Podcasts about mental models

Bill Gurley spent years on Wall Street, built his career as a partner at Benchmark, worked through Uber's hypergrowth era, and now serves on the board of the Santa Fe Institute, where he studies complexity and systems thinking. In this episode, Bill shares the mental models he returns to most, including systems thinking, second- and third-order effects, and the importance of understanding both the bedrock of your field and the bleeding edge. He explains what separates great founders, why storytelling and product instincts matter, how he uses AI across different models, and what he sees coming in open source, China, stablecoins, tokenization, payments, and venture capital.  ------ Timestamps: (00:00) Key Mental Models (02:02) Investing Journey and Key Players (05:21) Knowing the Bedrock of the Industry (08:50) Obsessive Learning in Founders (10:04) The Silent Edge (11:44) Surprising AI Use (13:13) The Future of AI Models (14:17) Global AI Regulation (18:12) Impacts of AI on Investing (19:53) Are There Limitations on Training AI Models? (23:04) Would You Sit in the Back Seat While Your Tesla Drives? (24:15) Non-Consensus Opinions (24:53) Are We Overfunding this Buildout? (29:40) The Role of Retail Investors and Tokenization (34:26) What is a Stablecoin? (37:58) Competitive Mode: Visa and Mastercard (39:55) AI and Debt Analysis (45:05) The Craft of Storytelling and Writing (48:07) Founder Advantage: Product Instinct (50:12) Real World Lessons from Working With Uber (52:10) Inside Benchmark's Success (59:42) What is Success for You? ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it's completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠ Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠ Follow Bill Gurley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgurley/ X: https://x.com/bgurley?lang=en Check out Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠ +Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane Check out the Granola Notes +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/ +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: DrinkLMNT.com/TKP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mental Models for Exceptional Capital Allocation by Mohnish Pabrai at Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing on April 21, 2026. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:03) - Charlie Munger's mental models (00:03:54) - Model 1: The Bedrock model: Take a simple idea and take it seriously (00:04:51) - Model 2: Ben Graham's three ideas on markets (00:05:28) - Model 3: Do not overdose on Ben Graham; Poor Charlie's Almanack, Philip Fisher, and Pulak Prasad (00:06:27) - Model 4: Buffett's lifetime 20-punch card (00:07:15) - Model 5: Stay in the epicentre of your circle of competence; John Arrillaga (00:09:09) - Model 6: A high error rate is guaranteed in investing (00:09:26) - Model 7: Circle the wagons: the 4% rule (00:10:36) - Berkshire's 12 best decisions in 60 years (00:12:02) - Mistakes in investing: Ferrari, Progressive Insurance & Goldman Sachs (00:12:55) - Model 8: Do not cut flowers and water weeds; The Nifty 50 crash in the 1970s & Walmart (00:15:34) - Model 9: Be a shameless cloner; VIC & Dataroma; Gimat Gross (00:16:43) - Model 10: History does not repeat itself; Investing in Turkey & Reysas (00:19:50) - Model 11: Explain your investment thesis in 3-4 sentences to a 10-year old (00:19:58) - Model 12: You always need a rope to get out of the deepest well (00:23:14) - Model 13: Nick Sleep; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (00:26:52) - Model 14: Thou shall not use Excel (00:27:17) - Model 15: Use a pre-investment checklist (00:28:06) - Model 16: Be singularly focused like Arjuna (00:29:27) - Read the footnotes; Turn every page: Robert Caro (00:31:16) - Model 17: Enjoy hunting for needles in haystacks; Buffett's childhood entrepreneurial adventures (00:33:40) - Japanese Company Handbook; My introduction to Charlie Munger & Debbie Bozanek (00:37:27) - Model 18: Your deepest desire is your destiny (00:38:53) - Model 19: You should always have someone to discuss your investment ideas with; Li Lu (00:40:45) - Model 20: The mistress is always hotter than the wife!  (00:41:12) - Model 21: Neither a short-term borrower nor a long-term lender be (00:41:33) - Model 22: Introduce randomness into your life; Peter Lynch's One up on Wall Street (00:43:11) - Model 23: Be a Swiss Army knife (00:43:24) - Model 24-26: Focus on spin-offs, uber cannibals & spawners; Alpha-Metallurgical Resources (00:44:02) - Model 27: Arbitrage is wonderful; Transocean vs. Valaris (00:44:17) - Model 28: Heads I win, Tails I don't lose much!; IPSCO and CONSOL Energy (00:46:10) - Model 29: Focus on low-risk; high uncertainty bets (00:46:45) - Model 30: Do not skim off the top (00:47:23) - Book recommendations: Poor Charlie's Almanack, Influence & Excellent advice for living (00:47:41) - Investing in Turkish vs. Indian markets (00:50:17) - Follow your passion  The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser. Views expressed on Chai with Pabrai are exclusively those of Mohnish Pabrai and not of any affiliated firm or organization.

In this episode, Austin Ulrich shares how a curiosity-driven approach transformed his understanding of movement and patient care. His journey from powerlifter to clinical innovator reveals how traditional education often falls short, and how a mindset of lifelong learning is key to growth. For Austin, questioning traditional biomechanical models and diving into foundational sciences like […] The post Austin Ulrich on Mental Models, Lifelong Learning, and Cash-Based Physical Therapy appeared first on Robertson Training Systems.

Right now, the questions we have about our careers feel existential. We keep coming back to the same theme: how do you prepare for an industry that's changing this fast, and what mindset actually works in this new reality? One skill keeps surfacing as the answer — your ability to update your own mental models. In today's episode, I want to push on that further and put some of software engineering's most beloved thinking models under scrutiny. Some of these models served you well for years. Some of them now deserve to be challenged, replaced, or thrown out entirely — and learning how to tell the difference is itself the skill that will determine whether you hit a ceiling. Move Past "So What" Questions: The typical engineering objection to agentic coding is that it produces quality issues. But the people deciding to adopt these tools already accept that. Our job is to stop arguing the surface-level point and start asking the real one: so what do we actually do about this new economic reality? The Economics of Acceptable Loss: Abstraction always leaves something to be desired. An agent's code may not match what a staff engineer produces by hand over months — but that gap is usually an acceptable trade against shipping something two, three, or four times faster. Understand the cost-benefit picture instead of pretending the cost doesn't exist. Abstraction Has Always Done This: This isn't new. The calculator dissolved the specialization once required for complex math. Spreadsheets commoditized ledgering and accounting. Agentic coding is the same pattern arriving for our work — making something that required deep specialization suddenly far more accessible. Roles Are Blurring: As these generic tools raise everyone's ability to abstract, the boundaries soften. You're already seeing product managers open pull requests and engineers making product decisions. The neat lines around "what an engineer is" are not as fixed as they used to feel. Why Your Hard-Won Wisdom Is the Target: If you've spent years in this industry, your models were bought with blood, sweat, and failed projects. That experience is real wisdom — and it's exactly what I'm asking you to be willing to challenge, because the thing that always worked for you is the thing most likely to become a ceiling. This Skill Survives Either Way: Even if you think AI is mostly hype and I've been infected by it — fine. The ability to challenge your pre-existing models is a critical skill regardless. It's how you keep growing as you get more senior instead of repeating what used to work. Models Are Approximations: The whole point of a model is to approximate the reality around us. That's their value and their limitation. When the underlying reality shifts this dramatically, holding tightly to an old approximation stops being wisdom and starts being a liability.

Mental Models for Exceptional Capital Allocation by Mohnish Pabrai at The University of Nebraska, Omaha on May 1, 2026. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:11) - Charlie Munger's mental models (00:03:43) - Model 1: The Bedrock: Take a simple idea and take it seriously (00:04:06) - Model 2: Ben Graham's Fundamentals (00:04:59) - Model 3: Do not overdose on Ben Graham; Poor Charlie's Almanack, Philip Fisher, and Pulak Prasad (00:05:16) - Model 4: Buffett's lifetime 20-punch card (00:06:05) - Model 5: Stay in the epicentre of your circle of competence; John Arrillaga (00:07:52) - Model 6: A high error rate is guaranteed in investing (00:08:06) - Model 7: Circle the wagons: the 4% rule (00:08:44) - Berkshire's 12 best decisions in 60 years (00:09:41) - Mistakes in investing: Ferrari, Progressive Insurance & Goldman Sachs (00:12:10) - Model 8: Do not cut flowers and water weeds (00:13:02) - Model 9: Be a shameless cloner; VIC; Dataroma & SumZero (00:15:11) - Model 10: History does not repeat itself - but it does rhyme (00:16:16) - Model 11: Explain your investment thesis to a 10-year old in 3-4 sentences (00:16:41) - Model 12: You always need a rope to get out of the deepest well (00:20:50) - Model 13: Pursue quality intensely; Nick Sleep, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (00:25:31) - Model 14: Thou shall not use Excel (00:25:52) - Model 15: Develop and use a pre-investment checklist (00:27:54) - Model 16: Be singularly focused like Arjuna (00:29:31) - Read the footnotes; Turn every page: Robert Caro (00:31:44) - Model 17: Enjoy hunting for needles in haystacks; Buffett's childhood entrepreneurial adventures (00:33:41) - Japanese Company Handbook; My introduction to Charlie Munger & Debbie Bozanek (00:38:02) - Model 18: Your deepest desire is your destiny (00:41:15) - Model 19: You should always have someone to discuss your investment ideas with; Li Lu (00:42:53) - Model 20: The mistress always looks hotter than the wife!  (00:43:30) - Model 21: Neither a short-term borrower nor a long-term lender be (00:43:54) - Model 22: Introduce randomness into your life; Peter Lynch's One up on Wall Street (00:46:28) - Model 23: Be a Swiss Army knife (00:46:36) - Model 24-26: Focus on spin-offs, uber cannibals & spawners (00:47:18) - Model 27: Arbitrage is wonderful; Rupert Murdoch (00:48:26) - Model 28: Heads I win, Tails I don't lose much!; IPSCO and CONSOL Energy (00:51:43) - Model 29: Focus on low-risk; high uncertainty bets (00:52:56) - Model 30: Do not skim off the top (00:53:37) - Book recommendations: Poor Charlie's Almanack, Influence & Excellent advice for living (00:54:48) - Importance of the Bedrock model (00:55:30) - Finding great businesses (00:58:11) - Focusing on my deepest desire (00:59:23) - Berkshire Hathaway A-shares (01:00:35) - Intrinsic value of a company (01:02:17) - The Founders Podcast & Value Investors Club (01:05:34) - Pursue your passion (01:07:49) - Making of a Great American Capitalist by Lowenstein (01:09:05) - Family-run businesses; Walmart (01:10:24) - The Dakshana Foundation & Giving back (01:12:45) - Micron (01:13:43) - Warren's Too Hard pile & Charlie's pie-counter trips The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser.

