High agency

If someone has low agency, it’s usually because, in the past, having that second dialogue led to bad experiences.

You teach agency by letting your people experience that having that second dialogue leads to good outcomes.

You gotta be understanding who you are and where you're at in life right now. You absolutely have to be figuring out how you can increase your capacity to influence your own thoughts and behaviors as well as your faith in your ability to handle a wide range of tasks and situations.

Agencymaxxing happens through doing things. You can think all you wa... See more

“One of the things that Paul Graham used to say that I think never became venerated advice to the degree it should have is this idea that you should try to be relentlessly resourceful. Surprisingly often, if you just keep looking for new attack vectors on a problem in front of you, you can figure it out. And I think this is one of the most importan... See more

How to teach agency

First, let me tell you how you would do it in an idyllic world.

1. Assign one of your subordinates the smallest task requiring agency you can think of. It has to be job-related and meaningful, but it doesn’t have to be big. In fact, the smaller, the better. For example, “Find two ways we can lower our costs and verify their feasibi

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Vague Trap Escape Route: Define the problem in simple words --out of your head

Write your thoughts down. Draw the problem. Use a whiteboard. Create a spreadsheet. Talk out loud to a smart person. Go for a walk or run with a specific question.

The act of transforming out of your head to another medium acts like a filtration system, removing the vague... See more

And it’s really easy to miss this point. It’s easy to always think “I can do this tomorrow” or “this is not a priority” or “this would never work”. And it’s hard, because sometimes those thoughts are correct. But I find that, unless I put in active effort, I’m the kind of person who’ll always have those thoughts. I’ll never actually act upon my goa... See more

Midwit Trap Escape Route: What would the guy on the left do? Find it via inversion.

Step 1 - Stop trying to be the guy on the right - The midwit mistake is to try and be the smart guy on the right. ‍

Step 2 - Become the guy on the left - Find the simple ideas via inversion. Flip the problem around. And take them seriously before adding any complexit... See more

It's impossible to imagine someone breaking you out of a 3rd world jail cell without all three.

If they can't think clearly, they will charge ahead with the first bad plan that pops into their head.

If they lack a bias for action, they'll never move their ideas from theory into the real world.

If they aren't disagreeable, they'll quit and conform wh... See more