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Minds: hire great thinkers to work on your problem

Over 300 minds built from public sources. Bring a real problem and get their way of thinking, method and voice applied to it.

Business

Jeff Bezos: Think through a business problem the way Jeff Bezos wrote about it: start from the customer, work backwards, take the long view and decide fast when the door swings both ways.
Steve Jobs: Shape a product, a pitch or a plan the way Steve Jobs did: cut to a few things, make them simple and beautiful, and sell the values before the specs.
Elon Musk: Attack a hard problem the way Elon Musk describes it: break it down to what physics and raw costs allow, delete what isn't needed, then move fast.
Bill Gates: Think through a business or a big problem the way Bill Gates wrote about it: price your work, spot the shift that changes everything, study rivals honestly and measure what you want to improve.
Warren Buffett: Judge a business, a deal or a big spending choice the way Warren Buffett's letters do: own it like a partner, stay inside what you understand, prize a lasting edge and trust only honest people.
Charlie Munger: Test a plan the way Charlie Munger did: turn it upside down, look at the incentives, run it past models from many fields and wait for the obvious bet.
Sam Walton: Run a business the way Sam Walton described it: cut costs harder than anyone, pass the savings on, treat staff as partners and go where the big players aren't.
Henry Ford: Cut the cost of making something the way Henry Ford wrote about it: one simple product, the work brought to the worker, waste hunted down, and savings passed on as lower prices and higher pay.
Walt Disney: Shape an experience the way Walt Disney did: story and character first, new tools that make people feel more, a place the whole family enjoys, and a project that's never finished.
Sara Blakely: Start a product business the way Sara Blakely did: solve your own problem, bootstrap it with your own savings, do the early work yourself and sell it in person to the one buyer who matters.
Phil Knight: Build a brand from nothing the way Phil Knight did: chase the idea others call crazy, sell what you believe in, stay close to the people who use it, own your name, and keep going through cash crunches and hard choices.
Richard Branson: Launch or grow a brand the way Richard Branson describes it: make it fun, take on a sleepy giant, protect the downside, and get people talking without paying for ads.
Ratan Tata: Weigh a big decision the way Ratan Tata did: guard the name and the code of conduct, take measured risks before the market leaves you behind, compete with the best, and treat staff, buyers and the community as part of the deal.
Indra Nooyi: Think about strategy the way Indra Nooyi describes it: reshape the portfolio before you're forced to, tie profit to purpose and redesign work so people can care for their families.
Oprah Winfrey: Reach and move an audience the way Oprah Winfrey describes it: make people feel seen, tell the true story, turn setbacks into a new direction and give people something they'll remember.
Paul Graham: Think through a new venture the way Paul Graham's essays do: find a real problem, get the first users by hand, measure weekly growth and argue with the central point.
Naval Ravikant: Think about your work and career the way Naval Ravikant does: own equity, build specific knowledge, use leverage that needs no permission and play long-term games with good people.
Jensen Huang: Think through a big bet the way Jensen Huang talks about his: rebuild from the foundations, hold a reasoned belief for years, retreat when a market turns, and share context so a flat team can move.
Ray Dalio: Think through a hard decision the way Ray Dalio teaches it: write down your principles, learn from painful mistakes, test your views against people who disagree, and see the bigger cycle.
Benjamin Graham: Think about price, value and risk the way Benjamin Graham taught it: know what a thing is worth, pay well below that, and don't let the market's moods make your decisions.
Aswath Damodaran: Value a business, a pitch or a deal the way Aswath Damodaran teaches it: tell the story, put numbers on it, run the cash flow steps, check it is possible, plausible and probable, and keep price and value apart.
Peter Thiel: Test a business idea the way Peter Thiel's public talks and book do: look for the truth few people agree with, aim to own a small market outright, and build something new rather than fight over an old one.
Howard Schultz: Think through a growing business the way Howard Schultz talked about Starbucks: protect the experience as you scale, treat staff as partners, and balance profit with conscience.
Ray Kroc: Build a business that runs the same way every time, the way Ray Kroc did with McDonald's: perfect the basics, write the standard down, and grow through owners who share the rules.
Estée Lauder: Sell the way Estée Lauder did: put the product in the customer's hands, give them a sample to take home, guard where your brand is sold and stay on the shop floor yourself.
Madam C.J. Walker: Build a business from nothing the way Madam C.J. Walker did: solve a problem you know first-hand, teach others to sell it, reward them well and own what you build.
Andrew Carnegie: Run a business the way Andrew Carnegie described it: know the cost of every step, put your best eggs in one basket, reinvest in your own works, and treat surplus wealth as a trust.
John D. Rockefeller: Think through a business problem the way John D. Rockefeller wrote about it: keep exact books, cut waste, combine to get scale, stick to sound rules, and give with the same discipline you use to earn.
Konosuke Matsushita: Run a business the way Konosuke Matsushita taught: give it a mission bigger than profit, plan in decades, keep reserves for bad times, pool everyone's wisdom and look at facts with an open mind.
Akio Morita: Build and sell something new the way Akio Morita described it: set bold targets for your engineers, plan the product and the market as one, go abroad in person, think long term and let everyone think.
Soichiro Honda: Solve an engineering or product problem the way Soichiro Honda did: get your hands dirty, design for the person using it, aim at the hardest race in the world and learn from every failure on the way.
Kazuo Inamori: Run a business the way Kazuo Inamori taught: ask what is right as a human being, split the work into small teams that each see their own profit per hour, price with care and keep the numbers honest.
Masayoshi Son: Think through a big, long-range bet the way Masayoshi Son talks about it: look decades ahead, find the core technology of the next shift, aim to be number one, and plan to survive if you are wrong.
Jack Ma: Think through a business problem the way Jack Ma talked about it: serve the small player, build trust before profit, fight big rivals on home ground, learn from every mistake and build a company that outlasts you.
Reed Hastings: Think through a team or a business problem the way Reed Hastings did: hire only strong people, give context instead of rules, ask for candid feedback, and move to the next format before the old one dies.
Brian Chesky: Think through a product or a company the way Brian Chesky talks about it: design the whole experience, stay close to the details, build trust between strangers, and plan for a very long horizon.
Patrick Collison: Think through a project the way Patrick Collison writes about work: ask why it can't be done faster, go deep until you're an expert, sweat the craft, and own your mistakes plainly.
Tobi Lütke: Think through a product or a team the way Tobi Lütke talks about it: build the tool you wish you had, make it simple for the person using it, charge the trust battery, and own your bets when they go wrong.
Marc Andreessen: Think through a new venture the way Marc Andreessen's essays do: pick a big market first, chase product-market fit above all else, expect software to remake every industry, and build instead of waiting.
Reid Hoffman: Think through growth the way Reid Hoffman talks about it: know when speed beats efficiency, design for network effects, win on distribution, launch before you feel ready and manage the chaos on purpose.
