Sol Price: The Retail Legend Who Taught Bezos & Walmart Their Secret Playbook [Outliers]

Parenting expert and best selling author Barbara Coloroso shares her three foundational principles of child-rearing, how to get kids to be accountable for their actions, and what we can do as parents to raise confident, happy children.   Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/   Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/   Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Okt 20182h 5min

In a world that changes at a dizzying rate, effective leaders need to develop the skills to keep up. Developmental coach and author Jennifer Garvey Berger shares 3 habits to ensure continual growth, accelerated learning and deepened relationships of trust.   Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/   Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/   Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Okt 20181h 31min

The world-renowned surgeon, writer, and researcher Atul Gawande shares powerful lessons about creating a culture of safe learning, the critical difference between a coach and a mentor, and how to ensure constant improvement in key areas of your personal and professional life.   Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/   Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/   Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2 Okt 20181h 21min

Today, I interview fellow Ottawan and the founder and CEO of Shopify, Tobi Lütke. In case you’re still new to the internet, Shopify is the largest ecommerce platform that allows people to easily set up online storefronts to sell everything from jewelry to surfing lessons. Shopify began as a simple two man operation selling snowboards online, but it became clear rather quickly that it had the potential to grow into much more. Now Shopify employs more than 4,000 people and supports more than 600,000 businesses online. It’s a remarkable story, with a remarkable leader at the helm. There was so much I wanted to talk to Tobi about that we hop around quite a bit. Here are a few of the topics we discuss: Tobi’s thoughts on how video games helped him prepare to run a company How selling snowboards online slowly transitioned to the creation of one of the biggest tech companies in the world Why Tobi intentionally headquartered Shopify outside of Silicon Valley and how that fits into his overall growth strategy One of the most underrated resources Tobi leans on to mine nuggets of wisdom when trying to get insight or solve a problem The hard and valuable lessons Tobi learned as they scaled from a 2 employee company to a 4,000 employee company What the “Tobi test” is, and how it helps Shopify team members become more adaptable, unified and prepared when things go haywire How employees use the “trust battery” and how it fosters better teamwork, communication, and productivity throughout the company The benefits of hiring employees in a “secondary market” as opposed to a “primary market” and how that contributes to the unique culture at Shopify Tobi’s decision-making process and his philosophy on making quick vs analytic decisions Tobi’s unusual morning routine that gets him in the right mindset to tackle the day His optimistic view of AI and machine learning and how they will impact the way we do things in the future And more… Whether you’re building a business of your own, want to create a more dynamic and unified culture at work, or just like hearing entrepreneur war stories, this episode will not disappoint. Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/   Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/   Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Sep 20181h 47min

Today’s guest is Stratechery author and founder Ben Thompson. If you’re an investor in Silicon Valley, work at a tech start-up, or just love to geek out on technology and business analysis, odds are good that Stratechery is on your short list of must-read blogs. What started as a side project, quickly ballooned into one of the most influential tech blogs on the web. The New York Times called Stratechery, “one of the most interesting sources of analysis on any subject.” I agree. In this interview, Ben and I cover a lot of ground. Here are a few of the things we discuss: Learn once and for all how to pronounce Stratechery. :) How Ben’s business model was developed and how he massaged it over the years to become what it is today The one metric Ben looks at each day to gauge the health of his business How Ben deals with people who rip off his work and pass it off as their own Ben’s thoughts on pricing, free trials, content and other important aspects of online membership sites How Ben structures his day to churn out such incredible content so consistently How Ben handles being wrong on his site, and his process for screening his work for confirmation bias How the internet has changed the traditional view of supply and demand, and what companies should do about it What Ben would teach an MBA class about internet strategy (if you do any business online, you need to hear this) What it would take for a start-up to overtake Google or Apple, and the vulnerabilities that all companies share, no matter how big or profitable The new era of technology and how companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and Amazon are doing it right (and what you can do in your own business to take full advantage) This is one of the most jam-packed interviews I’ve done on the Knowledge Project. Ben’s answers are so thoughtful and informative that you’re going to want to have a notebook handy.   Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/   Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/   Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Sep 20181h 41min

