The more and better access everyone has to tools, the clearer it becomes that the bottleneck to great work is not knowledge, it's not information, it's not even intelligence. It's that intangible quality, call it taste, creativity, judgment, courage, intuition, agency. We've all heard the quote from Thomas Edison where he says, "Genius is 1% inspir... See more

In what ways do we contribute to the world?

Ivan posits an elegant framework to the above question that breaks down value into three components:

1. Our capabilities — these are the skills and knowledge that we possess. Can you build a fire? Calculate the trajectory of a rocket? Craft a website? Determine who stole the cookie among a group of kindergar

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I think of finding high-leverage work as having two interrelated components:

• Agency: i.e. some combination of the initiative/proactiveness to try to make things happen, and relentlessness and resourcefulness to make sure you’ll succeed.


• Taste: you need a good intuition for what things will and won’t work well to try. Taste is important both “in the

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But the more and better access everyone has to tools, the clearer it becomes that the final bottleneck to great work is not knowledge or information. Heck it’s not even intelligence—it’s that elusive, intangible, sublime quality—call it taste, imagination, creativity, courage, judgment, intuition, agency.