Mark Zuckerberg: Think through a product or a strategy the way Mark Zuckerberg's letters do: ship small and often, let working code settle arguments, take bold long-term bets, and own the platform you depend on.
Larry Page: Think through a goal the way Larry Page wrote about it: aim for a much bigger leap instead of a small gain, keep the user first, ignore short-term pressure, and stay a little uncomfortable so you don't fall behind.
Sam Altman: Think through a startup, a career or a big bet the way Sam Altman wrote about it: make something people love, focus hard, take asymmetric risks and let compounding do the work.
Yvon Chouinard: Think through a business choice the way Yvon Chouinard talked about it: make the best product you can, grow only as fast as you can afford, hire people who need no watching, and use the business to protect the source.
Anita Roddick: Think through a business choice the way Anita Roddick argued it: let your values be the brand, use your shop and your voice to campaign, trade fairly, and question the idea that profit is the whole point.
Ingvar Kamprad: Think through a business problem the way Ingvar Kamprad set out in his 1976 Testament: design for a low price from the start, waste nothing, keep rules simple, ask why, and keep going.
Herb Kelleher: Think through a business or team problem the way Herb Kelleher talked about it: put your people first, keep costs low and the model simple, hire for attitude, and plan in good times for the bad.
Arianna Huffington: Think through work, media and wellbeing the way Arianna Huffington writes about it: success needs more than money and power, rest is a performance tool, and big change starts with tiny steps.
Whitney Wolfe Herd: Think through a product or community the way Whitney Wolfe Herd talks about it: design for the people who feel least safe, change the rules of who goes first, and build kindness into the product itself.
Melanie Perkins: Think through a product or a hard pitch the way Melanie Perkins talks about it: find a real problem many people share, make the hard thing simple, go niche before you go wide, and set crazy big goals.
Daniel Ek: Think through a platform or a hard choice the way Daniel Ek wrote about it: beat the bad option by being better, pair speed with efficiency, own your mistakes in plain words, and treat each role as a mission.
N. R. Narayana Murthy: Think through a business or career choice the way Narayana Murthy spoke about it: put the long term ahead of quick money, learn hard from success as well as failure, spread your risks, and hold wealth in trust.
Aliko Dangote: Think through a hard-market problem the way Aliko Dangote describes it: find what people must import, make it locally at scale, own the chain, and solve each problem as it arrives.
Strive Masiyiwa: Think through a hard problem the way Strive Masiyiwa talks about it: play by the rules even when others don't, use the law and patience as tools, and build a business that serves people who were left out.
Stewart Butterfield: Think through a product or a pivot the way Stewart Butterfield described it: sell the change people get, not the tool, polish away every small irritation, and kill the old idea when users show you the new one.
Drew Houston: Think through a product or a career choice the way Drew Houston described it: solve a problem you're obsessed with, keep it simple enough for anyone, let users spread it, and start before you feel ready.
Michael Dell: Think through a sales or operations problem the way Michael Dell described it: cut out the middle, build only what customers order, listen to them directly, and fix mistakes fast.
Tony Hsieh: Think through a customer or team problem the way Tony Hsieh talked about it: get the culture right, hire and fire on values, spend on service instead of ads, and treat every call as a chance to build loyalty.
Dietrich Mateschitz: Think through a launch or a brand the way Dietrich Mateschitz built Red Bull: create a new category instead of fighting for a share of an old one, own the culture around your product, and keep going when the tests say no.
Mark Cuban: Think through a business problem the way Mark Cuban wrote about it: outwork and out-learn the competition, close the deal, cut the customer's risk, and remember you only have to be right once.
Daymond John: Think through a business problem the way Daymond John writes about it: use being broke as an edge, trade and hustle for what you can't buy, pick three priorities, and turn your audience into buyers.
Barbara Corcoran: Think through a setback or a new venture the way Barbara Corcoran talks about it: treat rejection as the start of the next win, test ideas on strangers, get one paying customer, trust your gut, and get going before it's perfect.
Jason Fried: Think through a business or product choice the way Jason Fried writes about it: build less, fix the deadline and cut the scope, fund it yourself, and keep work calm.
Pieter Levels: Plan and ship a small product the way Pieter Levels writes about it: solve your own problem, build it fast with tools you know, charge from day one and stay lean.
Sahil Lavingia: Plan a small business the way Sahil Lavingia writes about it: start with a community you belong to, sell by hand first, stay profitable, work in writing and share what you learn in public.
Tim Ferriss: Work through a choice or a crowded week the way Tim Ferriss writes about it: write down your fears, cut the 80% that matters least, batch the small stuff and hunt the one big task.
Noah Kagan: Test a business idea the way Noah Kagan teaches it: do the one-minute math, ask real people for money within 48 hours, and grow with one clear number and fast experiments.
Ben Horowitz: Lead through a hard stretch the way Ben Horowitz writes about it: name whether you are at peace or at war, fix the real problem instead of hunting for a shortcut, and tell people the truth.
Eric Ries: Test a new product or plan the way Eric Ries writes about it: treat it as an experiment, build the smallest thing that teaches you something, measure what really drives the business, then pivot or persevere.
Steve Blank: Test a new venture the way Steve Blank teaches it: treat the business plan as guesses, get out of the building to test them with real customers, and search for a working business model before you scale.
Rob Fitzpatrick: Find out whether people really have your problem the way Rob Fitzpatrick does: talk about their life instead of your idea, ask about what they did last time, and treat compliments as noise until someone gives up time, a name or money.
Guy Kawasaki: Pitch and position a new idea the way Guy Kawasaki teaches it: make meaning, sum it up in a short mantra, jump to the next curve, ship before it's perfect and keep the pitch to ten slides.
Ruth Handler: Think through a product the way Ruth Handler did: watch how people really play or use things, spot the gap nobody fills, sell straight to the people who will love it, and keep going after the first no.
Milton Hershey: Think through a setback, a product bet or a plan to share success the way Milton Hershey's record shows it: learn from the failure, focus the line, make it cheap enough for everyone and build for the people around you.
Taiichi Ohno: Look at any process the way Taiichi Ohno did: go and see it, find the waste, make only what is needed when it is needed, and ask why until you reach the cause.
Brunello Cucinelli: Think through work, growth and quality the way Brunello Cucinelli writes about them: respect the person, keep profit fair, protect people's time, honour craft and build in harmony with the place you work.
Bernard Arnault: Think through a brand or a portfolio the way Bernard Arnault has described it: make every product more desirable, let creative people create, run the rest with rigour, and keep a family owner's long view.
Marty Cagan: Think through a product, a feature or a team the way Marty Cagan writes about them: test ideas fast before you build, tackle the four big risks early, and give teams problems to solve instead of features to ship.

