Welcome to Thursday.
Knowledge
4th Branch: CEOs are now the 4th branch of government (via Felix Salmon). In a system of checks and balances, the private sector demonstrated its ability to rapidly check presidential power using the power of their platforms. There’s a new era of centrist corporate governance that reacts strongly and swiftly to emerging threats to the pillars of American capitalism. In the short term, one might argue that CEOs have helped to steady a swaying nation. In the long term, it remains to be seen whether outsized public influence from CEOs is healthy for our democracy.
American capitalism is based on a foundation of legal contracts, all of which ultimately rely on the strength and stability of the government. When a sitting president threatens that stability by inciting an insurrectionist mob that storms the legislature, corporate America will do everything in its power to restrain him.
Wisdom
Failed Billionaire: Sahil Lavingia, founder of Gumroad, is a self-proclaimed failure. He set out to build a billion-dollar company, abandoning his stock options as Pinterest’s #2 employee, and fell short. Way short. But to hear him tell it, he was wrong to shoot for unicorn status. There are ways to be happy without 100x outcomes and still be massively successful. It starts with creating new value for a group of people.
Instead of pretending to be some sort of product visionary, trying to build a billion-dollar company, I’m just focused on […] creating value […] I still want to have as large an impact as possible, but I don’t need to create it directly or capture it in the form of revenue and valuation.
Inspiration
Be Relentless: It’s simple. Don’t stop, and after a while, you’ll be ahead. Endurance plus speed is unbeatable. And when you’ve reached your goal, rest. Athletes are masters at alternating between states of relentlessness and rest. Studying the habits of the most successful athletes in the world, like LeBron, can teach you a lot about how to perform better in work and life.
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Notes
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