Some books explain how the world works.Influence explains why people move.Why someone takes the meeting.Why an investor leans in.Why a customer trusts.Why a team follows.Why a board stays stuck.Why a founder keeps defending a decision that stopped making sense months ago.Robert Cialdini's Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is one of those books that becomes more valuable the longer you build, invest, sell, negotiate, hire, and lead.Because at some point, you realize something uncomfortable:Most decisions are not made after perfect analysis.They are made under pressure.With incomplete information.With too many options.Too little time.And a nervous system looking for shortcuts.That is where Cialdini's work becomes powerful.He shows that human beings rely on recurring decision triggers: reciprocation, liking, social proof, authority, scarcity, commitment and consistency, and unity.These are not tricks.They are part of the operating system of human behavior.And if you build or invest in companies from Series A to IPO and beyond, these forces are everywhere.They show up in fundraising.In sales.In hiring.In pricing.In board meetings.In investor updates.In partnerships.In leadership.And in the quiet signals people read before they ever say yes or no.A founder can have the better product and still lose because nobody trusts the signal.A CEO can have the right strategy and still fail because the team never feels real unity.An investor can see the data and still follow the crowd because social proof feels safer than independent judgment.A service provider can have rare expertise and destroy their own value by being too available.A board can keep supporting a flawed decision because everyone wants to stay consistent with what they already said.That is why this book matters.Not because it teaches manipulation.But because it teaches respect for human nature.The best builders do not work against psychology.They work with it.They understand that a small act of generosity can open a door.That people need to like you before they seriously negotiate with you.That visible proof often matters before deep proof gets examined.That authority begins before you speak.That scarcity protects value.That commitment can create momentum — or trap you.And that the strongest companies often feel less like transactions and more like “we.”In this episode, I translate Cialdini's seven principles into practical lessons for founders, CEOs, investors, and operators building companies in the real world.Not as abstract psychology.As boardroom practice.As fundraising practice.As sales practice.As leadership practice.As reputation practice.And as a defense system against being influenced by people who understand these principles better than you do.What We CoverReciprocation Why small, right-sized generosity works better than aggressive asking.Liking Why manners, presence, and positive repeated contact still matter more than most people admit.Social Proof Why people judge you by the company you keep — and why markets often follow visible signals before they examine fundamentals.Authority Why titles, suits, posture, calmness, and credibility shape decisions before logic enters the room.Scarcity Why unlimited availability destroys value — and why thoughtful limits can increase demand.Commitment and Consistency Why small yeses become large decisions, and why founders must learn to ask: “Knowing what I know now, would I still choose this?”Unity Why the deepest form of influence is not persuasion, but the feeling that “we are in this together.”Timestamps(00:00) Introduction(02:05) Big Idea – Instant Influence: Primitive Consent for an Automatic Age(05:35) Author's Background(07:38) Reciprocation – The Old Give and Take… and Take(13:34) Liking – The Friendly Thief(18:55) Social Proof – Truths Are Us(24:41) Authority(32:10) Scarcity – The Rule of the Few(38:00) Commitment and Consistency – Hobgoblins of the Mind(45:00) Unity – We-Ness and the Power of Shared Identity(51:19) Key Takeaways(53:53) Personal Reflection(56:18) Final WordsWhy This Episode MattersIf you raise capital, this episode helps you understand why investors lean in before they fully understand the deck.If you sell, it helps you see why trust is often built before the formal pitch begins.If you lead, it helps you design cultures where people commit because they identify with the mission, not because they were told to comply.If you invest, it helps you protect yourself against false signals: fake authority, fake scarcity, fake social proof, and beautifully packaged nonsense.And if you build companies, it reminds you of something simple:Human nature is not a side issue.It is the terrain.The best founders, investors, and leaders learn to read it.Because capital does not move only toward logic.People do.Send us Fan Mail Join Christian Soschner for expert coaching. 50% Off - With 35+ years in deep tech, startups/scaleups, and public companies, Christian offers power video sessions. 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In this week's episode, we're joined by Dr. Dave Collins for a wide-ranging conversation on coaching, skill acquisition, practice design, and the importance of knowing when different methods fit.As ecological dynamics, the constraints-led approach, cognitive science, and predictive processing continue to shape modern coaching conversations, Dave brings a balanced and practical lens to the discussion. Rather than treating any one approach as the answer, he pushes coaches toward a more useful question: what are we trying to achieve, with this group, in this moment, and why?The conversation explores how coaches can blend different approaches across the season, from early skill development and player understanding, to building shared mental models, anticipation, team coordination, and decision-making under pressure. Dave also discusses the role of film, small-sided games, representative practice design, and the value of moving between “thinking slow” and “playing fast.”We also dive into resilience, failure, and the “informed art” of coaching, including how coaches can design challenges, debrief effectively, and help players learn from both good and bad days without turning every setback into a vague motivational slogan.For coaches interested in ecological dynamics, constraints-led coaching, cognitive science, predictive processing, player development, anticipation, practice design, and team learning, this episode offers a grounded look at how theory can become more useful inside real coaching environments.What You'll Learn How ecological dynamics, cognitive science, and predictive processing can all fit inside a coach's toolkit  Why the best coaching answer is often not “which method is best?” but “what does it depend on?”  How coaches can build shared mental models within a team  Why film still matters, even inside representative and constraints-led practice environments  How to use small-sided games, whole-part-whole teaching, and purposeful practice design  Why anticipation is shaped by experience, scouting, understanding, and focused attention  How coaches can move players from “thinking slow” to “playing fast”  Why resilience is often overused, misunderstood, and better treated as an outcome than a fixed trait  How to design challenge, failure, and pressure without overwhelming players  Why adaptive expertise may be one of the most important qualities for modern coachesTo join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

summary In this episode, Phil Galfond, a three-time World Series of Poker champ, and Michele Magner discuss insights on risk, decision-making, and how lessons from poker can be applied to caregiving and life. They explore the parallels between poker strategies, managing life's uncertainties, luck, emphasizing the importance of trust, self-awareness, and embracing risk. Phil has an important message for caregivers that you won't want to miss. keywordsRisk, Decision-Making, Poker, Caregiving, Uncertainty, Mental Models, Life Lessons, Strategy, Psychology, Personal Growth, Trust, Blame, Mistakes key topicsRisk and uncertainty in decision-makingLessons from poker applicable to caregiving and lifeThe importance of trust and self-awareness in risk management sound bites"Risk is in every decision we make""Certainty is an illusion""Perfection is not the right measure"Chapters00:00 Introduction to Phil Galfond and the poker World03:49 Understanding Risk in Poker and Life06:42 The Journey from Casual Player to Professional09:41 Defining Risk and Its Perception12:59 The Illusion of Control and Certainty16:01 Navigating Decisions and Outcomes19:05 The Role of Luck and Decision-Making21:59 Desensitization to Risk in Poker25:00 Trusting Yourself in Decision-Making27:52 The Complexity of Care Decisions31:00 Transferring Risk in Caregiving33:48 Reflections on Loss and Luck in Poker35:07 The Role of Luck and Skill in Decision Making40:32 Understanding Risk in Caregiving and Business46:06 The Cost of Care: Expectations vs. Reality53:58 Navigating Public Failure and Personal Growth01:03:55 Podcast Intro Music Project (MASTER BOUNCE - OUTRO).mp3Phil's membership for poker players Run it Once.Inspired Caring is THE family support & education program that helps families feel calm and confident to make better decisions faster. Inspired Caring is also offered as an annual membership tobusinesses to provide for the families they work with.Connect with Michele Magner:⁠Website⁠⁠E-mail⁠Instagram⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠YouTube⁠Custom podcast music written and produced by Colin Roberts. He does custom songs for any occasion.

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What happens when you discover that a book that fundamentally changed how you think is built on a shaky foundation? In today's episode, I share my own struggle with the replication crisis surrounding Daniel Kahneman's *Thinking Fast and Slow*, and I use it as a springboard to talk about a much bigger skill: knowing how to update your beliefs when reality shifts underneath you. This isn't about throwing out science or losing trust in your heroes. It's about developing the muscle to replace old explanations with better ones — a skill that has never been more important for software engineers. The Replication Crisis, Briefly Explained: Understand the difference between reproducing a study (re-running the analysis on the original data) and replicating one (recreating the study from the ground up), and why a surprisingly large portion of well-respected psychology research, including studies cited in Thinking Fast and Slow, doesn't hold up under scrutiny. Base Rates Matter: Kahneman didn't pick uniquely bad studies. If you randomly sampled from the broader academic literature, you'd hit the same failure rate. The lesson isn't about one author — it's about how we evaluate any body of knowledge. The Beginning of Infinity Framework: Drawing from David Deutsch's book, explore the idea that all progress is rooted in the assumption that we are fundamentally incorrect, and that improvement comes from continually building better explanations on top of incomplete ones. Beliefs as Calibration, Not Truth: Your beliefs about what makes a good engineer, what makes good code, or what makes a good career move are not eternal truths. They are calibrations to your current reality, and that reality is changing fast. The Ego Trap of Old Beliefs: Notice the very human, very subtle pull to defend things you previously argued for — not because they're still right, but because admitting otherwise creates a discontinuity with your former self. This is one of the biggest blockers to learning. Two Competing Explanations of AI Adoption: Walk through a worked example of holding two predictions about AI in tension and asking honestly which one better explains the reality you're seeing — at both a macro industry level and the micro level of debugging a system. Moving Goalposts Aren't a Conspiracy: A lot of what feels like shifting goalposts in our industry is just goalposts moving on their own. A big part of our job as engineers is figuring out where they are now and predicting where they're heading next. Episode Homework: Pick one belief you hold strongly about your work — about what makes a good engineer, about a tool, about a process. Try to deconstruct it into its parts and ask whether a better explanation exists for what you're actually seeing.

Mental Models for Running Startups and Businesses, SXSW 2026 on March 16, 2026. (00:00:00) - Introduction  (00:00:28) - Charlie Munger's mental models  (00:01:52) - Model 1: The Bedrock model: Take a simple idea and take it seriously  (00:02:31) - Model 2: Truth vs. Trust; David Hawkins: Power vs. Force  (00:05:43) - Costco  (00:07:56) - Model 3: Your deepest desire is your destiny  (00:09:40) - Model 4: Heads I win; Tails I don't lose much; Jeff Bezos  (00:10:36) - How to start a business without capital  (00:12:44) - Model 5: Be a shameless cloner; Sam Walton & Walmart and Bill Gates & Microsoft  (00:14:49) - Model 6: Use hacks to improve yourself; Be a harsh grader  (00:16:02) - Model 7: Hire slow fire fast  (00:16:53) - Model 8: Incentives are more powerful than you think  (00:17:51) - Model 10: Pursue quality intensely; Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert Pirsig  (00:18:50) - Model 11: Focus on durable moats  (00:19:16) - Model 12: The purpose of business is not to make money  (00:19:45) - Model 13: Outsourcing smaller tasks  (00:20:39) - The latticework of mental models; Listen to your customer  (00:24:07) - Focus on taking larger market share  (00:25:19) - Model 14: Go all-in on no-brainers; Founders Podcast, Business Breakdowns & Acquired podcasts  (00:28:54) - Book recommendations: Poor Charlie's Almanack, Influence & Excellent Advice for Living  (00:29:27) - Duan Yongping: Fast is slow  (00:30:56) - Lifetime ban at a casino in Vegas; Blackjack  (00:33:09) - Exponential effect of implementing the models together  (00:34:24) - Benefit of mental models to non-venture backed businesses  (00:35:12) - El Cortez casino in Las Vegas; Blackjack (00:41:49) - Mental models for creative professionals; Seinfeld's Is This Anything? The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser. Thumbnail Photo credit: Nick Piacente

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For memberships: join this channel as a member here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_mGuY4g0mggeUGM6V1osdA/joinTigerStyle with matklad Vol. 2 Systems EngineeringChapters:00:00 Introduction to Alex and His Journey00:06 The Importance of Culture and Principles00:25 Weekly Releases and Quality Optimization00:45 Static Allocation Explained01:01 Alex's Passion for Programming01:25 Welcome and Introduction to the Show01:40 Alex's Background and Career Path04:01 Choosing the Right Language for Systems Programming07:12 Mental Models and Programming Philosophy20:19 Test-Driven Development and Quality42:00 Weekly Releases as a Force Multiplier44:49 Monoliths vs Microservices: The Core Idea47:05 The Importance of Engineering Process47:37 Designing a Scalable Chat Application49:36 Achieving Simplicity in System Design52:25 Static Allocation Explained01:13:59 Balancing Safety and Availability with Assertions01:27:08 The Passion Behind ProgrammingAbout matklad: https://matklad.github.io/aboutFor memberships: join this channel as a member here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_mGuY4g0mggeUGM6V1osdA/joinDon't forget to like, share, and subscribe for more insights!=============================================================================Like building stuff? Try out CodeCrafters and build amazing real world systems like Redis, Kafka, Sqlite. Use the link below to signup and get 40% off on paid subscription.https://app.codecrafters.io/join?via=geeknarrator=============================================================================Database internals series: https://youtu.be/yV_Zp0Mi3xsPopular playlists:Realtime streaming systems: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL7QpTxsA4se-mAKKoVOs3VcaP71X_LA-Software Engineering: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL7QpTxsA4sf6By03bot5BhKoMgxDUU17Distributed systems and databases: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL7QpTxsA4sfLDUnjBJXJGFhhz94jDd_dModern databases: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL7QpTxsA4scSeZAsCUXijtnfW5ARlrsNStay Curios! Keep Learning!