Sales

Alex Hormozi: Build and price an offer the way Alex Hormozi teaches it, as of his books and talks from 2021 to 2025: make the deal so good it's hard to refuse, then get more people to see it.
Dale Carnegie: Handle people the way Dale Carnegie taught it: be really interested in them, talk about what they want, never win an argument at the cost of a friend, and speak with confidence that comes from practice.
Zig Ziglar: Sell, set goals and keep going the way Zig Ziglar taught it: help enough other people get what they want, guard against 'stinkin' thinkin',' see yourself as able, keep every promise with a plan, and treat failure as an event, not a verdict on you.
Robert Cialdini: Make a request, a page or a pitch more persuasive the way Robert Cialdini's research does it: use the shortcuts people already rely on to say yes, and use them honestly.
Chris Voss: Negotiate the way Chris Voss teaches it: show the other side you understand how they feel, ask questions that make them solve your problem, aim for a 'no' that feels safe, and never meet halfway by habit.
Brian Tracy: Plan your day, your goals and your sales calls the way Brian Tracy teaches it: write it down, rank it, do the hardest important thing first, and sell like a consultant who asks before telling.
Joe Girard: Win customers for life the way Joe Girard did: treat the sale as the start of the relationship, thank every buyer, serve them after the deal, and hand your card to everyone you meet.
Mary Kay Ash: Build and lead a team the way Mary Kay Ash did: ask how you'd want to be treated in their place, make each person feel important, praise people to success and let everyone compete with themselves, not each other.
Neil Rackham: Plan a big sale or a hard conversation the way Neil Rackham's research suggests: ask about the situation, uncover the problem, explore what it costs, and let the buyer state the value of fixing it.
Jim Rohn: Work on yourself the way Jim Rohn taught it: take responsibility, practise small daily disciplines, learn on your own, choose your company with care, and plant in the spring if you want a harvest.
Jeffrey Gitomer: Think through a sale the way Jeffrey Gitomer writes about it: study why you buy, define value in the customer's terms, prove it, and earn loyalty instead of settling for satisfaction.
Mark Roberge: Think through sales hiring, coaching and growth the way Mark Roberge teaches it: treat sales as a system you can measure, hire for coachability, and only scale once customers stay.
Aaron Ross: Think through how to fill a sales pipeline the way Aaron Ross wrote about it: split sales into specialist roles, prospect by asking for referrals, target a narrow ideal customer, and fix the system before you blame the people.
Jill Konrath: Think through a sale the way Jill Konrath writes about it: buyers are crazy-busy, the status quo is your real rival, and a value proposition must name the business results a customer gets, in their terms.
Matthew Dixon: Think through a sale or a service problem the way Matthew Dixon's research does: teach the buyer something new, tailor it, take control, make things easy, and take the fear out of saying yes.
Jeb Blount: Think through a sales slump or an empty pipeline the way Jeb Blount teaches it: prospect every day in protected blocks, replace every deal, ask more often, and treat rejection as a feeling you can train.
Elmer Wheeler: Find the words that sell the way Elmer Wheeler did: sell the sizzle, make the first ten words count, prove it with a demonstration, ask which instead of if, and test every line on real buyers.

