FS | BRAIN FOOD
July 20, 2025 - #638 - read online - Free Version
Welcome to Brain Food, a weekly newsletter that helps you master the best of what other people have already figured out so you can use their insights in your life.
Tiny Thoughts
*
Everyone knows what works. Few do it after it stops being exciting.
**
All the energy we spend trying to fix what's broken comes at the expense of making what already works unstoppable.
***
Keep your distance from people who've made being wronged their identity. They're not looking for solutions, they're recruiting.
Insights
*
Abraham Lincoln on starting now:
"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle."
**
Jeff Bezos on how people want to work for an organization with velocity:
"You can drive great people away by making the speed of decision making slow. Why would great people stay in an organization where they can't get things done?"
***
Consultant Cherie Carter-Scott on the rules:
"Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson."
The Knowledge Project [Outliers]
Charlie Munger once asked me: 'How can someone give away fifty percent of profits and make billions more than if he'd kept it all?' Before I could answer, he told me about Les Schwab, a tire shop owner who understood incentives better than almost anyone.
What Schwab discovered will change how you think about business and life.
Here are a few of his lessons:
1. Win Win, The Math of Generosity: Les discovered that splitting profits 50/50 with store managers didn't cut his wealth in half, it multiplied it. His reasoning was pure math: "If I share half the profits, I still have half. And if Frank makes more money, he'll work harder to make the store successful. If the store is more successful, my half is worth more than my whole used to be." You get rich by making others rich.
2. All-In or All-Out: At 34, Les sold his house, borrowed against his life insurance, and scraped together $11,000 to buy a failing tire shop with no running water. He'd never changed a tire. His competitors had decades of experience. But Les had something they didn't: no backup plan. That total commitment forced him to figure it out. One year later, he'd quintupled revenue. Half-measures guarantee half-results.
3. High Agency: Everything is your job. Les bought his first tire shop having never fixed a flat in his life. On day one, a customer needs tires mounted. Les fumbles with hand tools on the cold concrete, making a complete mess until his employee arrives. He insisted on being taught, so the situation never repeated. Sometimes, the only qualification you need is the willingness to figure it out.
4. Go Positive, Go First: Les instituted free flat repairs for anyone, customer or not. Competitors called him crazy. Why fix flats for people who bought tires elsewhere? But Les understood reciprocity: humans are biologically wired to return favors, even those that are unearned. Those free repairs created a loop, doing more marketing than marketing could ever do. Most businesses wait for the transaction before the service. Consistently going positive and going first is the most powerful force in the universe.
5. Dark Hours: Every morning before dawn, teenage Les ran his paper route. Not biked, ran. For two months, he sprinted through dark streets on foot, saving enough to buy a bicycle. While his classmates slept, he earned. By senior year, Les owned all nine routes in town. When your competition sleeps, you can build your lead.
+ Listen now on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Web/Transcript
+ Read the rest of the lessons here
SPONSOR
Basecamp is the no-BS project management tool that makes sense immediately. No onboarding saga. No notification hell. Just one clean place to see who's doing what, what's done, and what's totally on fire. Everything — files, convos, context — stays where it belongs: in the project. Start using it for free. Stay because it actually works. Sign up for free at basecamp.com
Thanks for reading,
— Shane Parrish
P.S. I don't understand how they managed to survive in the wild.
P.P.S. Thank you, Bremont. Since they sent me this watch, I haven't been able to take it off. In a world of noise, a timeless watch that does nothing but tell time is an unexpected joy.
Want to share this edition with a friend? Use this link: https://fs.blog/brain-food/july-20-2025/
Upgrade Yourself
Members get access to the repository: a database of insights from the books I'm reading and the conversations I'm having. It's like having access to the best mentor in the world for whatever problem you are facing. Members also have access to ad-free newsletters and podcasts, hand-edited transcripts, and more. See what you're missing → here.
No comments:
Post a Comment