Big, fast changes happen only when they’re forced by necessity. World War II began on horseback in 1939 and ended with nuclear fission in 1945. NASA was created in 1958, two weeks after the Soviets launched Sputnik, and landed on the moon just eleven years later. Stuff like that rarely happens that fast without fear as a motivator.

Economist Per Bylund once noted: “The concept of economic value is easy: whatever someone wants has value, regardless of the reason (if any).” Not utility, not profits—just whether people want it or not, for any reason. So much of what happens in the economy is rooted in emotions, which can, at times, be nearly impossible to make sense of. To me

There’s an important difference between someone whose specific talent should be celebrated versus someone whose ideas should never be questioned.

The biggest news, the biggest risks, the most consequential events are always what you don’t see coming.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once said that he’s often asked what’s going to change in the next ten years. “I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next ten years?’ ” he said. “And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two.”

Growth always fights against competition that slows its rise. New ideas fight for attention, business models fight incumbents, skyscrapers fight gravity. There’s always a headwind. But everyone gets out of the way of decline. Some might try to step in and slow the fall, but it doesn’t attract masses of outsiders who rush in to push back in the

Just whoever tells a story that catches people’s attention and gets them to nod their heads is the one who tends to be rewarded.

What was so unique about the 1950s was the ability for people to find financial balance in a way that before and since has felt elusive. World War II left its mark on America economically and socially. Between 1942 and 1945, virtually all wages were set by the National War Labor Board, which favored flatter pay—a smaller gap between low-income and

An important thing about this topic is that most great things in life—from love to careers to investing—gain their value from two things: patience and scarcity. Patience to let something grow, and scarcity to admire what it grows into.