Monday Memo

A Byte of Knowledge

Palmer Luckey, says "Work on projects you actually care about. Don't wait for school or anyone else to tell you what to build." 

The founder of Oculus VR and Anduril has a point.

See, when Luckey hires for his $28 billion defense tech company…

He doesn't care about fancy degrees...

He looks for people who build things "with their own money and time because they want to bring something new into the world."

Why?

Because schools are often decades behind what's actually working.

And there's another reason...

When you're creating something just for yourself...

When you're obsessed with solving a problem nobody asked you to solve...

You make better decisions about what to learn and how to do it.

That’s something that separates real innovators from everyone else.

They don't wait for permission.

They don't follow the standard playbook.

They build what they can't NOT build.

(source for quotes)

🚀 Discover the 27 ‘Plug-and-Play’ AI Prompts Every Marketer Needs 

Something to Ponder

We Asked – AI Answered

Our Question: 

"Explain the Hawthorne Effect and give me three world examples of how companies have leveraged it to their benefit."

AI's Answer:

The Hawthorne Effect is a psychological phenomenon where individuals change their behavior simply because they know they are being observed.

This concept originated from studies at the Hawthorne Works (Western Electric factory in Cicero, Illinois) in the 1920s and 1930s. The original studies, led by Elton Mayo and his team, sought to understand how environmental factors—like lighting, rest breaks, and work hours—affected worker productivity.

Key Findings from the Original Hawthorne Studies:

Regardless of the actual changes, productivity increased as long as workers were aware they were being observed.

Even when conditions were made worse (e.g., dimmer lighting), performance still improved—suggesting that the effect wasn’t due to the changes themselves, but rather the psychological impact of being watched.

The studies revealed that social factors and attention from management played a key role in worker motivation.

1. Amazon’s Warehouse Monitoring and Gamification

How It Works:

Amazon leverages the Hawthorne Effect through constant performance tracking and monitoring in its fulfillment centers.

AI-driven surveillance systems, scanners, and productivity dashboards track workers’ efficiency in real time.

Workers are aware that their actions are being monitored, which drives them to work faster and more efficiently—even without direct intervention.

Amazon has introduced gamification elements where employees can compete in performance challenges, further reinforcing the effect.

Impact:

A study by McKinsey & Company found that gamification and observation-based incentives can increase worker output by up to 22% in certain tasks.

Despite controversy, Amazon’s use of monitoring directly increases efficiency, reduces errors, and enhances overall warehouse throughput.

2. Starbucks’ Mystery Shopper Program (Customer Experience Optimization)

How It Works:

Starbucks utilizes the Hawthorne Effect with mystery shoppers—anonymous evaluators who assess store performance.

Employees don’t know when they’re being evaluated, but they’re aware that mystery shoppers exist.

Knowing they might be observed at any time, baristas are more likely to follow customer service protocols, upsell strategically, and maintain brand standards.

Impact:

Starbucks scores each store based on mystery shopper visits, directly tying results to employee bonuses and store-level incentives.

A Harvard Business School study on mystery shopping found that businesses using such programs see a 10-15% improvement in customer satisfaction scores due to increased attentiveness from employees.

3. Apple’s Genius Bar & Employee-Client Interaction

How It Works:

Apple retail stores are designed to maximize customer observation of employees. The Genius Bar operates in an open-space layout, where employees interact with customers in full view of others.

Employees know they are being observed by both customers and managers, which reinforces high levels of engagement, professionalism, and attentiveness.

Apple also uses Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys where customers rate their experience—knowing that their service will be measured increases employee motivation.

Impact:

Apple has some of the highest customer satisfaction rates in the retail industry (above 90%), largely due to this structured observation model.

A Deloitte study found that companies with public-facing employee interactions (like Apple) see higher engagement scores and lower employee turnover compared to those with isolated customer service models.

Thanks for reading the Monday Memo.

Until next time!

The AI Marketers

P.S. Help shape the future of this newsletter – take a short 2-minute survey so we can deliver even better AI marketing insights, prompts, and tools.

[Take Survey Here]