Marketing

David Ogilvy: Write and judge advertising the way David Ogilvy did: find the big idea, give readers the facts, test everything, and make every ad build the brand.
Claude Hopkins: Plan and write ads the way Claude Hopkins taught in Scientific Advertising: treat every ad as a salesman, be specific, offer service and samples, and let small tests with real buyers decide.
Eugene Schwartz: Write copy the way Eugene Schwartz taught it: find the desire your market already has, show that your product is the way to it, and speak to how aware and how jaded your buyers already are.
Gary Halbert: Write direct-response copy the way Gary Halbert taught it: study winning ads by copying them out by hand, sell in plain, personal language, make an offer people can't easily refuse, and back bold claims with a guarantee.
Bill Bernbach: Make an ad or a brand idea stand out the way Bill Bernbach did: treat persuasion as an art, pair words and pictures from the start, say the honest thing in a fresh way, and never follow the formula everyone else uses.
Joseph Sugarman: Write long copy that gets read the way Joseph Sugarman did: open with a true story, let curiosity pull the reader on, test small before you roll out, and learn out loud from your flops.
Seth Godin: Think through a marketing or creative problem the way Seth Godin writes about it: earn attention, make something worth talking about, serve the smallest group that can sustain you, and ship.
Al Ries: Think through a brand or product problem the way Al Ries did: find an open place in the customer's mind, be first in a category, narrow the focus and launch with publicity.
Rory Sutherland: Think through a business or design problem the way Rory Sutherland does: question the brief, look for the cheap change in perception, and test the idea that sounds silly.
Byron Sharp: Think through a marketing choice the way Byron Sharp does: ask what the buying data shows, reach every buyer in the category, build mental and physical availability, and doubt any claim that hasn't been repeated.
Gary Vaynerchuk: Think through marketing and content the way Gary Vaynerchuk does: find where attention is cheap right now, make content that fits each platform, give value before you ask, and play a long game at a fast daily pace.
Russell Brunson: Think through selling online the way Russell Brunson does: map a ladder of offers, build one core funnel that leads to repeat revenue, sell with a hook, a story and an offer, and test every step.
MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson): Think through a video, a launch or any piece of content the way MrBeast does: start from the idea and the thumbnail, keep every second worth watching, and improve one thing each time.
Mary Wells Lawrence: Think through a brand campaign the way Mary Wells Lawrence did: change what people see, not just what the ad says, make it entertaining enough to become news, and pick work you can't resist.
Philip Kotler: Plan your marketing the way Philip Kotler teaches it: choose who you serve, set yourself apart, use the full mix of product, price, place and promotion, and aim marketing at the good of customers and society.
Jack Trout: Plan how your brand competes the way Jack Trout taught it: start with your rivals, find one clear position in the customer's mind, keep it simple, and don't stretch your name over everything.
Leo Burnett: Make advertising the way Leo Burnett did: find the drama already inside the product, tell it with warmth and plain words, give the brand a character people love, and never trade integrity for a quick win.
Lee Clow: Find the big brand idea the way Lee Clow has described it: treat convention as the enemy, give the brand a belief people can join, refuse work that is merely good enough, and do the brave thing.
Dan Wieden: Make brave, human work the way Dan Wieden ran his agency: walk in stupid, give a brand real attitude, keep it fun, fail better, and get out of talented people's way.
George Lois: Find and judge a big idea the way George Lois argued for it: one bold picture and line that solves the business problem, gets talked about and refuses to play it safe.
Helen Lansdowne Resor: Write for the person who really makes the buying choice the way Helen Lansdowne Resor did: believable copy, written from her point of view, about what the product does for her life.
Rosser Reeves: Find and sharpen the one selling point the way Rosser Reeves taught it: one clear benefit rivals don't claim, proved on screen and repeated until everyone knows it.
Ann Handley: Write content people want to read the way Ann Handley teaches it: start with empathy for one reader, write an ugly first draft, edit hard, and sound like a person.
Neil Patel: Grow search and content traffic the way Neil Patel describes it: write what people search for, go deeper than rivals, publish steadily, promote it and measure every lead.
Rand Fishkin: Plan your marketing the way Rand Fishkin argues for it: research where your audience already pays attention, show up there, build the brand and stop judging everything by clicks.
April Dunford: Position a product the way April Dunford teaches it: start from the alternatives buyers really weigh, find the value only you deliver, aim at the customers who care most and pitch from there.
Donald Miller: Make your message clear the way Donald Miller teaches it: the customer is the hero, you are the guide, and every page names their problem, gives a plan and asks them to act.
Dan Kennedy: Make marketing that brings in measurable sales the way Dan Kennedy teaches it: always make an offer, give a reason to act now, follow up hard and judge everything by results.
Jay Abraham: Find the growth you're already sitting on the way Jay Abraham teaches it: pull the three levers of more buyers, bigger sales and more repeat buying, cut the buyer's risk and act as their most trusted advisor.
Sean Ellis: Work on growth the way Sean Ellis writes about it: find the must-have experience first, then run fast, measured experiments to deliver it to more of the right people.
Andrew Chen: Work on growth the way Andrew Chen writes about it: find the smallest network that works, win the hard side, fix retention before features, and expect every channel to decay.
John Caples: Write and test headlines and ads the way John Caples taught: lead with the reader's self-interest, say it plainly, key every ad, and let measured replies decide which version wins.
Robert Collier: Write a sales letter or email the way Robert Collier taught: study the reader first, start from what is already on their mind, paint the benefit in pictures, prove it and make acting easy.
Victor Schwab: Write headlines, openings and subheads the way Victor Schwab taught: pick out the right readers, promise them a reward for reading, make the ad harder to pass up than to read, and judge it by keyed replies.
John E. Kennedy: Write and judge ads the way John E. Kennedy taught: treat each ad as a salesman on paper, give plain reasons why, aim at the readers who can buy, and judge copy only by what it sells at a given cost.
Bill Jayme: Write the envelope, subject line and letter the way Bill Jayme did: get into the reader's head, make the outside worth opening, talk up to people, and make the free and the savings impossible to miss.
David Abbott: Write ads and persuasive copy the way David Abbott described it: dig for facts first, let words serve the argument, admit a small weakness to win trust, think visually and never be boring.
Howard Gossage: Make ads and messages the way Howard Gossage did: write for people who read only what interests them, treat the ad as one end of a conversation, give readers something to do, and spend less but say more.
Phyllis K. Robinson: Write and lead creative work the way Phyllis Robinson described it: talk to people in their own natural voice, respect the reader, pair words with pictures from the start, and never copy someone else's formula.
Shirley Polykoff: Write the line people repeat, the way Shirley Polykoff did for Clairol: find the private question your buyer is already asking, answer it with a promise they can keep to themselves, and say it in warm, playful, everyday words.
Gary Bencivenga: Plan and write persuasive copy the way Gary Bencivenga teaches it (as of his public writing to 2026): name the problem, make one strong promise, prove it beyond doubt, make the offer easy, and let split-run tests decide.
Clayton Makepeace: Write or fix long sales copy the way Clayton Makepeace taught it: find the feeling that keeps your reader up at night, plan before you write, and prove every claim.
John Carlton: Write or fix sales copy the way John Carlton teaches it: talk to one reader like a salesman across the table, hit what they already want, and test every line against real results.
Drayton Bird: Plan and judge your marketing the way Drayton Bird teaches it: count everything, write a sharp brief, sell person to person, keep testing, and ignore awards.
Joanna Wiebe: Write or fix a page or email the way Joanna Wiebe teaches it: mine your customers' words, pick a proven structure, back every claim, and test to learn.
Luke Sullivan: Make ads and content people actually want to watch, the way Luke Sullivan teaches it: find the true thing and the tension in it, write lots of ideas, and grab the viewer in three seconds.
Mark Ritson: Plan your marketing the way Mark Ritson teaches it: diagnose the market first, then pick targets, positioning and objectives, and only then choose tactics, using both brand and performance.
Les Binet: Plan and judge marketing the way Les Binet's research does: balance long-term brand building with short-term sales activation, reach widely, spend enough to be heard, and measure with more than clicks.
Paul Feldwick: Make your brand famous the way Paul Feldwick argues brands grow: treat ads as a show people choose to watch, reach a mass audience, build distinctive assets, and give people something to talk about.
Bob Hoffman: Test any marketing claim the way Bob Hoffman does: ask who is selling it, trust logic and common sense over shiny metrics, and think in probabilities, not promises.
Jonah Berger: Get an idea talked about, or get people to change, the way Jonah Berger's research suggests: give people a reason to share, and remove the barriers instead of pushing harder.
Chip Heath: Make an idea stick, a change happen or a choice clearer the way Chip Heath teaches it: find the core, make it concrete and surprising, tell a story, and translate the numbers.
Dharmesh Shah: Think through marketing, product and team culture the way Dharmesh Shah writes about it: be found instead of interrupting, sell success instead of software, and treat culture as a product you keep improving.
Scott Galloway: Pressure-test a brand, a business model or a career move the way Scott Galloway writes about it: blunt numbers, product over promises, and a sharp eye on hype and cheap money.
Peep Laja: Fix a page, a message or a test plan the way Peep Laja teaches it: research what buyers think first, make the message clear and different, and test with sound numbers.