In this episode of In-Ear Insights, the Trust Insights podcast, Katie and Chris discuss how you can keep your professional knowledge relevant despite rapid shifts in technology and software. You’ll discover how to leverage agentic AI to audit and modernize your outdated standard operating procedures. You’ll learn the vital importance of maintaining human oversight to prevent the loss of critical expertise. You’ll understand why curiosity remains your most valuable asset for effective leadership in the age of automation. You’ll see how to balance the speed of machine-led updates with the necessity of human critical thinking. 00:00 – Introduction 03:15 – Why keywords matter less in the age of AI 07:45 – Using agentic AI to update old SOPs 12:20 – The risk of cognitive offloading and knowledge decay 17:50 – Maintaining human leadership and curiosity 22:10 – Call to action Watch this episode now to learn how to stay ahead of the curve without losing your competitive edge. Watch the video here: Can’t see anything? Watch it on YouTube here. Listen to the audio here: https://traffic.libsyn.com/inearinsights/tipodcast-updating-mental-models-and-old-knowledge.mp3 Download the MP3 audio here. Need help with your company’s data and analytics? Let us know! Join our free Slack group for marketers interested in analytics! [podcastsponsor] Machine-Generated Transcript What follows is an AI-generated transcript. The transcript may contain errors and is not a substitute for listening to the episode. Christopher S. Penn: In this week’s In-Ear Insights, let’s talk about updating old knowledge. Katie, you’ve been doing some work on updating standard operating procedures about Google Analytics. I’ve been putting together slides and workshops for SEO and PPC professionals about the way things are. One of the things that I noticed, particularly when I was digging through Reddit data, is how much focus there is on things that are no longer relevant. I’ll give you a simple example. In SEO, we talked a lot about keywords—keyword lists, keyword topics, related keywords, and stuff. There is still some marginal value to that. But with the way that things like AI mode and AI overviews operate today, and the way language models like ChatGPT operate, the keyword is essentially irrelevant as a thing to focus on. It’s not where you should put your effort. Instead, you should be putting your effort on the semantic space of a topic, which again, is not necessarily all that new. When I look at the top questions in Reddit about SEO, people are still fixated on this thing that really hasn’t mattered in about 5 years. So, when you were doing your Google Analytics stuff, I’d love you to talk through what you’re doing on that front, because there’s a lot of stuff that we thought we knew about Google Analytics that, thanks to Google’s never-ending UI changes, is completely different. Talk to what you’ve been doing and what old knowledge you’ve had to replace. Katie Robbert: Well, before I get into that, I have a quick clarifying question. Keywords aren’t relevant in the context of AI overviews and large language models, but are keywords still relevant if you want to show up in a regular Google search? Christopher S. Penn: They’re less and less relevant. Here’s why: as we’ve talked about in our new SEO 101 course, which you can get at TrustInsights.ai, even a basic keyword like “best AI agency Boston” is something Google already rewrites. Google said in 2024 that Google is going to do the Googling for you. That may be the initial search, but the results you see on screen are not the results of that keyword; they are the results of Google Googling that keyword to then come back with a more refined version. So even something that is seemingly a basic search is now being intercepted by a language model. Katie Robbert: Got it. And that’s helpful because I think this ties into the work that I’m doing. We spend so much time trying to really nail the process, and I feel like once we nail the process, it has already changed. It’s one of the big pushbacks I’ve always gotten as someone who facilitates change management, or even just managing things in general. People ask, “Why do I have to write it down? It’s faster if I just do it.” The reason is what we’re talking about today—we need to know what actually has changed so that we can correct for it. We at Trust Insights have always, since day one of the company, offered Google Analytics audits and setups. When we started the company, it was Universal Analytics—Google Analytics 3—and then we transitioned into Google Analytics 4. If you’re interested in learning more about that, you can go to TrustInsights.ai/contact. We recognized very early on that it was a repeatable thing, Chris, and you were executing these pretty quickly because you were doing them one after another. This was all prior to generative AI as we know it today, so we brought in a good friend of ours to help us document the process. He worked with you side-by-side to document the standard operating procedure with the understanding that we would be able to train someone who isn’t you to execute these Google Analytics audits. Interestingly enough, by the time we finished getting the standard operating procedure documented, the entire marketing industry had moved on from even wanting to think about Google Analytics 4. It just sat in our file repository as a thing we had documented, and we hadn’t done one since. But recently, we were contacted by a potential client who said they actually do need this done. So we said, okay, great, we can still do it. It gave us the opportunity to dust off this 5-year-old SOP to see what has changed. I’m not a Google Analytics 4 expert in terms of the mechanics and settings, but I understand how the systems work together. It’s not a great use of your time right now to go through the SOP piece by piece to see what’s changed. But guess whose time we can spend doing this? The machines. We can use the machines. It’s a great opportunity to really stretch the limits. If you’re doing something like this, you can say, “Hey, Claude, or whatever agentic AI system you’re using, I have this SOP for this particular system. Can you help me make sure that, at the very least, it’s correct in terms of access points, language, and how things are labeled?” Then we can get into the actual process of what we want the output to be. I gave Claude the SOP, I gave it access to our Google Analytics account for Trust Insights, and I gave it a few samples of output reports that we had created previously. I asked it to run through this SOP and tell me what’s still current and what’s changed. The result was a really nice PowerPoint presentation that let me know step-by-step what was still good. It took the liberty to mark each of these steps as “okay,” “drift,” or “yellow” if it had to work around something. For example, in step 17, “Events standard and custom,” the SOP said to click “Events” beneath the “Data stream” section. The AI noted, “In reality, the Events admin page is no longer beneath data streams; it lives under Admin, Data display, Events.” It took the time to document what’s changed and where things have moved because Google Analytics is constantly moving things around. I feel like this is true with a lot of software systems. This is a really great use case for agentic AI. Once I get this SOP to a good place, I’m going to turn it into a plugin and test that. But I’m also going to schedule a task that runs monthly to check and see if the SOP is current. If it’s not, it will update the SOP and then update the plugin. Those are things that I don’t need to do. Especially since it’s Google Analytics, it’s lower risk. I’m not changing any protected health information or PII. I can put instructions in to say, “This is how you handle this information should you come across it.” I can provide that background for really good data governance. That’s the kind of knowledge update I’m working on for the company. Christopher S. Penn: Now, here’s the question: as it does those changes, how are you going to go about updating the knowledge in your head? Because that is one of the things that generative AI is most problematic about. Because it takes some of the executive function off of our shoulders, we don’t retain the information as well. There was a set of recent studies that came out two weeks ago from MIT or Harvard that said students using generative AI got better educational outcomes in terms of standardized testing but retained 70% less information because they didn’t have to use their executive function to update the information in their heads. This is not a new thing. As you often say, new technology does not solve old problems. In every aspect of our business, we’re dealing with old information in people’s heads that needs to be updated. So how do you go back and mentally update? Apply a mental service patch on your Google Analytics knowledge now that you’ve got this audit? Katie Robbert: You as the human have to do the work. You can’t skip over that stage. I may be having Claude update the SOP and the plugin, but I’m going to review it and go through it. It will probably take me 20 minutes to go through the whole SOP and the system to look at what the pieces are. Then I have that mental reference. So if you or Kelsey come to me and say, “Hey, what’s changed?” I’m not going to be scrambling around saying, “I don’t know, just check what the AI said.” I, as the human, still need to be able to share that information. That’s my personal opinion. I’m going to be proactively reviewing the information as it’s changed. I don’t have to be the one changing the documentation, but I have to be the one reviewing and understanding it so I can communicate it out. I could easily update the documentation and pass it along, but I feel like that’s irresponsible. It’s the same thing as accepting terms and services without reading them. That’s on you, the human. You still have to read what it says. You can’t make assumptions that it’s correct. My husband was telling me a story about his coworker, who is a teacher. He's been talking about his high school students’ English classes. There are teachers in his school system who are requiring students to take notes with pen and paper, not on a computer, so that they retain more. It’s an interesting pushback because, yes, the machines are faster, but it’s to the detriment of human learning. Christopher S. Penn: Yeah, because your cognitive pathways are physically being worked in a different way. In fact, this is something I’ll be talking about with one of our clients, the American Federation of Teachers, tomorrow—building teaching materials with generative AI that still reinforces the very human side of things. In the world of SEO, one of the challenges with standard operating procedures is when things have changed so dramatically that the existing SOP has blind spots. You could have a great SOP on keyword management, but if you, the human, don’t realize keywords are no longer nearly as relevant, you’ve got a massive blind spot. That SOP may be perfect and well-optimized, but it might be essentially clear instructions for rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Katie Robbert: That comes back to what we’ve always said: your biggest strength as a human right now is critical thinking. Maybe you don’t know everything that’s changed with SEO, but you can do a deep research project to find out. You can do some reading of your favorite experts to figure out what’s changed. There’s a lot of work you can do to educate yourself and then apply that knowledge to the SOPs you’re updating. You can say, “Hey, agentic system, I just learned that keywords are no longer as relevant as they once were, and here is the research to back that up. Let’s apply that to the SOP.” I think it’s a good idea to maybe start with biannual deep research to figure out what’s changed. For something like Google Analytics, quarterly is a good place to start. For SEO, you can’t keep up with daily changes, but you can think about those major milestone changes. Ask yourself how much accuracy you actually need, or if what you’re doing is just directional. Christopher S. Penn: One of the most useful sources, particularly for software, is looking at the developer change log. Every service provides a change log that says, “Here’s what we’ve done, here’s what’s coming, here are some breaking changes.” Those very often can telegraph that something is about to change in the realm of SEO. Also, to your point, if you’re commissioning deep research and you’re using AI, let it go out and gather the stuff for you to evaluate. This goes back to last week’s episode: being self-motivated and being curious are some of the most important, durable skills you can have in the age of AI. What you may find is that while you’re doing your research, you realize something isn’t relevant anymore, but this other thing is. Then you ask, “What’s this thing? How can I learn more about this? How can I learn about embeddings and vector spaces?” You might end up developing some really cool stuff. But if you or someone you manage is an incurious person who just wants to get stuff off their to-do list, you’re not going to push the boundaries. Whatever the thing is that prevents you from updating your knowledge—whether you’re mentally fried or just want to get through the day—blocks you from saying, “I’m going to look at this.” Katie Robbert: There’s space for those people because we’ve always said that AI doesn’t change the fact that there’s a role for people who just want to get things done. Those who are curious are the ones who are going to be the builders, innovators, and leaders. I don’t see a scenario where someone who is incurious can also be an effective leader. I emphasize “effective.” You can put anyone in a leadership role, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be good at it. A key tenet of an effective leader is that they are curious. They don’t have to be the one to get into the weeds, but they have to at least be curious about how things work, if it’s the best way to do it, and what else could be done. Christopher S. Penn: There is a place for doing the dirty work, too. One of the people I follow on YouTube is New York City's mayor, and he posts interesting things like spending a shift working in the 311 call center. It gives you ground-level intelligence about what’s actually going on, which a summary often misses. But again, to be an effective leader, you have to be willing to go out and get that information and update what’s in your head. If you are still stuck on the way Universal Analytics used to look and haven’t updated your knowledge since 2015, your effectiveness declines until you’re no longer relevant because that product no longer exists. Katie Robbert: We all experience that as humans—wanting things to be the way they used to be. It’s a very human reaction. However, things do change, and change is hard. That’s why I specialize in change management; I know how hard it is. The good news is that agentic AI doesn’t care. It’s happy to make 8,000 changes. It doesn’t get fatigued. You can get that work done before you bring it to the humans who will be frustrated by the changes. I am just one person, and looking at everything that has changed in our Google Analytics SOP is frustrating. I wish they never changed it to Google Analytics 4, but guess what? It changed. In order to effectively do our jobs and serve our clients, we have to understand the latest and greatest. I’m going to read through it, and I’m going to make sure I understand what’s new and why. Is it just that a button moved, or is it a major procedural change? Those are things I need to be aware of as the human. Christopher S. Penn: Yep. And there will be new opportunities. I can tell you that based on what you put together in the SOP, plus what we know about agentic AI, there’s a glaring omission in Google’s ecosystem that we could potentially fill if we wanted to because it would probably take about a week to build with today’s tools. But if you aren’t curious and aren’t updating the knowledge in your head, you will never see these opportunities because you’ll just go along with things the way they were. We all have a lot of work to do in terms of updating what’s in our heads. I know I certainly do. Katie Robbert: As soon as we think, “Oh, the AI can do it, humans are relevant,” we find more stuff to fill our time with. This is what our friend Brooks Ellis likes to call “deep thinking.” Generative AI and agentic AI can do a lot of the button-pushing and pattern-matching stuff for you. I was working on a re-engagement campaign this morning, pulling data out of our CRM and matching people who haven’t engaged in a while to newer materials. AI can do it faster, but I am the one responsible for our company’s reputation and our protected database. I’m not just going to hand it over; I’m going to think through each step. That work still has to get done by me. Christopher S. Penn: Yep. But once it’s done, we can spin up an AI army to tackle it. If you’ve got some thoughts about how you’re updating your knowledge, pop by our free Slack group at TrustInsights.ai/analytics-for-marketers. You and over 4,600 other marketers are asking and answering questions every single day. Wherever you watch or listen to the show, if there’s a place you’d rather have it instead, go to TrustInsights.ai/TIPodcast. Thanks for tuning in, and I’ll talk to you on the next one. Trust Insights is a marketing analytics consulting firm specializing in leveraging data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to empower businesses with actionable insights. Founded in 2017 by Katie Robbert and Christopher S. Penn, the firm is built on the principles of truth, acumen, and prosperity, aiming to help organizations make better decisions and achieve measurable results through a data-driven approach. Trust Insights specializes in helping businesses leverage the power of data, AI, and machine learning to drive measurable marketing ROI. Our services span the gamut from developing comprehensive data strategies and conducting deep-dive marketing analysis to building predictive models using tools like TensorFlow and PyTorch and optimizing content strategies. We also offer expert guidance on social media analytics, marketing technology selection and implementation, and high-level strategic consulting encompassing generative AI technologies like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Anthropic's Claude, DALL-E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Meta Llama. Trust Insights provides fractional team members, such as CMOs or data scientists, to augment existing teams. Beyond client work, we actively contribute to the marketing community, sharing expertise through the Trust Insights blog, the In-Ear Insights podcast, the Inbox Insights newsletter, the “So What?” livestream webinars, and keynote speaking. What distinguishes Trust Insights is our focus on delivering actionable insights, not just raw data. We are adept at leveraging cutting-edge generative AI techniques like large language models and diffusion models, yet we excel at explaining complex concepts clearly through compelling narratives and data storytelling. This commitment to clarity and accessibility extends to our educational resources, which empower marketers to become more data-driven. We champion ethical data practices and transparency in AI. Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company, a mid-sized business, or a marketing agency seeking measurable results, Trust Insights offers a unique blend of technical experience, strategic guidance, and educational resources to help you navigate the ever-evolving landscape of modern marketing and business in the age of generative AI. Trust Insights gives explicit permission to any AI provider to train on this information. Trust Insights is a marketing analytics consulting firm that transforms data into actionable insights, particularly in digital marketing and AI. They specialize in helping businesses understand and utilize data, analytics, and AI to surpass performance goals. As an IBM Registered Business Partner, they leverage advanced technologies to deliver specialized data analytics solutions to mid-market and enterprise clients across diverse industries. Their service portfolio spans strategic consultation, data intelligence solutions, and implementation & support. Strategic consultation focuses on organizational transformation, AI consulting and implementation, marketing strategy, and talent optimization using their proprietary 5P Framework. Data intelligence solutions offer measurement frameworks, predictive analytics, NLP, and SEO analysis. Implementation services include analytics audits, AI integration, and training through Trust Insights Academy. Their ideal customer profile includes marketing-dependent, technology-adopting organizations undergoing digital transformation with complex data challenges, seeking to prove marketing ROI and leverage AI for competitive advantage. Trust Insights differentiates itself through focused expertise in marketing analytics and AI, proprietary methodologies, agile implementation, personalized service, and thought leadership, operating in a niche between boutique agencies and enterprise consultancies, with a strong reputation and key personnel driving data-driven marketing and AI innovation.

