first of all, they look nice, they look streamlined, everything is uncluttered and clean, it's a nice visual, but it forces you to adjust the angle of the screen. everything in an apple store, this is what's kind of

interesting, is intended to get you to touch and feel and play with the products. not too long ago, literally a few weeks ago, some of you may know the one to one program, which is the $99 a year training program that you can buy upon the purchase of a mac and go there and take classes. they used to have it in the back of the store, the trainings between the employees and customers. a few weeks ago, they started putting it toward the front of the store because they want people who walk by to see that people are using and playing. even when you take a one-to-one program, they let you touch the computer. they don't touch the computer at all, the trainers, it's all about you trying to manipulate the computer to do what you need to do. only one day, if they have to take control, they'll ask you, may i touch the computer? they'll always ask permission. but it's all up to you. they want you to start making the emotional connection with the devices. >> go ahead. >> what's kept others from replicating this?

if it's all about the angle and these little things, downtown palo alto, there's a big shopping center there. apple's had a store there for a long time, microsoft just opened shop a few stores down, starbucks and pete's, right? same story, but not the same feel. >> that's exactly right. my big revelation over the last year of researching the apple store is that there are so many other brands that are consciously copying the apple store, not just microsoft, at&t retail, the tesla store, we have a tesla dealership in san jose. it looks just like an apple store. the person who oversees sales is a former apple retail executive, and when i walked in, i asked him, this looks like an apple store, and he said, carmine, it is an apple store, we're just selling cars instead of computers, but here's the point. i asked him, looks, the design

looks exactly the same, but what is the theme, you know, what's the one thing that we're trying to get across, regardless of whether we're selling shoes or cars. he said, people have to stop selling stuff and think about how you want your customers to feel. we want people to feel good about our product. whether or not you leave having purchased the product, and that's the thing about the apple retail store. you can walk in today, credit card in hand, ready to put down $3,000 for a fully loaded new mac book pro, and after talking to you, if the sales specialist determines that's not the right one for you, you'll leave with a $1,000 mac book air. >> they are not on commission. >> they are not on commission and powered to do what's right for the customer. as long as they have a good experience, that's what their goal is. >> obviously, they are selling incredibly good products, but the one thing to me in my mind is airlines. this guy is flying a boeing 737

and this guy is flying a boeing 737, they are both going to denver. one company makes me happy, the other pisses me off. i can tell everybody how much i hate that other company, yet they are doing the same thing, but it's the delivery somehow. >> i think it comes down to how the employees are hired, how they are trained, how they are motivated, and how they are taught to communicate with you, the customer. so apple has created what they call the apple five steps of service and use the acronym apple. >> they do? >> they do. i've seen this. i've seen it written down. every new employee is taught to go through the apple steps of service. at&t retail has adopted and modified the steps of service, because they work so well, and guess where apple copied it from, the ritz-carlton. the ritz-carlton three steps for service is word for word what

apple trains to, and they created it 30 years ago. >> do you think companies can successfully replicate this? one of the sort of big failures, i guess, in the tech industry or tech retail is best buy, and they are trying to do some of this, create smaller stores, do you think that it can work if they try to create, you know, a mini apple store? >> i think as long as these stores and these brands get beyond the design, because it's so much -- it's more than just the design. ron johnson has said you can sell anything, it's not just the computer, even though they are great products, but it's how you make people feel. george blankenship at tesla is applying the same principles to the car dealership. i just got an e-mail from a cardiologist in dallas. he read this book, well, we're building a new hospital.

what if steve jobs built a hospital, he's thinking beyond just the basic experience that everybody offers. and i think this all started in 2001 when apple first opened their first store. steve jobs and ron johnson sat down and they said what business are we in? we are not in the business of selling stuff. we are in the business of enriching lives, and what does a store that enriches your life look like? what does it feel like, what does it sound like, and how are the employees trained to enrich your life instead of selling something? >> i had to look it up to check your facts, that was that the first apple store was opened before the ipod. >> yes. >> they weren't selling ipods, weren't selling iphones, weren't selling ipads. they were, obviously, selling mac macs, but back then -- >> that's right, thanks for checking my facts.

>> totally honest, i checked wikipedia. wikipedia says you're right. >> isn't that interesting, because steve jobs said in 2001, people don't want to buy a computer, he said, they want to learn what they can do with them, so that innovated around so many areas of the customer experience. one-to-one, the personalized training, is an innovation, something that's very unique in retail where you can actually for $99 spend a year learning about anything you want on the mac. >> genius part is a better deal than that, free service. that's amazing in the computer business. >> absolutely right, and the genius bar was directly inspired by the ritz-carlton. ron johnson walked into a ritz-carlton, left, then said, first of all, we're not going to have a cashier, we'll have a concierge. in the back of the store, let's have a bar, we'll stock it with

geniuses instead of alcohol, geniuses. >> what about the not having a cashier part? they walk around with basically mobile point of sale systems, phone or whatever, and you can just pay wherever you are in the store. i know a lot of other companies are starting to adopt mobile point of sales, but is that a big piece also of the success here? >> that's called -- it leads to what's called multitasking. the reason why you can walk into an apple store when there's 100 or 200 people inside and still feel as though you're getting personalized attention is because they are multitasking, and that's what they call it. they are trained to handle two or three customers at a time, so i could be working with you and i could ask you or say why don't you check out these two ipads, see which one you like the best, and in the meantime, may i help so and so check out? so you're like, okay, that's cool. you can help the other person

and i'll just check out the ipads, you know, so i'm working with both of you, but you both feel like i'm giving you personalized attention. >> all right, we all love apple. carmine gallow, with the sixth book? >> sixth book. "press: here" will be back in just a moment.

