KEEP IT SIMPLE. The Kaplan Thaler Group is very noisy. That’s what makes it a fun place to work—there are a lot of Type A people who are very excited to tell everyone their ideas. One day, we were brainstorming about a pitch to Foxwoods, the Connecticut casino. Everyone was throwing out some very high-minded ideas about what made the casino goer tick.

We pored over very extended demographic surveys and research. We pondered the casino’s intellectual property. We asked such fundamentals as: “What is the essential experience that people look for when they go to a casino?” “What is the real feeling of winning?” All the while, Chris Wauton, our director of strategic planning, remained quiet.

Now Chris is a brilliant, Oxford educated advertising professional. Of course, to be entirely fair, we’ve found that anything you say in a British accent automatically sounds 25 percent more intelligent. Chris had done extensive research at Foxwoods, interviewing numerous customers.

When he finally began to speak, we all leaned forward, eager to hear what he had to say. He looked at us and shrugged. “I don’t know. It just seems like Foxwoods is, well, fun.” We broke out laughing. Of course, he was right. Sometimes the simplest answer is the best one.

Chris was able to sum up the experience of going to Foxwoods in a single word, because he had been listening rather than pontificating. And, using his insight in our pitch, we won the business.