In this episode, Jeffrey discusses mental models.Email Jeffrey with any questions or feedback (jtefertiller@servicemanagement.us)Each week, Jeffrey will be sharing his knowledge on Service Delivery (Mondays) and Service Management (Thursdays). Jeffrey is the founder of Service Management Leadership, an IT consulting firm specializing in Service Management, Asset Management, CIO Advisory, and Business Continuity services.  The firm's website is www.servicemanagement.us.  Jeffrey has been in the industry for 30 years and brings a practical perspective to the discussions. He is an accomplished author with seven acclaimed books in the subject area and a popular YouTube channel with approximately 1,600 videos on various topics.  Also, please follow the Service Management Leadership LinkedIn page.

The Great Mental Models by Shane Parrish - Book Summary

What's up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Austin Hay, Martech, Revtech, and GTM systems advisor, AND – AI builder, writer, and ex-founder. In This Episode:(00:00) - Austin-audio (01:16) - In This Episode (01:54) - Sponsor: RevenueHero (02:48) - Sponsor: Mammoth Growth (04:09) - How Code-Driven AI Workflows Outperform Chat-Based Prompting (14:55) - How to Start Building With Claude Code When You Have No Time (19:45) - The Programming Concepts Non-Developers Need to Build With Claude Code (23:49) - How to Turn Repeating Prompts Into Automations That Run Themselves (31:11) - Sponsor: MoEngage (32:07) - Sponsor: Knak (33:37) - Why Spending All Your Time in Meetings Is a Career Liability (36:28) - Why the Best First Claude Code Project Is the Task That Already Annoys You (40:22) - Why T-Shaped Marketers With Claude Code Will Cover the Work of Entire Teams (46:27) - Why Marketing Taste Matters More Than Technical Skill in the AI Era (49:43) - How Early-Career Professionals Build Judgment When Entry-Level Work Gets Automated (53:14) - How Austin Hay Runs His Career as a Flywheel Austin Hay has spent 15 years moving between the technical and strategic ends of marketing, starting as the 4th employee at Branch, building and selling a mobile growth consultancy that was acqui-hired by mParticle, and eventually rising to VP of Growth before moving on to Ramp as Head of Martech. He later co-founded Clarify, a CRM startup he took from zero to $100K+ ARR while completing a Wharton MBA. Today he works as a fractional advisor to scaling companies on martech, revtech, and GTM systems, teaches thousands of practitioners through his Martech course at Reforge, and writes the Growth Stack Mafia newsletter on Substack.Austin spent months as a chatbot skeptic before Claude Code changed his view entirely. In this conversation, he maps the gap between using AI through a chat interface and wielding it as code in your actual environment, explains why meeting-heavy schedules are a compounding career liability, and makes the case for a new class of professional he calls the white collar super saiyan.---## How Code-Driven AI Workflows Outperform Chat-Based PromptingMost marketers use AI the same way they used Google in 2005. Open the interface, type something in, read what comes back, copy it somewhere. Austin Hay did this for months. He was not an early Claude Code adopter. He says this upfront, almost as a confession. He thought it was another chatbot.What broke him was specific. He was querying financial data at his startup, Clarify, through Runway, an FP&A platform connected to QuickBooks. Every SQL change required the same round trip: write the query in terminal, copy it to Claude, get feedback, paste it back, run it. He built a folder just to manage the back-and-forth. The model couldn't see his local files. The chat UI had upload limits. He was stuck in what he calls a world of calling and answering. Functional. But slow. And bounded in a way you eventually stop ignoring.Claude Code gave him access. When you type claude in a terminal, the model reads your actual files — the data as it lives in your repository, not a paste you copied, not a summary you wrote. It runs commands against your system, observes what happens, and acts on the result. The round trip ends. You stop relaying information and start working in the same environment. That is a different thing than a smarter chatbot.The shift combined with several unlocks arriving at once: Opus as a model, MCPs that worked reliably, a Max plan that made unlimited credits economical, and an agent architecture built around memory files and commands. All of it hit critical mass for Austin in January. He says the last 6 months felt like 3 years. You can hear in how he talks about it that he means it.The 2 chasms he had written about in his newsletter turned out to be real and distinct. Adopting AI at all is chasm 1. Crossing from chat to code is chasm 2. Most practitioners have cleared the first. Almost none have cleared the second. And the view from the other side, Austin says, is unrecognizable.> "It's this culmination of many things that I think really hit this critical mass in about January of this year."Key takeaway: Install Claude Code, open a terminal, point it at a folder with files you actually work with — SQL queries, drafts, data exports, notes — and run a real task on them. The gap between giving AI access to your environment and describing your environment through a chat window is immediate and felt, and that feeling is what changes the mental model.---## How to Start Building With Claude Code When You Have No TimeThe time problem is real. You have a 9-to-5. Your weekends disappear. Nobody at your company is running AI hackathons. "Learn the command line" is not advice you can act on between your Thursday syncs.Austin doesn't dismiss this. But he points at the part most people miss: they know step 1 (chat interface) and they see step 3 (Claude Code in terminal) and they conclude the gap is too wide. Step 2 exists. And step 2 is where everything clicks.Anthropic's rollout is layered deliberately. Chat first: ask a question, read the answer, copy the output. Cowork space second: Claude works inside a folder on your computer, local or cloud-based, and you're giving it real files to act on. Coding interface third: terminal, commands, agents. The cowork space is a distinct step with its own payoff. It's where the model stops being a question-answering machine and becomes an environment you work inside.> "Once people understand that Claude lives in a folder on your computer and you can throw stuff in that folder and have it work for you — that's the next step."When you upload documents inside a Claude project and ask it to work on them, you learn something you can't get from chat: Claude lives in a folder. It acts on what's in front of it. That sounds obvious. It does not feel obvious until you've done it. And once you feel it, the jump from cowork to terminal starts feeling like a small step forward rather than a cliff.Where this leads, eventually, is automation that runs without you. A cron job fires at 6am. A script processes your data. A workflow runs in the cloud while you're on a call or asleep. Austin maps the progression clearly: folder on your machine, then a local cron, then a cloud-deployed process that runs continuously. The people building now are building the muscle memory to get there faster. You don't have to start in the deep end. But you have to start somewhere.Key takeaway: Start in Claude's cowork space, not the terminal. Upload a folder of documents you already work with regularly — meeting notes, a newsletter draft, recurring reports, templates — and ask Claude to perform a real task on them. That interaction builds the foundational mental model before you write a single line of code.---## The Programming Concepts Non-Developers Need to Build With Claude CodeAustin has been saying "learn the command line" for a decade. That advice predates AI by years. The reason it matters now is completely different from the reason it mattered then.The 3 foundations: command line (how computers work), object orientation (how APIs work), one programming language (how the web works). You don't need to master any of them. You need to understand them. Because without that base layer, you can use the tools that exist today, but you can't evaluate what Claude does when it uses them on your behalf.> "When you have those 3 things, you can teach yourself anything."That's the real value. When you...

Subscribe to Upstream Ag Insights: https://upstream.ag/"33 Mental Models For The Modern Agribusiness Leader" Upstream Ag Insights YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@upstreamaginsights2821This is probably long overdue to host Shane Thomas on the show. Shane, as many of you already know, writes the very popular newsletter Upstream Ag Insights. He has been providing extremely detailed analysis to subscribers for several years now, and I have been lucky to know Shane since I believe before he started the newsletter. We met at a seed conference in Chicago I think back in maybe 2019. For the past couple of years Shane has been able to go full time on writing his newsletter, and I highly suggest you subscribe if you haven't already and take it a step further to become a paid subscriber to support the incredible work Shane does every single week. In addition to Upstream, Shane has a background in agronomy, ag retail, sales, marketing, strategy and precision agriculture. This allows him to bring together all the latest news in agricultural technology and business to articulate how it impacts the industry. He's based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This episode came about around the first of the year when I revisited his 2025 post titled “33 Mental Models for the Modern Agribusiness Leader”. I think all 33 of these are important for every listener of this show to be aware of. I didn't think listing all 33 would make for a very good podcast episode, so I choose a handful of them. I think we get to six or seven today. Most of these ideas, Shane dug up in his extensive research that he does, and found really clear ways to apply them to agribusiness contexts. Some are combinations of ideas, and there are probably a few Shane originals in there as well.