Leadership

Sun Tzu: Think through a contest the way The Art of War does: do the sums first, win without a fight if you can, know both sides, strike weakness and change shape like water.
Winston Churchill: Think through a crisis the way Churchill led through one: tell people the worst, name one aim, stop the blame, keep allies close and refuse to give up while there's a way through.
Abraham Lincoln: Think through a hard leadership problem the way Lincoln did: get the facts first, hold the main goal, bring rivals inside, judge by results and say it in plain, short words.
Nelson Mandela: Think through a deep conflict the way Mandela led through one: hold your terms, learn the other side's world, play the long game and build something everyone can live in.
Mahatma Gandhi: Think through a hard stand the way Gandhi did: choose fair means because they shape the end, pick a cause everyone feels, warn the other side openly and hold to truth without hitting back.
Peter Drucker: Think through a management problem the way Peter Drucker did: ask who the customer is and what the work should be, set clear goals, build on strengths and drop what no longer works.
Andy Grove: Think through a business threat the way Andy Grove did: assume success is breeding complacency, watch for the quiet shift that changes everything, listen to the bad-news bearers and set goals you can measure.
Clayton Christensen: Think through a growth or innovation problem the way Clayton Christensen did: ask which theory explains it, watch the low end and the non-customers, find the job the customer is trying to get done, and protect new ideas from the old business model.
Michael Porter: Think through a strategy problem the way Michael Porter's work does: map the forces that set profits in your field, pick a distinct position, make the trade-offs that protect it, and fit every activity to it.
Jim Collins: Think through a leadership or strategy problem the way Jim Collins's research does: get the right people first, face the brutal facts, find the one thing you can be best at, and build momentum with steady discipline.
Simon Sinek: Think through a leadership, team or message problem the way Simon Sinek does: start with why, make people feel safe, and play for the long run instead of a final win.
John Wooden: Coach a person, a team or yourself the way John Wooden did: define success as your best effort, teach the small basics first, plan every minute, and build character before results.
Satya Nadella: Lead a team or a company through change the way Satya Nadella described it: rewrite the mission, build a culture that keeps learning, bet on the next platform early, and treat trust as the thing you can't lose.
Lisa Su: Plan and run a hard turnaround the way Lisa Su described hers: bet on what you're best at, set a multi-year roadmap, keep every commitment, learn from each launch and run toward the hardest problems.
Mary Barra: Lead big change in an old organisation the way Mary Barra described it at GM: own a crisis in public, rebuild the culture so people speak up, exit what doesn't pay, and bet on where the industry is going.
Ed Catmull: Run a creative team the way Ed Catmull described Pixar: back people before ideas, protect ugly early drafts, give candid notes with no power in the room, and look for the problems you can't see.
Kim Scott: Give and get honest feedback the way Kim Scott teaches it: care personally and challenge directly at the same time, ask for criticism before you give it, and make praise specific and criticism kind and clear.
Patty McCord: Build a team the way Patty McCord argued for at Netflix: treat people as adults, cut policies that don't matter, tell the truth about performance, hire for the problems ahead and plan the team you'll need.
Hamilton Helmer: Test whether a business has a lasting edge the way Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers does: find a real benefit and a real barrier, name which of the seven powers it is, and build it at the right stage.

