Ilana Ettinger

On being an early adopter of organic cotton in Patagonia's garments: “The constraints we place on ourselves require innovation that then sets us apart from other companies”

What others may see as a moat, we may more earnestly see as “stickiness” or “defensibility” rather than as an outright moat. As we wrote about in  “What is a “Moat” and why does it matter?” , we define moats as  “Proven, perpetuating and permanent unit economic advantages from peers within a competitive set” . These moats need to be rooted in

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A world without teachers or dock-workers would soon be in trouble, and even one without science fiction writers or ska musicians would clearly be a lesser place. It’s not entirely clear how humanity would suffer were all private equity CEOs, lobbyists, PR researchers, actuaries, telemarketers, bailiffs or legal consultants to similarly vanish.... See more

Peter Thiel has said that the best startups are like a cult that believes in something true.

Knowledge work is less structured, more spontaneous, and harder to teach. “Our knowledge,” says Glaeser, “builds on things that we learn from people around us.“ Being close to other knowledge workers makes it easier for us to learn new things and develop new ideas. As such, knowledge work is best done in cities.

The bottom line is that 7 Rules of Power provides a clear roadmap for increasing your personal power and status over other people, if that’s what you’re looking to achieve. But it neglects to wrestle fully with the negative impacts of the tactics it espouses.