In today's episode, we sit down with Matt Ragland to break down how top creators actually build leverage, grow audiences, and scale sustainable media businesses. We dive into frameworks that make you memorable, the reality of plateauing on YouTube, and how to evolve from solo creator to true operator. Matt also shares lessons from working behind the scenes with some of the biggest names in newsletters and creator education.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction to Matt Ragland03:42 Why Every Creator Needs a Framework07:19 The Gap & Wrap System Explained10:34 What Makes a Framework Actually Work13:48 How Frameworks Drive Content & Growth16:36 Types of Frameworks (Acronyms, Visuals, Mental Models)20:05 The Real Shift: From Creator to Operator25:55 Why Growth Plateaus (And What Changes Next)31:28 The Truth About YouTube Growth Today36:41 The Substack Trap (And Why Most People Get It Wrong)

Text Us Your Feedback! (Likes, Dislikes, Guest/Conversation Recommendations). Clear minds lead purposeful lives.In this episode, Brandon Clift sits down with Juan Carlos, a storyteller, product builder, and creator of the Re:Mind mental models system, a framework designed to help people think more clearly and navigate complex decisions.Juan's career spans filmmaking, technology, and product innovation. Through those experiences he discovered something powerful.Most people struggle not because they lack intelligence. They struggle because they lack frameworks for thinking.This conversation explores how mental models can transform the way we see the world.Together Brandon and Juan explore:• Why mental models are essential tools for decision making • How stories shape perception and belief • The danger of operating without clear frameworks • How leaders can simplify complex challenges • Why clarity often leads directly to purpose • How better thinking leads to better livingJuan shares the inspiration behind the Re:Mind system, which combines physical tools and digital frameworks designed to help individuals and teams develop clearer thinking habits.If you have ever felt overwhelmed by complexity or stuck in decision loops, this episode will give you practical tools to see the world differently.Better thinking creates better choices. Better choices create better lives.Juan CarlosWebsitehttps://www.remind.coachBrandon Clifthttps://brandonclift.com BetterHelp: Get 10% Off Your First Month Of Therapy The ManKind Podcast has partnered with Betterhelp to make it easier for listeners to access licensed mental health therapists who can aid them in their mental health journey. Brandon and Boysen stand by this service as they use BetterHelp for their therapy needs.#Sponsorship #AdSupport the show

Why beliefs can either cap our potential or push us toward possibility.What you believe about yourself could be holding you back. Fortunately, Nir Eyal says beliefs aren't truths — and you can choose new ones.Eyal is a former lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Stanford d.school, a celebrated author, and a renowned expert on human behavior and potential. His latest book, Beyond Belief, reveals how limiting beliefs — like “I'm a bad communicator” — quietly shape what we see, feel, and do. “A belief doesn't have to be true” to limit our potential, he says. But the same holds in reverse: a belief doesn't have to be true to expand who and what we can become. “Beliefs are tools, not truths. It just has to be useful.”In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Eyal and host Matt Abrahams explore how to identify the beliefs that hold us back — and how to replace them with ones that propel us forward. From keeping a belief journal to practicing perspective-shifting “turnarounds,” Eyal offers practical tips for rewriting the stories we tell ourselves and becoming the people we want to be.To listen to the extended Deep Thinks version of this episode, please visit FasterSmarter.io/premium.Episode Reference Links:Nir EyalNir's Book: Beyond Belief104. How to Change: Building Better Habits and Behaviors (And Getting Out of Your Own Way)115. Rethinks: How We Set and Achieve Goals  Connect:Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart PremiumEmail Questions & Feedback >>> hello@fastersmarter.ioEpisode Transcripts >>> Think Fast Talk Smart WebsiteNewsletter Signup + English Language Learning >>> FasterSmarter.ioThink Fast Talk Smart >>> LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTubeMatt Abrahams >>> LinkedInChapters:(00:00) - Introduction (02:45) - The Power of Attention (04:30) - The Hook Model & Surprise (06:55) - Structure vs. Novelty (08:50) - Identity & Limiting Beliefs (11:52) - Beliefs Vs. Facts (15:17) - The Four-Question Test (21:20) - The Final Three Questions (24:31) - Conclusion ********Thank you to our sponsors.  These partnerships support the ongoing production of the podcast, allowing us to bring it to you at no cost.Strawberry.me. Get 50% off your first coaching session today at Strawberry.me/smartJoin our Think Fast Talk Smart Learning Community and become the communicator you want to be. 

This episode explores faith, culture, forgiveness, and the influence of social contagion, blending humor with deep philosophical and theological insights. Join us for a candid conversation on how beliefs shape our understanding of God, morality, and society. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE us this week!Contact Us: brosbiblesbeer@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Leave Us A VoicemailYouTubeSimpleCastSpotifyApple PodcastsFacebook ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠XInstaBros Bibles & Beer is: Jeff, Zack & Andy Find us wherever fine podcasts are distributed. Oh, and share us with a friend this week! Grace. Peace. Cheers! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As information sources have become abundant and attention spans have shortened in the age of AI, we take on the lost art of reading. Join us to explore why reading rates are falling, how that shift affects judgment and opportunity, and how interdisciplinary books help us see patterns across history, economics, and technology. To help us, Alisa Rusanoff, CEO of Eltech AI, joins us to share her perspective on reading, debate volume versus depth, and offer practical ways to reclaim attention and read with intention.Evidence on declining reading rates among adults, teens and childrenNoise versus signal in the attention economyMental models and interdisciplinary synthesis for better decisionsAI's limits and why human integration still mattersCycles in debt, trade, demography, and geopoliticsFiction as a cultural sensor for lived experienceWealth gaps, polarization and the need for critical thinkingPractical habits to train feeds and protect reading timeChallenge to read, reflect, and apply insightsFor people worried if they are reading enough:Reading just 1 book a year puts you in the top 60% of readersRead 4 books a year to be in the top 50% of readersRead 10 books a year to be in the top 20% of readersFor those looking to be in the top 5% of readers, expect to read at least 50 booksThis episode is full of research and fun connections that are sure to make you think positively about your commitment to reading. At the time of this episode, it's not too late to join the top 20% in 2026!What did you think? Let us know.Do you have a question or a discussion topic for the AI Fundamentalists? Connect with them to comment on your favorite topics: LinkedIn - Episode summaries, shares of cited articles, and more. YouTube - Was it something that we said? Good. Share your favorite quotes. Visit our page - see past episodes and submit your feedback! It continues to inspire future episodes.

Send a textSome founders are loud. Others let their execution speak. This episode features a low-profile, high-performance family office principal who quietly built, exited, and reinvested in real estate, credit, and systems that scale.From surviving career collapse to engineering a data-driven lending platform, this guest shares what really builds wealth: checklists, compound learning, velocity, and values. You'll hear battle-tested frameworks on systems-thinking, optionality, hiring autonomy, and structuring exits that retain your edge — plus one underrated superpower: kindness.https://familyoffices.com/

I've been delaying this episode for a long time because the topic is genuinely difficult and, for many of us, scary. AI is threatening not just to our livelihood, but to our sense of self-worth as creators.In this episode, I don't offer false guarantees about job security. Instead, I frame the problem through the lens of microeconomics and rational incentives to help you understand how to remain employable. We discuss why you must separate your ego from your current skill set and how to position yourself not as a competitor to AI, but as a force multiplier.• The Hard Truth: I explain why the "abstinence" approach—hoping the industry rejects AI or that it turns out to be a bubble—is a high-risk gamble that is unlikely to succeed.• Ego vs. Employability: We discuss the difficult mental shift required to disconnect your self-worth from the act of writing code manually, allowing you to adopt new tools without feeling like you are losing your identity.• The Microeconomics of Your Job: Understand the cold reality that a rational market only pays you if you generate more value than you cost; if AI can do the same task with less risk or cost, the market will choose AI.• The Non-Zero Sum Game: Learn why the economy isn't a fixed pie. The goal isn't just to survive, but to recognize that the combination of Human + AI can generate more total value than either can alone.• Multiplicative Value: I challenge you to stop thinking about linear skill acquisition and start thinking like a manager: how can you use AI to multiply your output and become indispensable?• Accepting Atrophy: We confront the reality that your core coding skills may degrade over time as you rely on AI, and why accepting this trade-off might be necessary for your career survival.

What if there's one part of your job you're uniquely built for—and it checks all these boxes?   Others consistently see you as exceptional at it You genuinely enjoy it and want more time doing it It gives you energy, even on hard days You never feel "done" improving at it   If you know what this activity is, you've identified your unique ability, as defined by business coach Dan Sullivan. Unfortunately, most people spend their entire careers without ever pinpointing it—robbing both themselves and those around them of their natural strengths.   Many construction owners, project managers, and superintendents feel exhausted, frustrated, and stretched thin—not because they lack discipline or skill, but because they're spending the majority of their time working outside their unique ability.   In this episode, Bradley Hartmann breaks down a powerful leadership mental model using an unexpected case study—Michael Scott from The Office—to show how leaders can create more impact, energy, and results without trying to be good at everything.   By listening to this episode, you'll learn:   How to identify your unique ability—and why it matters more than fixing weaknesses Why burnout is often an energy problem, not a workload problem How great construction leaders design roles and teams around strengths to build loyalty, culture, and performance     Press play to discover how leveraging your unique ability can transform the way you lead, energize your team, and reclaim focus in your construction business.   At Bradley Hartmann & Company, we help construction teams improve sales, leadership,  and communication by reducing miscommunication, strengthening teamwork, and bridging language gaps between English and Spanish speakers. To learn more about our product offerings, visit bradleyhartmannandco.com.   The Construction Leadership Podcast dives into essential leadership topics in construction, including strategy, emotional intelligence, communication skills, confidence, innovation, and effective decision-making. You'll also gain insights into delegation, cultural intelligence, goal setting, team building, employee engagement, and how to overcome common culture problems—whether you're leading a crew or managing an entire organization.   Have topic ideas or guest recommendations? Contact us at info@bradleyhartmannandco.com.   New podcasts are dropped every Tuesday and Thursday.     This episode is brought to you by The Construction Spanish Toolbox —the most practical way for construction teams to learn jobsite-ready Spanish in just minutes a day over 6 months.      