Design

Dieter Rams: Critique and improve a product, a page or a plan the way Dieter Rams does: keep what is useful, honest and lasting, remove everything else, and ask if it needs to exist at all.
Jony Ive: Think through the design of a product, a space or an experience the way Jony Ive talks about it: start from use, care about the details nobody asks for, know your materials, and be brave enough to start again.
Paul Rand: Design or judge a logo, a poster or a visual identity the way Paul Rand did: keep it simple and distinct, let meaning come from the work behind it, play within strict limits, and ignore fads.
Saul Bass: Design a poster, an opening, a logo or a launch the way Saul Bass did: find one simple symbol that sums up the whole story, set the mood before the first word, and make the familiar look new.
Massimo Vignelli: Build a page, a brand or a whole system of materials the way Massimo Vignelli did: start from meaning, use a grid and a handful of typefaces, let white space do the work, and design to last.
Charles and Ray Eames: Work through a design problem the way Charles and Ray Eames did: list every constraint and accept it, act as a good host to the people you serve, test by making, and treat the details as the design.
Zaha Hadid: Push a design, a space or a plan past the safe box the way Zaha Hadid did: drop the right angle, open the ground, let space flow, and keep going when the critics say it can't be built.
Frank Lloyd Wright: Shape a space, a building or a product the way Frank Lloyd Wright did: start from the site, let the nature of each material show, open the plan, cut the insignificant, and make the whole and its parts one.
Don Norman: Find and fix what makes a product, a form or a service hard to use, the way Don Norman would: look for clear signifiers, good mapping, quick feedback and a model people can understand, and design for the errors people will make.
Coco Chanel: Shape a product, a look or a brand the way Coco Chanel's work did: choose comfort and movement, borrow from unexpected places, keep the line simple, and make a few signature pieces people recognise at once.
Paula Scher: Design a brand, a poster or a space the way Paula Scher's work does: let the type carry the feeling, mix high and low culture, make it loud enough for the street, and keep the work serious without being solemn.
Milton Glaser: Work on a design or a message the way Milton Glaser talked about it: know who you're talking to, find one clear idea, draw it by hand first, and tell the truth.
Stefan Sagmeister: Work on design the way Stefan Sagmeister talks about it: aim for an emotional connection, take form and beauty seriously, stay small, and make room for experiments.
Jessica Walsh: Build a brand the way Jessica Walsh writes about it: find what's weird and true about it, refuse trendy looks, use tight constraints to make a style, and make room for personal projects.
Tibor Kalman: Question a design, a brief or a client the way Tibor Kalman did: ask what the message is for, distrust safe professional polish, borrow from everyday life, and say the uncomfortable thing.
Susan Kare: Design a symbol, icon or small piece of interface the way Susan Kare describes it: find a clear metaphor, draw many options in a tiny grid, test them on people, and make it meaningful and memorable.
Raymond Loewy: Improve a product, package or brand the way Raymond Loewy did: push it as far ahead as people will accept, simplify it, design it with sales and engineering in the room, and never leave well enough alone.
Michael Bierut: Work on a logo or identity system the way Michael Bierut writes about it: look for the answer inside the problem, don't fear the obvious, build a system people can use, and say it plainly.
Debbie Millman: Think about a brand, a career or a creative project the way Debbie Millman writes and talks about it: brands carry meaning and belonging, the images they use matter, and courage beats confidence.
Aaron Draplin: Think through a logo, a brand mark or a small creative business the way Aaron Draplin talks about it: simple marks that work at any size, good work for good people, and a business kept small on purpose.
Marty Neumeier: Think through a brand the way Marty Neumeier writes about it: a brand is what customers feel and say, so find the one thing only you do, and close the gap between strategy and design.
Tinker Hatfield: Think through a product the way Tinker Hatfield talks about design: solve the user's real problem, show how it works, and give it a story people want to wear.
Virgil Abloh: Think through a product, brand or idea the way Virgil Abloh worked: take something people already know, change it a little, speak to both newcomers and experts, and open the door for young creatives.
Kenya Hara: Think through a product, space or message the way Kenya Hara writes about design: leave room for the user, aim for 'this will do' over 'I must have it', and help people see the ordinary with fresh eyes.
Josef Müller-Brockmann: Think through a layout, a page or a sign the way Josef Müller-Brockmann taught it: build on a grid, put legibility first, present facts without spin, and judge your own work hard.
Herb Lubalin: Design a logo, headline or poster the way Herb Lubalin did: let the letters themselves show the idea, fit them tight, and judge every choice by the feeling it creates.
Alan Fletcher: Find the idea, the twist and the wit in a design brief the way Alan Fletcher did: read between the lines, look at the problem sideways, and keep it simple and human.
Otl Aicher: Build a visual system the way Otl Aicher did: start from the feeling you want, set a few strict rules for colour, type and grid, and let a team play inside them.
Wim Crouwel: Give a series of designs one clear structure the way Wim Crouwel did: a strict grid, one typeface, few variations, and a plain, no-nonsense focus on the job the design has to do.
April Greiman: Try a new tool, medium or mix of media the way April Greiman does: jump in early, let each medium keep its own texture, layer type and image, and refuse labels that box the work in.
David Carson: Shake up a layout the way David Carson does: start from the audience and the message, trust your eye over the template, move type and images by hand until they make people feel something.
Neville Brody: Look at a design, a brand or a page the way Neville Brody talks about his work: question every rule, treat type as a voice, and break conventions only once you understand why they exist.
Ellen Lupton: Work through type, layout and design choices the way Ellen Lupton teaches them: design serves the message, type is never neutral, and anyone can learn the basics.
Erik Spiekermann: Work through type, signs and brand systems the way Erik Spiekermann writes about them: make information people can trust, give a brand real character, respect your tools and argue with the client when it helps the work.
Jakob Nielsen: Check a website, app, form or document the way Jakob Nielsen writes about usability: watch real people use it, test small and often, follow the conventions users already know, and fix what slows them down.
Steve Krug: Look at a website, app, form or sign the way Steve Krug does: people scan, guess and muddle through, so make every choice obvious, cut the words, and watch a few real people try it.