. welcome back to "press: here." i'm scott mcgrew. you were writing recently about amazon in a way that i hadn't considered amazon before, and that is as sort of my local store delivering to me the same day, is that coming? >> it is coming. it seems like that's what they are working on. one of the things that's happened recently is amazon, after many years of fighting with state governments about collecting sales taxes, it's signed a bunch of deals with various state governments saying that it will start collecting sales tax and people were

puzzled about why it would give up. >> they were winning. >> and the reason is because by collecting sales tax, it allows amazon to set up a local presence in various states, so they are setting up these fulfillment centers all over the biggest states in the country, so they are going to have, like, ten here in california, many on the east coast, and the reason is they are trying to radically scale up their infrastructure to send stuff next day sort of as default and same day, maybe. >> how quickly can i get stuff that i order? >> in places they offer this service now, like in seattle, you can get same-day service, so you order something in the morning, you get it later in the day. >> through ups or amazon trucks? >> they have various different kinds of couriers. it depends what kind of product you order. sometimes they'll service it through ups or fed ex, other

times, they have a network of smaller truck companies, sometimes amazon's own. >> i'm already impressed as an amazon prime customer where i'm not having to pay the freight, you know, i'll order something and sometimes it will catch me off guard because it will come the next day. oh, my goodness, you know? >> even if you don't pay for next-day delivery. they often -- i've noticed this as a customer too of prime, they often exceed their estimated delivery time. >> this is a disaster for the local drugstore, because at some point, why not buy five tubes of tooth paste from amazon.com and have robots get it and mail trucks deliver it than me drive three blocks to the store. it's easier. >> big box stores and mom and pop shops, the thing they always argued is they offer instant gratification, which amazon couldn't do. >> you, yourself, have pointed

out other companies have tried to do this and failed. >> the thing that they have is a decade or more of experience in this kind of infrastructure, and so they know how to do these fulfillment centers really well, really efficiently, and they are ramping up slowly. they are building these centers, and they are probably going to ramp up the same-day delivery, you know, over time. i don't think they are going to kind of bankrupt themselves trying to do it. >> a culture of not worrying that much about profits. if you're not going to worry about profits, you can get a lot accomplished. >> they are going to keep their margins really low and not care what wall street says about it. >> does it open up the opportunity -- seems amazon already sells everything under the sun, but could they get into other kinds of businesses if they do same-day delivery? >> they've been trying groceries for awhile. they've had various different experiments in the seattle area for, you know, for produce and other things, and, you know, if

that works, it seems they may ramp it up in other places. but their profits are definitely on digital media, i mean, i think they want to do everything. >> mccall, you've been writing about research in motion. i still have a blackberry, i hate it. it's free from the company. pay for the apple iphone, i'm still like i'm not sure i'm getting my money's worth on free phone. how much longer can research in motion survive? >> a little while longer. they have a little over $2 billion cash, right? >> a lot of patents. >> yes, they have a lot of assets still, but there's definitely a sense time is running out and people have been holding out for blackberry 10, this new operating system that's about to come out. they said it's been delayed yet again, customers, investors, everybody is losing patience. >> do you think they understand that? i know blackberry's in

desperate, desperate trouble and realize the executives have to say it's going to be fine, they can't say, yes, you're absolutely right, we're completely in trouble. >> they must understand it. you look at the numbers, look at the number of customers that they are losing, they are just bleeding customers, especially in north america, of course, they are still seeing some growth in markets they point to, and it's great being number one in indonesia, but north america is a really important market for them. it's the higher margins, they are selling cheaper phones overseas. that's a vastly different business than what they are used to, so, yeah, everything you hear from management, people have been really just frustrated and curious as to why they are saying, you know, nothing's wrong with the business or they kind of flip-flop around. >> i'd like some sort of admission. >> you worry they do believe it. >> i think the last two guys

did, the two ceos did. >> they suggested for awhile they didn't see anything wrong with what was going on or that they didn't kind of comprehend the scale of the situation. i think they do now, but it might be too late. >> all right, thank you very much. we'll be back in just a minute.

. that's our show for this week. thanks to my guests, carmine gallo and thor muller. we have hundreds of interviews online at pressheretv.com and free on itunes as well. i'm scott mcgrew, thank you for making us part of your sunday morning.

♪ hello and welcome to "class action." if you follow news about public schools, then you know the name michelle re. if you don't, you should. oprah called michelle a woman warrior, but the powerful teacher's unions have called her other names. a reformer, the nicest among them. woman warrior or classroom troublemaker, michelle re burst on the spotlight in 2011. she shook up the district,