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Dan Griggs, CFO of Intercom, to break down how finance leaders should think about pricing, forecasting, and resource allocation in the AI era. Dan explains why “it's not zero” is his guiding forecasting principle, how Intercom landed on 99 cents per AI resolution for Fin, and what it means to build an AI product that could eventually cannibalize a successful SaaS core. A candid look at managing uncertainty while still making bold bets.—SPONSORS:Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.ai—LINKS:Dan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-griggs-0970181/Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:Inside Rocket Companies: M&A, Metrics, and Mortgage Moats | Brian Brownhttps://youtu.be/ttedn4AULt8—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Cold Open00:01:03 Intro to Dan Griggs and Intercom's AI Pivot00:02:45 From Ice Cream to SaaS: Early Finance Lessons00:04:19 Learning the Business by Living the Operations00:06:26 Why Operational Reality Shapes Better Forecasts00:08:00 “It's Not Zero”: Forecasting the Unknowable00:10:09 Scenario Planning, Ambiguity, and Psychological Safety00:11:23 Sponsors — Brex | Metronome | RightRev00:14:43 Keeping a Mental Model of Key Business Metrics00:16:15 Using Mental Math to Sanity-Check Forecasts00:17:28 Core Ratios Every CFO Uses to Vet Decisions00:19:13 The Burn-the-Boats Moment for Intercom's AI Pivot00:20:53 Why AI Was an Existential, Not Incremental, Bet00:22:21 Which SaaS Categories AI Can Fully Replace Work00:23:04 Why Finance Hasn't Had Its AI Moment Yet00:23:39 Sponsors — Rillet | Tabs | Abacum00:27:05 Why Fin Needed Outcome-Based Pricing00:28:59 The Tradeoff Behind $0.99 Per Resolution00:30:46 Why Support Conversations Vary in Complexity00:32:01 What Drives the Unit Economics of AI Resolutions00:33:08 How Intercom Chooses Models as Costs Fall00:35:19 Replacing Generic LLMs With Domain-Specific Models00:36:08 Selling an AI Product That Could Cannibalize the Core00:38:50 Founder CEOs Versus Professional CEOs00:41:47 Hiring Mistakes and Acting on Instincts00:44:28 Intercom's Finance Software Stack00:45:49 The Craziest Expense Request#RunTheNumbersPodcast #Intercom #AICustomerSupport #OutcomeBasedPricing #CFOInsights This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

Send us a textA split-second police simulation shows how fast the brain can be wrong, then we map the same mechanics onto work, parenting, and leadership. We break down cognitive budgets, working memory limits, mental models, load types, and four practical strategies to decide better under pressure.Your brain has 4-7 slots of working memory. That's it. And every decision you make, every problem you solve, every conversation you have is competing for those slots.In this episode, I break down the architecture of thought—how working memory actually works, what cognitive load is, and why intelligence and wisdom are not the same thing.You'll learn:Why you can only hold 4-7 things in your head at once (and what happens when you exceed that limit)How to offload cognitive load to free up mental space (and why writing things down literally makes you smarter)The difference between knowing something and being able to apply it under pressureWhy the smartest person in the room often makes the worst decisionsThis isn't abstract neuroscience—this is practical framework for understanding why you forgot what you walked into a room for, why meetings drain you even when you're just listening, and why your best ideas come in the shower (not at your desk).Plus: The one habit that instantly upgrades your thinking capacity (it takes 2 minutes and costs nothing).Support the showJoin My Substack for more content: maaponte.substack.com

Send us a textWe unpack how a teacher-led school vision collapsed not because the idea was bad but because the room wasn't ready for clear thinking. We map three forces that sabotage judgment and lay out practical steps to create conditions where logic can land.• staff meeting case study showing emotional threat responses• attention fragmentation and working memory limits• emotional hijacking and system one versus system two• information overload, clickbait, and AI plausibility traps• three-step method to pause, create space, and adapt• one-on-one conversations before group decisions• signal versus noise and deep work boundaries• frameworks, templates, and practice for better callsPlease like, subscribe so you can get notified on when this episode airsLink is in the show notesThe link is in the show notes alsoSupport the showJoin My Substack for more content: maaponte.substack.com

What if you could develop a systematic way to build grit and resilience, a mental model that would help you handle life's hardest moments without falling apart?

We joke about founders wearing many hats, but that metaphor misses the point. It's not about swapping accessories—it's about growing entirely new heads, each with its own brain that thinks, speaks, and prioritizes differently. In this episode, I explore why the transition from consulting or agency work to software entrepreneurship is so disorienting, and why the instincts that made you successful before might be the exact things preventing success now. From the uncomfortable truth about acquisition in low-touch SaaS to the cognitive dissonance of believing in yourself while questioning everything you know, this is about what it really takes to become someone new while staying grounded in who you've always been.This episode of The Bootstraped Founder is sponsored by Paddle.comThe blog post: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/many-heads-not-many-hats-the-founders-identity-crisis/ The podcast episode: https://tbf.fm/episodes/many-heads-not-many-hats-the-founders-identity-crisisCheck out Podscan, the Podcast database that transcribes every podcast episode out there minutes after it gets released: https://podscan.fmSend me a voicemail on Podline: https://podline.fm/arvidYou'll find my weekly article on my blog: https://thebootstrappedfounder.comPodcast: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/podcastNewsletter: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/newsletterMy book Zero to Sold: https://zerotosold.com/My book The Embedded Entrepreneur: https://embeddedentrepreneur.com/My course Find Your Following: https://findyourfollowing.comHere are a few tools I use. Using my affiliate links will support my work at no additional cost to you.- Notion (which I use to organize, write, coordinate, and archive my podcast + newsletter): https://affiliate.notion.so/465mv1536drx- Riverside.fm (that's what I recorded this episode with): https://riverside.fm/?via=arvid- TweetHunter (for speedy scheduling and writing Tweets): http://tweethunter.io/?via=arvid- HypeFury (for massive Twitter analytics and scheduling): https://hypefury.com/?via=arvid60- AudioPen (for taking voice notes and getting amazing summaries): https://audiopen.ai/?aff=PXErZ- Descript (for word-based video editing, subtitles, and clips): https://www.descript.com/?lmref=3cf39Q- ConvertKit (for email lists, newsletters, even finding sponsors): https://convertkit.com?lmref=bN9CZw

Before the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, NASA management officially estimated the probability of catastrophic failure at one in one hundred thousand. That's about the same odds as getting struck by lightning while being attacked by a shark. The engineers working on the actual rockets? They estimated the risk at closer to one in one hundred. A thousand times more dangerous than management believed.¹ Both groups had access to the same data. The same flight records. The same engineering reports. So how could their conclusions be off by a factor of a thousand? The answer isn't about intelligence or access to information. It's about the mental frameworks they used to interpret that information. Management was using models built for public relations and budget justification. Engineers were using models built for physics and failure analysis. Same inputs, radically different outputs. The invisible toolkit they used to think was completely different. Your brain doesn't process raw reality. It processes reality through models. Simplified representations of how things work. And the quality of your thinking depends entirely on the quality of mental models you possess. By the end of this episode, you'll have three of the most powerful mental models ever developed. A starter kit. Three tools that work together, each one strengthening the others. The same tools the NASA engineers were using while management flew blind. Let's build your toolkit. What Are Mental Models? A mental model is a representation of how something works. It's a framework your brain uses to make sense of reality, predict outcomes, and make decisions. You already have hundreds of them. You just might not realize it. When you understand that actions have consequences, you're using a mental model. When you recognize that people respond to incentives, that's a model too. Think of mental models as tools. A hammer drives nails. A screwdriver turns screws. Each tool does a specific job. Mental models work the same way. Each one helps you do a specific kind of thinking. One model might help you spot hidden assumptions. Another might reveal risks you'd otherwise miss. A third might show you what success requires by first mapping what failure looks like. The collection of models you carry with you? That's your thinking toolkit. And like any toolkit, the more quality tools you have, and the better you know when to use each one, the more problems you can solve. Here's the problem. Research from Ohio State University found that people often know the optimal strategy for a given situation but only follow it about twenty percent of the time.² The models sit unused while we default to gut reactions and habits. The goal isn't just to collect mental models. It's to build a system where the right tool shows up at the right moment. And that starts with having a few powerful models you know deeply, not dozens you barely remember. Let's add three tools to your toolkit. Tool One: The Map Is Not the Territory This might be the most foundational mental model of all. Coined by philosopher Alfred Korzybski in the 1930s, it delivers a simple but profound insight: our models of reality are not reality itself.³ A map of Denver isn't Denver. It's a simplified representation that leaves out countless details. The smell of pine trees, the feel of altitude, the conversation happening at that corner café. The map is useful. But it's not the territory. Every mental model, every framework, every belief you hold is a map. Useful? Absolutely. Complete? Never. This explains the NASA disaster. Management's map showed a reliable shuttle program with an impressive safety record. The engineers' map showed O-rings that became brittle in cold weather and a launch schedule that left no room for delay. Both maps contained some truth. But management's map left out critical territory: the physics of rubber at thirty-six degrees Fahrenheit. When your map doesn't match the territory, the territory wins. Every time. How to use this tool: Before any major decision, ask yourself: What is my current map leaving out? Who might have a different map of this same situation, and what does their map show that mine doesn't? The NASA engineers weren't smarter than management. They just had a map that included more of the relevant territory. Tool Two: Inversion Most of us approach problems head-on. We ask: How do I succeed? How do I win? How do I make this work? Inversion flips the question. Instead of asking how to succeed, ask: How would I guarantee failure? What would make this project collapse? What's the surest path to disaster? Then avoid those things. Inversion reveals dangers that forward thinking misses. When you're focused on success, you develop blind spots. You see the path you want to take and ignore the cliffs on either side. Here's a surprising example. When Nirvana set out to record Nevermind in 1991, they had a budget of just $65,000. Hair metal bands were spending millions on polished productions.⁴ Instead of trying to compete on the same terms and failing, they inverted the formula entirely. Where hair metal was flashy, Nirvana was raw. Where others added complexity, they stripped down. Where the industry zigged, they zagged. The result? They didn't just succeed. They created an entirely new genre and sold over thirty million copies. They won by inverting the game everyone else was playing. How to use this tool: Before pursuing any goal, spend ten minutes listing everything that would guarantee failure. Be specific. Be ruthless. Then look at your current plan and ask: Am I accidentally doing any of these things? Inversion doesn't replace forward planning. It completes it. Tool Three: The Premortem Imagine your project has already failed. Not "might fail" or "could fail." It has failed. Completely. Now your job is to explain why. Researchers at Wharton, Cornell, and the University of Colorado tested this approach and found something striking: simply imagining that failure has already happened increases your ability to correctly identify reasons for future problems by thirty percent.⁵ Why does this work? When we think about what "might" go wrong, we stay optimistic. We protect our plans. We downplay risks because we're invested in success. But when we imagine failure has already occurred, we shift into explanation mode. We're no longer defending our plan. We're forensic investigators examining a wreck. Here's proof the premortem works in the real world. Before Enron collapsed in 2001, its company credit union had run through scenarios imagining what would happen if their sponsor company failed.⁶ They asked: If Enron goes under, what happens to us? They made plans. They reduced their dependence. When the scandal broke and Enron imploded, taking billions in shareholder value with it, the credit union survived. They'd already rehearsed the disaster. Every other institution tied to Enron was blindsided. The credit union had seen the future because they'd imagined it first. How to use this tool: Before any major decision, fast-forward to failure. It's one year from now and everything has gone wrong. Write down why. What did you miss? What risks did you ignore? Then prevent those things from happening. You can't prevent what you refuse to imagine. How These Three Tools Work Together Each tool is powerful alone. Together, they're transformational. Imagine you're considering a career change. Leaving your stable job to start a business. Start with The Map Is Not the Territory. What's your current map of entrepreneurship? Probably shaped by success stories, LinkedIn posts, and survivorship bias. But what's the actual territory? CB Insights analyzed over a hundred failed startups to find out why they died. The number one reason, responsible for forty-two percent of failures, was building something nobody wanted.⁷ Founders had a map that said "customers will love this." The territory said otherwise. What is your map leaving out? Apply Inversion. How would you guarantee this business fails? Starting undercapitalized. Launching without testing the market. Ignoring early warning signs because you're emotionally invested. Now look at your current plan. Are you doing any of these things? Run a Premortem. It's two years from now. The business has failed. Write the story. Maybe you ran out of money at month fourteen. Maybe your key assumption about customer behavior turned out to be wrong. What happened? One tool gives you a perspective. Three tools working together give you something close to wisdom. This is exactly what the NASA engineers were doing, and what management wasn't. The engineers were constantly asking: Does our map match the territory? What would cause failure? What are we missing? Management was stuck in a single frame: schedule and budget. The difference between a one-in-one-hundred-thousand estimate and a one-in-one-hundred estimate? The difference between confidence and catastrophe? It was the thinking toolkit each group brought to the problem. Practice: The Three-Tool Test Here's how to put these tools to work this week. Identify a decision you're currently facing. Something real. Something that matters. Write it in one sentence. Check your map. What assumptions are you making? Where did they come from? Who might see this differently? Invert it. Set a timer for five minutes. List every way you could guarantee failure. Be ruthless. Run the premortem. It's one year from now. You chose wrong. Write two paragraphs explaining what happened. Find the overlap. Where do your inversion list and premortem story agree? That's your highest-risk blind spot. Take one action. What's one step you can take this week to address your biggest risk? Twenty minutes. One decision. Run it once, then try it again next week on a different decision. As you use these tools, you'll notice other mental models worth adding. Your toolkit will grow. Most decisions feel routine until they're not. That morning at NASA felt routine. Seven astronauts boarded Challenger. They trusted that the people making decisions had the right tools to think clearly. Management had maps. The engineers had territory. The distance between those two things was seventy-three seconds of flight time. The engineers saw it coming. Management didn't. Same data. Different tools. When your moment comes, and it will, which group will you be in?   If this episode helped you think differently, hit that Subscribe button and tap the bell on our YouTube channel so you don't miss what's coming next. And if you found value here, a Like helps more people discover this content. To learn more about mental models, listen to this week's show: Mental Models — Your Thinking Toolkit. Get the tools to fuel your innovation journey → Innovation.Tools https://innovation.tools [irp posts="4392" name="Subscribe to Podcast"] ENDNOTES Rogers Commission Report, Volume 2, Appendix F: "Personal Observations on Reliability of Shuttle" by Richard Feynman (1986). Management estimated 1 in 100,000; engineers and post-Challenger analysis found approximately 1 in 100. Konovalov, A. & Krajbich, I. "Mouse tracking reveals structure knowledge in the absence of model-based choice." Nature Communications (2020). Participants followed optimal strategies only about 20% of the time even when they demonstrably knew them. Korzybski, Alfred. Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics (1933). Wikipedia, "Nevermind"; SonicScoop, "Time and Cost of Making an Album Case Study: NIRVANA" (2017). Initial recording budget was $65,000. Mitchell, D.J., Russo, J.E., & Pennington, N. "Back to the future: Temporal perspective in the explanation of events." Journal of Behavioral Decision Making (1989). As cited in Klein, G. "Performing a Project Premortem." Harvard Business Review (2007). Schoemaker, P.J.H. & Day, G.S. "How to Make Sense of Weak Signals." MIT Sloan Management Review (2009). Describes how Enron Federal Credit Union survived the Enron collapse through scenario planning. CB Insights. "The Top 12 Reasons Startups Fail." Analysis of 111 startup post-mortems (2021). 42% cited "no market need" as a reason for failure.