There are only a handful of websites that I read religiously. One of those is MarginalRevolution.com, started by my next guest, Tyler Cowen. Other than hosting one of the most popular economic blogs in the world, Tyler is also an economics professor at George Mason University, a regular New York Times columnist, and the author of over a dozen books, including Average is Over, and The Complacent Class. With such a prolific guest, it’s no wonder that we cover a lot of ground. In this episode, we discuss: How the future of labor will look drastically different than it does today, and what we can do to future-proof our livelihood The pros and cons of virtual reality and the impact it could have on society The fate of newspapers and how information will be more and more “bundled” according to our tastes and preferences Race relations in the world, and how in many ways we’ve taken discouraging steps backwards How we’re losing touch with the physical world, and some of the symptoms that indicate that we could be in for a rough ride What Tyler suggests doing to improve decision making and how important (and rare) that skill will be in the coming years Tyler’s advice to parents about how to foster resilience, tenacity and internal drive in their children Tyler’s “quake books” and the reading process he’s developed over the years that keeps him sharp Why giving books as gifts can be dangerous The one skill every person should possess before Googling anything What playing competitive chess as a child taught Tyler about how he thinks and views the world today And much more, including Tyler’s thoughts on minimum wage, bitcoin, and his favorite television programs. If you want to upgrade your thinking so you’re prepared for the brave new world that’s rapidly developing before our eyes, you won’t want to miss this fascinating episode.   Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/   Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/   Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21 Aug 201857min

My guest for this short episode of The Knowledge Project is a man who wears many hats. Ali Almossawi is a San Francisco-based author of books on critical thinking and computer science education, and the creator of An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments. He is also a principal engineer at Apple and was formerly employed as a data visualization engineer by Mozilla. His books have been read by 3 million readers, translated into 20 languages, and have sold over a quarter million copies in print. This interview is only 20 minutes along, but there was a lot I wanted to cover, so we move pretty fast. Specifically, we cover: The unique format Ali chooses when writing a book to help people understand the concepts more deeply The place for empathy in algorithmic thinking and how we can be more empathetic in our daily interactions with each other Ali’s note taking process and how he tracks the ideas and topics he’d like to explore Ali’s daily routine and the “algorithms” he uses to make the most of his day The single habit that has the most profound impact on Ali’s day to day The cost/benefit of sharing on social media and the impact it has on society as a whole And more. If you’ve ever wanted to improve the way you process information, think more clearly and make better decisions, you won’t want to miss this interview.   Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/   Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/   Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Aug 201820min

I have wanted to do this interview for a long time. On this episode, I am thrilled to have Annie Duke, former professional poker player and author of the new book, Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts. Annie has a very interesting background that makes her uniquely qualified to speak about high-level decision making. As an author, speaker, world-class poker player, and academic in the fields of psychology and cognitive theory, Annie understands the intersection of luck, skill, and making decisions in uncertain, chaotic environments better than most people on the planet. This is a whirlwind of an episode, and we cover all kinds of fascinating topics, including: The strange circumstances that shifted Annie’s path from finishing a Ph.D. in linguistics to becoming a professional poker player What it was like to be a female poker player in a predominantly male sport (especially before poker had become socially acceptable) What drew Annie into such a high stakes, time-pressured environment and why she felt like poker was the perfect fit for her How her graduate work in psychology informed the way she approached the game of poker — and helped her rack up wins How she finds the signal in a very noisy stream of feedback The big mistakes Annie noticed other players making that were stalling their progress in the game but allowed her to make giant leaps forward The role that mental models played in her learning process (and which models Annie liked to lean on the most in a high stakes game) The power of surrounding yourself with people that can help you expand your circle of competence — and how that made all the difference in Annie’s development as a player Confirmatory and exploratory thought, and how one helps us to be “accurate” and one helps us to be “right.” The secret pact you should be making with the people who are closest to you And so much more. This episode is just under two hours long, but there’s no fat in it. Annie delivers a masterclass in making the smartest decisions we can, even when our hubris insists otherwise. Do some finger stretches before hitting play, because you’re going to be taking some serious notes. Please enjoy the interview! *** Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/   Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/   Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

25 Juli 20181h 58min