“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” — MLK Jr.

We feel that we can have a positive impact on the world and are willing to accept the responsibility that comes with the decision to act."

The people working with you want to know why you get out of bed every morning. They want to know what you’re willing to fight for. They want to know about your past and what you’re about.

Keep your eyes open when meeting new people, because someday they might be just the collaborator your project needs.

Trust is earned by taking responsibility and keeping your promises. It is destroyed by your actions or words conflicting with others’ expectations of you.

An asymmetry exists between the rate at which you can create and destroy trust. One example of dishonesty or failed follow-through erodes more trust than one instance where you kept your word or did what you said you would builds it.

“Everything around you that you call ’life’ was made up by people who were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” — Steve Jobs

We should seek out “Goldilocks challenges”—ones that push us hard enough to help us grow and enable us to create a positive impact without breaking our spirits.

A person who promises, doesn’t deliver, but apologizes made a mistake. A person who promises, doesn’t deliver, and doesn’t admit they made a mistake is a liar.

You can’t get around the truth: if you want to excel at anything, you need deliberate practice.

Until you experience the depth involved in performing at a high level, you cannot truly understand it.

Realities Of Leadership
Stress is the fundamental issue. Most of these other behaviors are poor substitutes for proper stress management.

I would have to ruthlessly prioritize to live up to my ideal in any of my pursuits.

1 percent of all users produce close to all of the content on most online platforms—and yet there I was, thinking that the people I was interacting with on there were the majority, that they best represented my constituents.

At the time, I thought I had a responsibility to be an outspoken advocate. But as time has passed, I have come to primarily view my behavior as immature and naive.

I would struggle to fall asleep and curse myself for my coffee consumption, my lack of exercise, and my failure to live up to my ideal. I felt like a shell of my former self. I had lost control over my life.

While in Hong Kong, I entered a period of my life that was much more introverted. I decided not to make a bunch of new friends. I abstained from going out and partying. I relaxed and enjoyed the calm of a lack of responsibilities. I focused on learning as much Mandarin as I could.

While this chapter has been focused on the pain I experienced as a result of my decision to take responsibility, as well as my poor management of the associated stress, you should understand that I have no regrets.

The facts are what they are, but your story about them will influence your trajectory.

It was not an easy process, but continuing to suffer was not an option.

All Models Are Wrong, Some Are Useful
Since all models of complex systems are imperfect, we cannot predict the specific outcome of the decisions we make as leaders. However, to solve complex problems, we still need to use imperfect models.

But what I’ve developed is a necessary skepticism of the models I used to consider infallible.

To say that a minimum wage policy is universally good or bad would imply that we live in a world where we can compute something like the pool problem.

The more local a leader is, the more easily they can be held accountable and the more likely they are to be directly affected by their own policy. We should all want the chef to eat their own cooking.

many problems stem from a lack of communication between the various stakeholders.

Our world is full of people who advocate for the universal good or bad of policies by cherry-picking examples and speaking generically.

On the other extreme, you have people who are nihilistic and aimless—people who have no guiding focus or feeling of purpose.

When you start any project, there are two initial questions to focus on: •What problem are you solving? •Whose problem are you solving?

The Power Law of You
The future is inherently uncertain, and a probabilistic understanding of the world can help us to think critically about a range of possible outcomes and inform our decision-making.

In this world of power laws, concentrations of value will be captured disproportionately by a small subsection of our society.

To make a living as a craft person, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, or entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.

As a society, we need people to raise the alarm and ensure we’re not lulled into a false sense of security.

Cynical nihilism is different from pessimism in this regard. It is a state of fatalism that finds its roots in despair. If you feel powerless to make an impact on the world, internalize that belief, and act (or don’t act) with that in mind, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I can have the greatest circle of influence by focusing on problems that are sufficiently challenging, without becoming overwhelmed by the problems beyond my direct influence—Goldilocks problems.

How would I be able to help influence the future if I was lying in bed depressed? Would those who are my ideological enemies not hope, or even plan, to try to shock and overwhelm me (indirectly)?

An indefinite pessimist looks out onto a bleak future, but he has no idea what to do about it… A definite pessimist believes the future can be known, but since it will be bleak, he must prepare for it… To an indefinite optimist, the future will be better, but he doesn’t know how exactly, so he won’t make any specific plans.

The only reason any of us are alive is because our ancestors decided to give birth to and raise children. They did this even while living lives of material deprivation, often coupled with the most brutal tragedies.

As you attempt to plan for your future, you should consider a model at the intersections of the deterministic and probabilistic. The concept is that of the “skill stack.”

If you think you can shirk social convention because of an economic or psychological theory, I would encourage you to be a bit more skeptical. While there are antiquated social customs, the ones that exist to encourage people to treat others with dignity and respect exist for a reason.

Instead of naively seeking to maximize short-term “utility,” a deeper understanding of economic theory and leadership would suggest that you try to use each interaction as an opportunity to think win-win, develop your social skills, and cultivate a way of living that improves the lives of others.

80/20 Habits of Highly Effective Leaders
Collins recommends keeping a pocket-sized notebook ready in which you can casually log these observations.

Exercise was the domino that pushed me to make those other lifestyle changes. Once I truly made exercise a habit, I felt healthier than I have in my entire life.

Whatever you do, don’t let the “need” for more research become an excuse to not get started.

Reframing has powerful personal applications. Exercise is training to become stronger for life. Meditation is finding silence to train your awareness. Taking a cold shower is training your ability to push through discomfort.

My newfound ability to start my day with a powerful routine was unrelated to the type of person I am. I simply decided that I wanted to do it and took the steps to make it happen.

If exercise information is a rabbit hole, then diet is a tunnel to the center of the earth.

This journal is worthless. It has absolutely no value. No one is going to buy it from me and I’m not interested in selling it. It is my journal and I can fill it full of any nonsense that I want to. I could write the same sentence again and again and that would be fine…

The easiest way to get started is to write garbage and nonsense until you decide it would be less painful to just write about what you’re afraid of.

Rereading books is often even more worthwhile than reading a new book—the book may stay the same, but we don’t.

Avoid telling yourself that you need to read anything because of someone else’s recommendation, or that it’s a waste of your time to read fiction that keeps you turning the pages.

When you have so many responsibilities and demands on your time, removing behaviors is easier than adding new ones.

“We lost the ability to be still, our capacity for idleness. They have lost the ability to be alone, their capacity for solitude. And losing solitude, what have they lost? First, the propensity for introspection, that examination of the self that the Puritans, and the Romantics, and the modernists (and Socrates, for that matter) placed at the center of spiritual life—of wisdom, of conduct.” —WILLIAM DERESIEWICZ, THE END OF SOLITUDE

For most Americans, including myself, the primary criteria of deciding to adopt a technology seem to be as follows: Has it been marketed to me? Are others adopting it? Can I afford it?"

Being imaginative and dreaming is absolutely important. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise and don’t let considerations of “the practical” mute or dull your ability to dream.—PAUL J. BURGETT, MUSICIAN, COMMUNITY LEADER