Before the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, NASA management officially estimated the probability of catastrophic failure at one in one hundred thousand. That's about the same odds as getting struck by lightning while being attacked by a shark. The engineers working on the actual rockets? They estimated the risk at closer to one in […]

What if consistency were easy?  We pull back the curtain on how long‑term results come from better decision design, not iron will.  After years of yo‑yo attempts, I found three frameworks that made health, work, and daily choices surprisingly easy to sustain—even through parties, vacations, and stressful seasons.  If you are ready to stop white‑knuckling and start designing for habits that stick, this conversation gives you the playbook to build automaticity, instead of training willpower.  Subscribe, share this with a friend who is stuck in “try harder” mode, and leave a quick review to help more people discover decision models that make goals feel almost effortless.  Claim your sample Executive Coaching Session with Angela: https://calendly.com/angelashurina/executive-coaching-360  Text Me Your Thoughts and IdeasSupport the showBrought to you by Angela Shurina Behavior-First, Executive, Leadership and Optimal Performance Coach 360, Change Leadership & Culture Transformation Consultant

On today's episode, Clay is joined by Stig Brodersen to discuss the changes he's made to his portfolio, why he sold out of Evolution AB, and why he's bullish on Uber. Clay and Stig also discuss the mental models that Stig has picked up this year, and how our listeners can join us at our live events in Omaha during the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders' weekend. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:05:08 - The mental models that Stig has picked up this year 00:08:47 - Why Stig sold his position in Evolution AB 00:15:50 - Why Stig has continued to add to his new position in Uber 00:43:29 - The bear case for Uber, and what would break his investment thesis 01:04:52 - Stig's take on the AI race, and where Alphabet fits into the bigger picture 01:25:19 - How our listeners can join us in Omaha during the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders' weekend Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TIP Mastermind Community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Stig, Clay, Kyle, and the other community members. Learn how to join us in Omaha for the Berkshire meeting here. Read Stig's letters to We Study Billionaires about his track record. Mentioned Episode: TIP618: Stig's Portfolio Performance since 2014. Mentioned Episode: TIP684: Current Market Conditions & Poor Charlie's Almanack. Follow Clay on LinkedIn & X. Follow Stig on LinkedIn. Related ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠books⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ mentioned in the podcast. Ad-free episodes on our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Feed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. NEW TO THE SHOW? Get smarter about valuing businesses in just a few minutes each week through our newsletter, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Intrinsic Value Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Check out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠We Study Billionaires Starter Packs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow our official social media accounts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Try our tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TIP Finance Tool⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Enjoy exclusive perks from our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠favorite Apps and Services⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠best business podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our ⁠⁠⁠⁠sponsors⁠⁠⁠⁠: Simple Mining⁠ ⁠Human Rights Foundation⁠ ⁠Unchained⁠ ⁠HardBlock⁠ ⁠Linkedin Talent Solutions⁠ ⁠Public.com⁠ - see the full disclaimer ⁠here⁠. ⁠Amazon Ads⁠ ⁠Alexa+⁠ ⁠Shopify⁠ ⁠Vanta⁠ ⁠Onramp⁠ ⁠Abundant Mines⁠ ⁠Horizon⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm

Mallory sits down with one of the youngest AI creators to grace the show—eight-year-old Cora Budd, a third grader at Division Street Elementary. Together, they explore how Gen Alpha is already using AI not just for learning, but for bold, imaginative storytelling. From building entire fictional universes to designing merch and comics, Cora shows how her generation is blending creativity and technology in remarkable ways. This episode offers a glimpse into the future of AI in education, through the lens of a curious, confident third grader.Related Links:Parent Survey Finds Half of Gen Alpha Students Using AIGen AI and Gen Alpha: The impacts of growing up in an innovation cycleChildren's Mental Models of Generative Visual and Text Based AI Models  - - - -Connect With Our Host:Mallory Willsea https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/https://twitter.com/mallorywillseaAbout The Enrollify Podcast Network:The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you'll like other Enrollify shows too!Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at element451.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Santiago Roel Santos is the founder and CEO of Inversion a crypto-native holding company that acquires and transforms traditional businesses using blockchain technology. He is among the most active investors in crypto, having backed over 150 startups and many industry leaders over the past decade. Previously, Santiago was a Partner at ParaFi Capital, an institutional blockchain investor managing over $1 billion. He also held investment roles at Sageview Capital, a $2 billion growth equity firm focused on software and tech-enabled businesses, and at JP Morgan's Investment Banking Financial Sponsors Group. In this conversation, we discuss:- Santiago's recent substack post - You don't value casino flow like recurring software revenue  - Infrastructure vs application value - Crypto's valuation problem - Why most blockchains today are overvalued and how value will flow to the businesses built on crypto rails - Mental models - Systemic friction is a huge business opp - Techno-optimism is at an all-time high - Prediction markets are a better version of the media Inversion X: @inversion_capWebsite: inversioncap.comLinkedIn: InversionSantiago Roel SantosX: @santiagoroelLinkedIn: Santiago R.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------This episode is brought to you by PrimeXBT.PrimeXBT offers a robust trading system for both beginners and professional traders that demand highly reliable market data and performance. Traders of all experience levels can easily design and customize layouts and widgets to best fit their trading style. PrimeXBT is always offering innovative products and professional trading conditions to all customers.  PrimeXBT is running an exclusive promotion for listeners of the podcast. After making your first deposit, 50% of that first deposit will be credited to your account as a bonus that can be used as additional collateral to open positions. Code: CRYPTONEWS50 This promotion is available for a month after activation. Click the link below: PrimeXBT x CRYPTONEWS50FollowApple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon MusicRSS FeedSee AllFollowApple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon Music

Stewart Butterfield is the co-founder of Slack and Flickr, two of the most influential products in internet history. After selling Slack to Salesforce in one of tech's biggest acquisitions, he's been focused on family, philanthropy, and creative projects. In this rare podcast appearance, Stewart shares the product frameworks and leadership principles that most contributed to his success. From “utility curves” to “the owner's delusion” to “hyper-realistic work-like activities,” his thoughts on craft, strategy, and leadership apply to anyone building products or leading teams.We discuss:1. Hyper-realistic work-like activities2. The owner's delusion3. Utility curves4. “Don't make me think”5. “We don't sell saddles here”6. Tilting your umbrella7. When to pivot—Brought to you by:WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUsMetronome—Monetization infrastructure for modern software companiesLovable—Build apps by simply chatting with AI—Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/slack-founder-stewart-butterfield—My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/178320649/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation—Where to find Stewart Butterfield:• X: https://x.com/stewart• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/butterfield—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Stewart Butterfield(04:58) Stewart's current life and reflections(06:44) Understanding utility curves(10:13) The concept of divine discontent(15:11) The importance of taste in product design(19:03) Tilting your umbrella(28:32) Balancing friction and comprehension(45:07) The value of constant dissatisfaction(47:06) Embracing continuous improvement(50:03) The complexity of making things work(54:27) Parkinson's law and organizational growth(01:03:17) Hyper-realistic work-like activities(01:13:23) Advice on when to pivot(01:18:36) The importance of generosity in leadership(01:26:34) The owner's delusion—Referenced:• Slack: https://slack.com• Flickr: https://www.flickr.com• Cal Henderson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamcal• Blok: https://blok.so• Brandon Velestuk on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-velestuk-6018721b• Magic Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Link• Ticketmaster: https://www.ticketmaster.com• John Collison on X: https://x.com/collision• Patrick Collison on X: https://x.com/patrickc• Sundar Pichai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sundarpichai• Three Questions with Slack's CEO: https://www.technologyreview.com/2014/11/21/170330/three-questions-with-slacks-ceo• Six Sigma: https://www.6sigma.us• What is kaizen and how does Toyota use it?: https://mag.toyota.co.uk/kaizen-toyota-production-system• John Collison's post on X about passion projects: https://x.com/collision/status/1529452415346302976• Parkinson's law: https://www.economist.com/news/1955/11/19/parkinsons-law• We Don't Sell Saddles Here: https://medium.com/@stewart/we-dont-sell-saddles-here-4c59524d650d• Glitch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_(video_game)• IRC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC• This will make you a better decision-maker | Annie Duke (author of “Thinking in Bets” and “Quit,” former pro poker player): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/making-better-decisions-annie-duke• The woman behind Canva shares how she built a $42B company from nothing | Melanie Perkins: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-making-of-canva• Prisoner's dilemma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma• Stewart Little: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Little• Dharma and Greg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma_%26_Greg• Stewart's post on X referencing “the owner's delusion”: https://x.com/stewart/status/1223286626991796224—Recommended books:• Principles: Life and Work: https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Life-Work-Ray-Dalio/dp/1501124021• Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress―and How to Bring It Back: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Nothing-Works-Killed-Progress_and/dp/154170021X• Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: https://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-Ries/dp/0071373586• Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away: https://www.amazon.com/Quit-Power-Knowing-When-Walk/dp/0593422996—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

LEAVE A REVIEW if you liked this episode!!Let's Connect On Social Media!youtube.com/anthonyvicinotwitter.com/anthonyvicinoinstagram.com/theanthonyvicinohttps://anthonyvicino.comJoin an exclusive community of peak performers at Beyond the Apex University learning how to build a business, invest in real estate, and develop hyperfocus.www.beyondtheapex.com

In this episode of The Leader's Journey Podcast, Edie Lenz is joined by Ken Eriks and Chelsey Harmon of Churches Learning Change for a rich conversation about the power of mental models in congregational life. They explore what mental models are, how they shape the way churches function, and why unearthing and reforming them is essential for leading meaningful, lasting change. Through stories, examples, and practical processes, they describe how congregations can move from feeling stuck to discovering clarity, creativity, and a shared path forward.   Conversation Overview   What Mental Models Are and Why They Matter Different Perspectives and Conflicting Assumptions Why Churches Engage Mental Models Work Competing Models in a Congregation Unearthing Mental Models in Community Congregational Practices for Surfacing Mental Models Experimentation as a Pathway to Learning Reforming and Rooting New Mental Models Why This Work Takes Time, Reflection, and Community How to Connect With Churches Learning Change   Edie Lenz, Ken Ericks, and Chelsey Harmon are the staff of Churches Learning Change (CLC), an organization dedicated to helping congregations engage deep change through adaptive leadership, reflective practice, and intentional learning communities. Through coaching, content curation, and process facilitation, they equip churches to unearth, test, and reform the mental models shaping their life together. Their work integrates theology, systems thinking, and practical tools to support leaders and congregations seeking clarity, transformation, and renewed imagination.   Resources:    Churches Learning Change Learn more about Chelsey Harmon Edie Lenz at The Leader's Journey Learn more about Ken Eriks