Writing

William Shakespeare: Write and shape a story, speech or poem the way Shakespeare's work does it: conflict on stage, characters who think out loud, borrowed plots made new, and lines built to be heard.
Jane Austen: Write and edit characters, dialogue and stories the way Jane Austen did: a small cast in a small world, irony that lets readers see more than the characters, people who speak in character, and a heroine who has to learn she was wrong.
Ernest Hemingway: Cut and sharpen writing the way Ernest Hemingway did: short, true sentences, concrete things instead of abstract words, feeling shown through action, and the most important part left under the surface.
Mark Twain: Write and speak the way Mark Twain did: plain American talk, the right word and not its second cousin, a deadpan story with a well-timed pause, and humour that punctures pompous people and bad ideas.
Maya Angelou: Write and speak the way Maya Angelou did: tell the hard truth of your life with dignity and humour, catch the music of real speech, and leave the listener standing taller.
Charles Dickens: Tell a story the way Charles Dickens did: in parts that each end on a hook, with characters people remember by name, and a clear anger at what is wrong in the world.
George Orwell: Write and think the way George Orwell did: say it plainly, cut every word you can, name the thing itself, and check whether your words are hiding what you mean.
Agatha Christie: Build a plot the way Agatha Christie did: settle the answer first, lay every clue in plain sight, misdirect with fair play, and save the reveal for the end.
Stephen King: Write the way Stephen King says he does: start with a 'what if', put ordinary people in a terrible situation, write plainly and often, and cut the words that come from fear.
Toni Morrison: Write and think the way Toni Morrison did: tell the story your own people need, carry memory into the present, trust the reader, and treat language as something alive and powerful.
Rumi: Think and write the way Rumi's poems do: begin from longing, teach through small stories, find the one image that carries the meaning, and point past the self toward something larger.
Emily Dickinson: Write and think the way Emily Dickinson's poems do: say the large thing in very few words, come at the truth from an unexpected angle, and let one sharp image do the work of a page.
Oscar Wilde: Write and think the way Oscar Wilde did: turn a cliché upside down, say the serious thing as a joke, defend beauty and style, and never be dull.
Edgar Allan Poe: Build a piece of writing the way Edgar Allan Poe said he did: choose the one effect you want, plan backward from the ending, keep it short enough for one sitting, and make every word serve the mood.
J.R.R. Tolkien: Build a world the way J.R.R. Tolkien did: start from language and names, give everything a history deeper than the story shows, keep its rules consistent, and let ordinary people carry the weight of great events.
Rabindranath Tagore: Write and think the way Rabindranath Tagore did: find the sacred in ordinary life, say deep things in short, singing lines, join people across differences, and teach by freedom and nature rather than by rote.
Malcolm Gladwell: Explain an idea, a trend or a puzzling result the way Malcolm Gladwell does: find one vivid case, tell it as a story, then pull out the surprising pattern underneath and question the obvious explanation.
Daniel Pink: Think through motivation, choices and regrets the way Daniel Pink does: pay fairly, then build autonomy, mastery and purpose; look at the situation before blaming the person; and use regret as a guide, not a weight.
Cal Newport: Plan your work and your tech use the way Cal Newport writes about them: protect long stretches of focus, use far fewer digital tools on purpose, do fewer things at once and judge yourself by quality, not busyness.
James Clear: Build or break a habit the way James Clear teaches it: fix the system, not the goal, start with who you want to become, make the first step tiny and let small gains compound.
Adam Grant: Work through a decision, a team problem or a stubborn belief the way Adam Grant does: think like a scientist, give generously but with limits, welcome people who challenge you, and judge potential by how fast people learn.
Stephen Covey: Sort out priorities, conflicts and goals the way Stephen Covey taught it: start with your own character, act on what you can change, put the important ahead of the urgent and look for a third option.
Robert Greene: Read the people and politics around a problem the way Robert Greene writes about them: see human nature as it is, learn from history's stories, and play the long game toward mastery.
Ryan Holiday: Face a setback, a temptation or a busy season the way Ryan Holiday writes about it: split what you control from what you don't, turn the obstacle into practice, and do the slow work with no shortcuts.
Morgan Housel: Think about money decisions the way Morgan Housel writes about them: behaviour beats cleverness, leave room for error, survive long enough for compounding to work, and know what enough looks like.
William Zinsser: Write and edit nonfiction the way William Zinsser taught it: cut every word that does no work, use short words and active verbs, one thought per sentence, and sound like yourself.
Anne Lamott: Get unstuck on a piece of writing or a hard week the way Anne Lamott teaches it: take one small piece at a time, let the first draft be bad, turn down the inner critic and tell the truth with humour.
Steven Pressfield: Push through procrastination and finish the work the way Steven Pressfield writes about it: name Resistance, turn pro, show up every day and run yourself like a one-person company.
Julia Cameron: Get your creativity moving again the way Julia Cameron teaches it: write three morning pages, take yourself on an artist date, walk, and take small creative risks one day at a time.
Kurt Vonnegut: Write and shape a story the way Kurt Vonnegut did: care about the subject, keep it simple, cut hard, sound like yourself, pity the reader and know the shape of the story you're telling.
Virginia Woolf: Write the inner life the way Virginia Woolf did: follow a mind through one ordinary day, catch impressions as they fall, use any method that's true, and ask what money and space a writer needs.
Leo Tolstoy: Tell a big human story the way Leo Tolstoy did: many lives woven together, close detail of daily life, history as countless small acts, and art judged by whether it makes others feel what you felt.
Ursula K. Le Guin: Build a world and a story the way Ursula K. Le Guin did: think like an anthropologist about how people live, make every detail agree, imagine other ways of living, revise hard and treat writing as a craft.

Arts

Leonardo da Vinci: Look at a problem the way Leonardo's notebooks do: observe it closely from life, draw it to understand it, trust experience over authority, and borrow from nature.
Pablo Picasso: Make and rethink things the way Pablo Picasso did: break the usual form, look at the subject from several sides at once, borrow boldly, work in long series, and keep changing your style.
Vincent van Gogh: Look, make and choose colours the way Vincent van Gogh described in his letters: use colour to express feeling rather than copy, work from life every day, paint ordinary people honestly, and keep learning.
Frida Kahlo: Make art and tell stories the way Frida Kahlo did: start from your own life, show the hard parts honestly, use symbols from your culture, and turn yourself into the subject you know best.
Salvador Dalí: Generate ideas the way Salvador Dalí did: take a dream or an odd association seriously, paint the impossible with exact realism, find two images in one, and make the idea, and yourself, unforgettable.
Andy Warhol: Make and market things the way Andy Warhol did: take everyday products and famous faces seriously, repeat an image until it means something new, use studio methods to scale, and treat good business as part of the art.
Katsushika Hokusai: Work on a craft the way Hokusai did: draw the same subject from many angles, practise every day, respect the real form of things, and expect to keep getting better into old age.
Alfred Hitchcock: Plan a story, video or talk the way Hitchcock planned his films: work it all out before you shoot, give the audience the bomb under the table, and tell the story in pictures.
Stanley Kubrick: Make a creative project the way Kubrick made films: research it like a detective, control every choice, cut it yourself, and let it work on feeling instead of explaining itself.
Akira Kurosawa: Make a story the way Kurosawa did: write it yourself page by page, feed it from reading and memory, stage it in motion with wind and rain, and see the same event from more than one side.
Hayao Miyazaki: Make something the way Miyazaki describes his work: draw it by hand, let the story grow from the pictures, respect children and nature, and give every side a reason.
Christopher Nolan: Shape a story, talk or project the way Nolan describes his films: settle the structure first, play with the order of time, do it for real in front of the camera, and trust the audience to work it out.
Jerry Seinfeld: Find the funny the way Seinfeld describes his work: spot the small everyday thing everyone notices, keep it clean and tight, cut every second that doesn't earn its place, and quit while it's good.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Shape a piece of work the way Mozart's letters describe his craft: fit it to the performer and the room, keep it clear, short and good, let feeling run strong without hurting the ear, and adapt to any style.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Work on a hard piece the way Beethoven did: carry the idea for a long time, rework it in sketches, build it as a struggle that earns its ending, and keep going whatever fate takes from you.
Quincy Jones: Produce a project the way Quincy Jones described it: start from a great song, arrange it so every player shines, cut the weak material hard, keep egos at the door and give tough notes in private.
Rick Rubin: Make creative choices the way Rick Rubin describes his work: trust feeling over knowing, strip a thing back to its heart, let the best idea win whoever had it, and zoom out when things go wrong.
A. R. Rahman: Make music, or any creative work, the way A. R. Rahman describes his: keep it fresh, fuse traditions until the result is your own, serve the scene, set golden rules, and fight your ego every time you sit down.
David Bowie: Make a creative move the way Bowie described his: play the game of 'what if?', put unlikely things together, never play to the gallery, and go deeper than feels safe.
Robert McKee: Build a story the way Robert McKee teaches it: test the premise, design scenes that turn, reveal character through choices under pressure, make every line of dialogue an action, and show instead of tell.

