1: Feeling anxious or overwhelmed? Or, perhaps, a bit too full of ourselves?

The stoic Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius has some advice for us:

“Often think of the rapidity with which things pass by and disappear. . . For substance is like a river in continual flow, and the activities of things are in constant change, and the causes work in infinite varieties; and there is hardly anything which stands … continue reading

1: To answer this question, we must step back in time.

“Imagine a world in which our only reliable options for a quick lunch across much of the country were fast-food joints like McDonald’s and Burger King,” Panera Bread Company founder  Ron Shaich writes in his powerful book Know What Matters.

If we were born after the year 1990, this reality is likely hard to comprehend.

Because now there’s … continue reading

1: Billionaire Charlie Munger, the longtime vice chairman and “right-hand man” to Warren Buffett at  Berkshire Hathaway, was well known for his fiercely independent thinking.

He took pleasure in rejecting the “wisdom of the herd” and going his own way. Regardless of what others thought or what they might be doing.

Yet, equally important, although perhaps not as well known, was Charlie’s willingness to change his mind when … continue reading

1: “Invert.  Always invert.” Charlie Munger loved to quote the great algebraist Carl Jacobi.

Inversion is defined as: “A reversal of position, order, form, or relationship.”

Charlie is telling us the power of “turning the question backward.”  Because “many hard problems are best solved only when they are addressed backward” he writes in  Poor Charlie’s Almanack. 

So that was his approach when he was invited to give a … continue reading

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.  One cannot help but be in awe when contemplating the mysteries of eternity, of life, of  the marvelous structure of reality.  It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of  this mystery every day.  Never lose a holy curiosity.” -Albert Einstein… continue reading

Peter D. Kaufman doesn’t shy away from the big questions.

Yesterday we examined his question: Is there a simple two-word description that accurately describes how everything in the world works?

Today, we will consider a second question: What’s the most powerful force that we as human beings, both as individuals and groups, can potentially harness towards achieving our ends in life?

Peter’s answer?

“The most powerful force in the universe is compound … continue reading