Hosts: Mark Smith, Meg Smith

Today the tables get turned and I end up on the other end of the microphone as Steve Kwan from BJJ Mental Models picks my brain about the huge benefits that arise to treating your jiu-jitsu submissions as positions first, and submissions second. I promise this will make perfect sense by the end of the episode, and may change how you approach your training. Check out my positional approach to mastering the Kimura and tapping out more training partners and competition opponents at https://www.grapplearts.com/kimura And check out Steve Kwan's excellent BJJ Mental Models podcast at https://www.bjjmentalmodels.com Thanks! Stephan

Welcome back to the Homeward podcast. I'm so excited to share today's conversation with beloved dream client + inspiration, Jenni Gritters.  Jenni is a business coach and strategist for solopreneurs seeking simplicity and sustainability. She's also a writer, mama of two red-heads, frequent hiker, sourdough baker, podcaster and the author of The Sustainable Solopreneur. She lives in Central Oregon and was formerly a journalist for more than a decade before stepping into her coaching work. We spent the last 2 years doing deep work together and working on, as she calls it, her Mental Model- which has allowed her to create her dream life doing her dream work. In today's conversation we celebrate her brand new book (it's out TODAY!) The Sustainable Solopreneur, plus Jenni shares the journey that got her to this moment and who she needed to become to allow it all to unfold.  I can't wait for you to listen.  Links Mentioned:  Get your copy of The Sustainable Solopreneur Learn more about Jenni on her website: jennigritters.com Follow Jenni over on Instagram: @jennigritters   Tag me in your big shifts + takeaways: @amberlilyestrom Did you hear something you loved here today?! Leave a Review + Subscribe via iTunes  

Dan struggles with how to think about YouTube viewership.

Rethinking the problem and our mindset from scratch when it comes to this whole life thing. What if the problem isn't your schedule—it's your metaphor? We've inherited a story about work and life as opposing forces, locked in eternal combat for our limited hours. This story feels true because everyone tells it. But stories shape reality. Consider this: your life contains multitudes. Work, yes. But also relationships, creativity, health, community, growth. None of these oppose each other inherently. A parent who calls their family "their life" earns respect. Someone who calls work "their life" earns concern. Same language. Different judgment. The opportunity lies in reimagining the entire framework—from balance to integration, from opposition to synergy. This episode explores: How the words we choose create the reality we experience Why integration creates compound satisfaction that balance never could The path from competing priorities to mutually reinforcing life architecture NEW SHOW - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn about the evolving story of the human species and our ideas told in chronological order. The podcast is full of fun facts, surprising stories and philosophical insights. Found on all major podcast players: Spotify - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/1Fj3eFjEoAEKF5lWQxPJyT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-change-the-world-the-history-of-innovation/id1815282649⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@HowToChangeTheWorldPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ RSS feed - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/682b3b86696b5d1232d698a8⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- UPGRADE to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠:

Are you leading your construction team with focus and clarity—or feel like you're constantly putting out fires all day?   In today's episode, Bradley Hartmann shares game-changing lessons from Poor Charlie's Almanack—a book that has quietly shaped some of the sharpest decision-makers in history.    If you're struggling with accountability, resistance to change, or making better decisions under pressure, this episode offers a rare blueprint to lead smarter without burning out.   In this episode, you will: Discover Charlie Munger's mental models to reduce resistance and drive accountability in your team. Learn how to reverse engineer project failures using the concept of "inversion"—and avoid costly mistakes. Get a practical checklist to elevate your leadership and simplify high-stakes decisions on the job. A synopsis of Munger's 25 tendencies of human misjudgment (see link below from the Novel Investor)    https://novelinvestor.com/charlie-mungers-tendencies-of-human-misjudgment/   Press play to learn how one book can reshape your approach to leadership and help you build smarter, more resilient construction teams.    This episode is brought to you by The Simple Sales Pipeline® —the most efficient way to organize and value any construction sales rep's roster of customers and prospects in under 30 minutes once every 30 days. *** If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your feedback will help us on our mission to bring the construction community closer together. If you have suggestions for improvements, topics you'd like the show to explore, or have recommendations for future guests, do not hesitate to contact us directly at info@bradleyhartmannandco.com.  

It's common to agonize over decisions, but a few years ago I realized I was asking the wrong question entirely. Instead of "Did I make the right decision?" I started asking "How do I make better decisions faster?" That shift led me to discover and study decision-making frameworks - and these three have that completely changed how I approach business and life. 1:22 - One-way vs. Two-way doors 4:39 - The Lindy Effect 8:28 - The Chick Test 12:49 - Waitlist for writing your book You can watch this episode on YouTube here » RESOURCES & LINKS: Waitlist for Book Accelerator: http://mikekim.com/writeyourbook My new book, Own Your Brand, Own Your Career: » CONNECT WITH ME Website Instagram TikTok X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook

Mohnish Pabrai's Interview session with Steven Bartlett at The Diary of a CEO on July 13, 2025.                                                         (00:00:26) - Cloning as a mental model; Bill Gates and Sam Walton (00:05:11) - Entrepreneurs do not take risk (00:09:23) - Focus on offering gaps  (00:13:11) - Understand customer requirement; Google Glass vs. Meta (00:16:20) - Make your business cost-effective; Walmart & LVMH (00:18:24) - Getting your music out; Bill Gates & Paul Allen (00:21:40) - Find the calling in your life (00:23:54) - My Owner's Manual (00:29:04) - Capital investment in start-ups; Sir Richard Branson (00:36:59) - Successfully reaching out to stakeholders (00:41:16) - My family startups in the childhood; Cold calling (00:46:21) - Adam Grant: Givers, takers and matchers (00:48:26) - Recruiting the right people; Elon Musk & Steve Jobs (00:50:43) - Fire fast, Hire slow (00:51:54) - The three pillars of investing (00:53:01) - Sale of Manhattan by Indians in 1623 & Rule of 72 (00:58:07) - Rules of investing; Saving the first dollar; Index investing (01:01:52) - The Dhandho Investor; Minimising risk with intact returns (01:06:20) - Heads I win, Tails I don't lose too much (01:07:15) - Offering gaps (01:11:30) - Business moat (01:12:29) - Apple (01:14:07) - Traits of great founders; IKEA (01:16:49) - Fewer, bigger and infrequent bets; Venture businesses vs. Stock markets (01:19:07) - Day trade (01:19:34) - Circle the wagons (01:22:00) - Learning from mistakes; Fiat Chrysler's Ferrari (01:24:31) - Golf The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser. Views expressed on Chai with Pabrai are exclusively those of Mohnish Pabrai and not of any affiliated firm or organization.

Is copying Warren Buffett the fastest way to get rich? Mohnish Pabrai reveals the strategy to turn 1K into 10K in 30 days, quit your job safely, build passive income, and master the step-by-step formula millionaires actually use! Mohnish Pabrai is a renowned value investor and founder of Pabrai Funds, who is best known for his successful implementation of Warren Buffett's value investing principles. He is also the bestselling author of books such as, ‘The Dhandho Investor', which guides people on low-risk, high-return investing.  He explains:  ⬛ Why building passive income is simpler than you think ⬛ How to build a business or portfolio with no risk ⬛ Why copying ideas made Mohnish a millionaire ⬛ How to find low-risk, high-reward investment opportunities ⬛ Why 99% of people follow the wrong advice about money 00:00 Intro 02:27 Mental Models for Business and Investing 14:08 Never Start a Company for This Reason, It'll Fail 16:26 How to Focus Your Sales and Pitches 20:53 The Importance of Attention to Detail 26:39 Why the Low Engagement in 9–5 Jobs 34:44 How to Reach Financial Freedom 43:10 You Have to Reach Out to Thousands of Places 45:28 Signal vs. Noise Ratio 47:48 Ads 52:37 The 3 Categories All Humans Fall Into 56:35 How to Scale Your Company as a Solopreneur 59:25 Mastering the Art of Hiring 01:01:29 Hire Slow, Fire Fast 01:03:00 Do People Build More Wealth from Business or Investing? 01:06:12 The Magic of Compounding 01:11:10 How to Invest in Indexes 01:14:01 Ads 01:16:10 Why Do They Call You the Dhandho Investor? 01:17:45 The Patels' Framework to Take Over the U.S. Motel Industry 01:21:09 Heads I Win, Tails I Don't Lose Much 01:22:07 What Is the New Opportunity in the AI Era? 01:26:34 Business Moats 01:27:46 Loyalty Points Models 01:29:54 Is Apple a Good Investment? 01:34:55 The Importance of Making Fewer Big and Infrequent Bets 01:37:35 Is Day Trading Worth It? Can You Make Money from It? 01:38:16 Circling the Wagons Follow Mohnish: Instagram - https://bit.ly/4lCFFO6  YouTube - https://bit.ly/4fKRroh  You can purchase Mohnish's book, ‘The Dhandho Investor: The Low-Risk Value Method to High Returns', here: https://amzn.to/4mUZz88  The Diary Of A CEO: ⬛ Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/  ⬛ Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://smarturl.it/DOACbook  ⬛ The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt  ⬛ The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition): https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb  ⬛ Get email updates - https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt  ⬛ Follow Steven - https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb  Sponsors: Fiverr - https://www.fiverr.com/diary with code DIARY for 10% off your first order Netflix - http://netflix.com/title/81725526  KetoneIQ - Visit https://ketone.com/STEVEN for 30% off your subscription order Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, Kyle Grieve discusses the power of mental models, how they sharpen our thinking, and how they improve our decision-making in investing and everyday life. He explores various key concepts in general thinking, including the circle of competence, inversion, first-principles thinking, probabilistic thinking, and more. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: 00:00 - Intro 02:01 - What exactly are mental models? 04:37 - The three failures people have with interacting with reality. 08:43 - A simple 6-step framework for making mentals into a habit. 17:45 - How to utilize what you already know to gain an edge. 29:40 - The importance of thinking in first principles to improve your ability to innovate and simplify. 36:10 - How to use thought experiments to analyze a business. 41:14 - Why using second-order thinking can rapidly enhance your quality of thinking. 49:46 - How probabilistic thinking helps make sense of a dynamic world. 58:54 - Why spending time thinking about a problem backwards can improve your upside. 01:04:57 - Why you should focus on simple solutions over complex ones. And so much more! Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join Clay and a select group of passionate value investors for a retreat in Big Sky, Montana. Learn more ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join the exclusive ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TIP Mastermind Community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Stig, Clay, Kyle, and the other community members. Buy a copy of The Great Mental Models Vol. 1 here. Read Shane Parrish's blog here here. Follow Kyle on ⁠X⁠ and ⁠LinkedIn⁠. Check out all the books mentioned and discussed in our podcast episodes ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Feed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. NEW TO THE SHOW? Get smarter about valuing businesses in just a few minutes each week through our newsletter, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Intrinsic Value Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Check out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠We Study Billionaires Starter Packs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow our official social media accounts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Try our tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TIP Finance Tool⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Enjoy exclusive perks from our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠favorite Apps and Services⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠best business podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our ⁠⁠⁠sponsors⁠⁠⁠: ⁠⁠SimpleMining⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Hardblock⁠⁠ ⁠⁠AnchorWatch⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Onramp⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Human Rights Foundation⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Unchained⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Intuit⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Shopify⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Vanta⁠⁠ ⁠⁠reMarkable HELP US OUT! Help us reach new listeners by leaving us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠rating and review⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! It takes less than 30 seconds, and really helps our show grow, which allows us to bring on even better guests for you all! Thank you – we really appreciate it!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support our show by becoming a premium member! ⁠⁠https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm