Here is something that should bother you more than it does. Your company probably hired smart people. It might have even fought to recruit them, offered competitive salaries, and bragged about its talent pipeline. Then it placed those smart people inside a system that makes it nearly impossible for them to act smartly. This is […]
Smart People, Dumb Systems: Why Your Organization is Designed to Fail Read More »
There is a particular kind of confidence that emerges when a crowd believes it has located the moral truth. Not a truth. The truth. The one that settles all debate, justifies all punishment, and requires no further discussion. If you have spent any time online in the last decade, you have watched this confidence in
Why “Cancel Culture” Is a Failed Attempt at Centralized Morality Read More »
There is a peculiar inversion happening in the halls of power, and it has been hiding in plain sight for over a century. The richest man in whatever room he enters often looks like he just rolled out of a camping trip. The founder who controls billions dresses like he is running late for a
Veblen’s Dress Code: Why the More Important You Are, the Less You Have to Dress Like It Read More »
There is a man who killed his first opponent at thirteen. He fought over sixty duels and never lost a single one. He wandered Japan for decades, sleeping in caves, refusing comfort, and perfecting his understanding of combat until the boundaries between sword, body, and mind dissolved into something he could not even name. Then
Why Most “Mindfulness” Is Useless (According to Musashi) Read More »
Carl von Clausewitz died in 1831. He never saw a Facebook ad, never scrolled through TikTok, never had his morning ruined by a push notification. And yet the Prussian general wrote what might be the most useful marketing strategy guide ever produced. He just did not know it. His masterwork, “On War,” was meant to
Your Brand is a Battlefield: Applying “On War” to the Attention Economy Read More »
Most business advice sounds like it was generated by an algorithm trained on LinkedIn posts. Move fast and break things. Fail forward. Crush it. These phrases have the nutritional value of cotton candy. They dissolve the moment you try to chew on them. Meanwhile, a man who has been dead for over two thousand years
Aristotle for Entrepreneurs: Building a Business on Practical Wisdom Read More »
Someone tells you your work is not good enough. Your first instinct is not to consider whether they might be right. Your first instinct is to survive. Your jaw tightens. Your brain starts assembling a defense. You are no longer a rational adult weighing feedback. You are a six year old who just got told
How to Accept Criticism Like a Philosopher, Not a Child: Lessons from Marcus Aurelius Read More »
There is a particular kind of moral comfort in working on what you are bad at. It feels responsible. It feels mature. Your parents probably told you to do it. Your teachers almost certainly did. The entire self improvement industry has built a cathedral on the foundation of this single idea: find your weaknesses, then
Why You Should Stop Trying to Improve Your Weaknesses Read More »
Most people misunderstand strength. They think the goal is to become stronger than whatever stands in their way. Lift more. Push harder. Outmuscle the obstacle. Miyamoto Musashi, the most legendary swordsman in Japanese history, thought this was a fine way to die young. Musashi won over sixty duels before the age of thirty. He killed
Once, Gary Becker was running late to a student’s oral exam. He needed to park. The legal lot was far away. The illegal spot was right there. So he did what any rational person might do. He weighed the fine, the probability of getting caught, and the time he would save. Then he parked illegally.