Mental Models

Teddy Roosevelt on slowing down as you get older:

"We must all either wear out or rust out"

The Braintrust, as conceived by Pixar, is a group of experienced, trusted colleagues who gather periodically to review a project in development. Its primary purpose is to provide honest, constructive feedback to help improve the project.

Key aspects of the Braintrust include:

1. Candid feedback: Members are encouraged to speak openly and honestly abo

Muhammad Ali on how those who benefit from the status quo have an incentive to brand change as impossible:

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. I

Shane Parrish (Farnam Street) on the value of experience in forming wisdom:

"A large part of the difference between the experienced decision maker and the novice in these situations is not any particular intangible, like judgment or intuition. If one could open the lid, so to speak, and see what was in the head of the experienced decision-maker, one

Staff for strength, not for avoidance of weakness:

In “The Effective Executive”, Peter Drucker emphasizes the importance of focusing on an individual’s strengths rather than trying to cover up their weaknesses. When it comes to staffing, hiring well-rounded candidates can lead to mediocrity. Instead, Drucker suggests that it’s better to hire individ

I think consensus is really the enemy of scale. So I say, “Whenever we’re making an important decision, there should be winners in the room and losers. We shouldn’t find that negotiated settlement that everyone is happy with. Somebody should be unhappy, three or four people should walk out unhappy, and one should walk out happy, and we’re all going

Brian Halligan on why you shouldn't hire the person with the fewest weaknesses: "It’s like you’re an ice climber going up the ice, and it’s treacherous and you could easily slip, and what you’re looking for are executive members who have been up that same sheet of ice, but in the last three or four years. What you don’t want is somebody who spent t

Adam Grant on how to navigate bureaucracy: 1) find out the history of why the bureaucracy exists / what it was initially intended to solve, 2) understand why your stakeholders are following the bureaucracy, what their risks & incentives are, 3) find allies & potential workarounds by talking to ppl outside your usual bubble.

https://www.ted.c

ESPN’s Key Innovation (Acquired): Flipping the relationship with their distributor.

ESPN created such demand with their end-consumer that the distributor had no choice but to keep ESPN in their offering bundle. ESPN went from paying distributors to be in their network, to charging access fees to distributors for allowing them to put ESPN in their