Sunday Brain Food: a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and insights for life and business.

FS

To control the game, one tries to control as much of the board as possible. At the outset, using your pieces to seize the middle of the playing field is a great strategy, because it gives you the widest possible vantage point from which to control the movement of the other pieces. Both Rockefeller and the studio system in Hollywood employed this strategy successfully, allowing them to anticipate change and maneuver effectively for decades.

— Seizing The Middle

"Sevens kill companies. When someone has a four, you just know they’re not doing the job, they’re not up for it, and let’s take them out of the system. But the problem with a seven is that you don’t get to that point, because that person will have glimmers of being able to do the job … They’ll have these things that are redeeming. But because they have those things, two things happen. One, there’s an opportunity cost of that seat. When someone that’s a seven is holding the seat, it means you don’t have a nine having that seat. Two is that, and I see this all the time, the execution of a team is often brought down by the weakest link. An entire team can be brought down by that seven."

— Sarah Tavel

Timeless Insight

"Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas."

— Marie Curie

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Stay safe,

Shane

P.S. This illusion broke my brain.

P.P.S I've been unexpectedly enjoying this book.