No. 692 – August 2, 2026
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Tiny Thoughts
Feedback tolerance predicts trajectory better than talent.
Talking about problems is far more comfortable than solving them.
Reliable people don’t just keep promises, they remove uncertainty from other people’s lives.
If you’re reliable, I don’t need a backup plan.
Insights
Henry Singleton on remaining flexible:
“I believe in maximum flexibility, so I reserve the right to change my position on any subject when the external environment relating to any topic changes too.”
Musician Suzanne Ciani on doing things for you:
“My mother would always say ‘The world doesn’t need another album.’ And I would say, ‘Yeah, you’re right, the world doesn’t need it. But I do. I’m not doing it for out there’ (she placed a hand over her heart) ‘I’m doing it for in here.’”
LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault on power:
“You describe power as though it were a prize to be won. I experience it as a responsibility to be passed on. The houses entrusted to me are older than I am. Most will outlive me. My role is to hand them on stronger than I found them. That is why I reject the idea of a dynasty. Dynasties exist to preserve privileges. We work to preserve craftsmanship.”
Outliers
He was once the most hated man in America. Later he became its most generous.
You may think you know the history of John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil, but you don’t.
Our team spent months uncovering the details most accounts miss: his discipline, ambition, ruthlessness, defining partnerships, devotion to his wife, counterintuitive approach to competition, and the timeless principles behind the greatest fortune in history.This is more than the story of Standard Oil. It’s a long-form mini-biography about how Rockefeller built an empire, the price he paid for it, and what his life can teach us today.
It was worth the wait. I promise.
+ Listen to the full episode: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Web/Transcript
+ Members have access to a hand-edited transcript.
+ Some of the information sources I found useful: Of course, there was the typical John D. biography and Titan, but I also learned a lot reading old articles on the NYT TimesMachine and going through the Rockefeller Archives. There is a particularly rich set of interviews here where JDR talks about things I haven’t heard get much air time. If you’re a nerd about this stuff: I posted his thoughts on Newspapers and Napoleon.
+ Some additional thoughts on JDR and monopolistic competition.
+ One more thought to leave you with. There are so many interesting threads around Cettie, his wife. Typical of the time she managed the house, but it’s very clear she was his most trusted business confidant. In one of the archives I found a rich quote to this effect: “Her judgment was always better than mine. Without her keen advice, I would be a poor man.” It’s clear he loved her. She’s also the subject of my favorite story in the episode: the great heist.
Thanks for reading,
— Shane Parrish
P.S. I never knew this. And true. Scroll to the bottom for an explanation.*
P.P.S. I am hosting my annual event for entrepreneurs this weekend and thought I’d do something different and create a bit of a swag bag. People’s favorite item, by far, was the custom socks I had made for the event.
*Deer, wild boars, and most other mammals (unlike humans) are dichromats. They have only two types of cone cells in their eyes—typically sensitive to short (blue) and medium (green-yellow) wavelengths—and lack the long-wavelength (red) cone that humans have as trichromats. As a result, they cannot reliably distinguish red/orange tones from green. To these prey animals, a tiger’s bright orange coat does not stand out against green forest vegetation the way it does to us. Instead, it appears as muted yellowish, brownish, or greenish tones that blend with the background.