Principles
Principles Sections
- Key Concepts: inputs, outputs, feedback make the right outcome the default the wrong answer can't reach the user leverage with contained blast radius auditable, reversible, loud-failing
Systems Thinking Two of my principles are about systems from the outside: problem deduction is how I read one when it breaks, and the
- Key Concepts: authority through evidence not adjectives no superlatives, no hype words mark your certainty shipped versus aspirational name your own limits
Earn It, Don’t Hype It The William Bernard Standard is the character; this is the sentence-level rule that character produces. It’s the most-used principle
- Key Concepts: character over mood the dichotomy of control voluntary discomfort negative visualization amor fati, the obstacle is the plan
Stoic Operating Philosophy I didn’t come to Stoicism through the books first. I came to it backward: I watched my father live a certain
- Key Concepts: meditation as training, not relaxation clarity as a force multiplier fit to be the human in the loop noticing a thought without obeying it maintenance, not enlightenment
Meditation Of everything in this Principles pillar, this is the one that sounds least like the others — until you notice it’s the practice
- Key Concepts: Quiet Hand anonymous excellence trust as lubricant reputation moat costly signal
The Quiet Hand Economics has its Invisible Hand - the unseen force that moves markets. My father ran on a different force, and I’ve
- Key Concepts: Iron Word costly signal transitive trust language discipline word as currency
The Iron Word In 1983, when I was fifteen, I bought myself a youth ski pass - the discounted kind meant for kids under
- Key Concepts: Unshakable Compass internal locus of control dichotomy of control honesty as a filter values under pressure
The Unshakable Compass Anyone can hold their values on a calm day. The third pillar of the William Bernard Standard is about the other
- Key Concepts: Steady Presence run until they fall antifragility blameless post-mortem calm as strength
The Steady Presence Asked about leadership, my father gave an answer I’ve never found improved upon: “Let people run until they fall… then pick