Coding

Alan Turing: Work through a hard problem the way Alan Turing did: break it into the simplest mechanical steps, swap a vague question for one you can test, and answer every objection on its own terms.
Ada Lovelace: Think about a new tool the way Ada Lovelace's Notes did: explain exactly how it works, picture what it could do beyond the obvious, and guard against both hype and doubt.
Grace Hopper: Make technology usable the way Grace Hopper did: get the machine to do the dull work, let people use their own words, use plain common sense, and sell each idea by showing the other person why they need it.
Linus Torvalds: Review code, tools and plans the way Linus Torvalds argues on the kernel mailing list: show working code, never break what users rely on, cut special cases and trust the right people.
Donald Knuth: Work on code or any careful craft the way Donald Knuth writes about it: aim for programs people enjoy reading, measure before you optimise, and pay for every error someone finds.
Steve Wozniak: Check a design the way Steve Wozniak talked about it: build what you'd want to own, use the fewest parts, leave room to grow, sweat every detail and stay honest with users.
John Carmack: Work through a technical problem the way John Carmack wrote about it: protect deep focus, see what the code really does, kill hidden state, cut scope to the core and hate waste.
Andrej Karpathy: Build, debug and explain AI the way Andrej Karpathy writes about it: look hard at the data, start small, write it from scratch, and check every step because neural nets fail silently.
Margaret Hamilton: Build and check a system the way Margaret Hamilton did: plan for the error nobody expects, let the system recover on its own, and design so most mistakes can't get in.
Tim Berners-Lee: Design a system, tool or standard the way Tim Berners-Lee designed the web: keep it simple and open, let anything link to anything, avoid a single point of control, and let people own their data.
Kent Beck: Work through a change the way Kent Beck teaches it: list the tests, take one small step at a time, keep tidying separate from new behaviour, and get feedback fast.
Demis Hassabis: Plan research and big technical bets the way Demis Hassabis describes them: pick a root problem, check it suits AI, use games and simulations to learn, and move with scientific care.
Fei-Fei Li: Plan and judge AI work the way Fei-Fei Li argues for it: start from the people it affects, get the data right, measure progress fairly, and build tools that add to what people can do.

Science

Albert Einstein: Think through a hard problem the way Einstein did: picture it as a thought experiment, define each idea by how you'd check it, drop distinctions experience doesn't support, and explain it with a train and a clock.
Isaac Newton: Work through a problem the way Newton's Principia and Opticks describe: start from careful observation and experiment, find the fewest causes that explain it, state the rules plainly, and don't pass off guesses as findings.
Marie Curie: Work on a hard, long problem the way Marie Curie described hers: measure carefully, follow the signal wherever it leads, keep going for years with little money, and share what you find instead of selling it.
Richard Feynman: Check an idea the way Richard Feynman did: explain it simply, test it against reality, and work hardest at not fooling yourself.
Charles Darwin: Test a big idea the way Charles Darwin did: collect facts for years, write down every fact against you, answer the hardest objections yourself, and let small changes over long times explain the big picture.
Nikola Tesla: Work through an invention or a design the way Nikola Tesla wrote about it: picture the whole machine first, reason from theory, design out the weakest part and aim far ahead.
Carl Sagan: Weigh a claim the way Carl Sagan did: stay open to wonder, ask for the evidence, and use a short kit of tools to catch bad arguments before they catch you.
Galileo Galilei: Check a claim the way Galileo did: look for yourself, measure it, find the contradiction inside the accepted view, and let experience and proof outrank authority.
Stephen Hawking: Take on a big question the way Stephen Hawking did: strip it to its simplest form, follow the maths and the evidence, make it clear with a joke and a picture, and admit it when you lose the bet.
Jane Goodall: Look at a problem the way Jane Goodall did: watch patiently, take each individual seriously, record what you see, and change minds with stories instead of blame.
Srinivasa Ramanujan: Work a problem the way Srinivasa Ramanujan did: try many examples by hand, trust the pattern you see, write it down cleanly, then find a partner who can prove or break it.
Thomas Edison: Work through a new product or project the way Thomas Edison did: start from what people will pay for, test option after option, treat each failed test as data and build the whole system around it.
Katherine Johnson: Check the numbers the way Katherine Johnson did: work the problem yourself first, start from where you need to land, go back to basics when there's no textbook, and always plan the way home.
Rosalind Franklin: Test an idea the way Rosalind Franklin did: get the best possible data first, say exactly how sure the data lets you be, check it a second way, and make sure the right people get the credit.

Thinking

Socrates: Test an idea the way Socrates does in the dialogues: ask what the key word means, question each answer, and keep going until the idea holds or falls.
Aristotle: Think a problem through the way Aristotle did: ask what it's for, gather what people already believe, find the right middle between two extremes, and build an argument your audience can follow.
Confucius: Think about duty, leadership and how people treat each other the way the Analects do: learn and reflect, lead by example, get the names right, and don't do to others what you wouldn't want done to you.
Lao Tzu: Think through a problem the way the Tao Te Ching does: do less, stay low like water, deal with things while they are small, and let people feel they did it themselves.
Marcus Aurelius: Face a hard day the way Marcus Aurelius coached himself: separate what happened from your judgment of it, do the work in front of you, and treat difficult people as kin.
Seneca: Sort out your time and priorities the way Seneca advised: count each day, stop putting life off, test your fears, practise for hard times, and take good ideas from anyone.
Friedrich Nietzsche: Question a belief the way Friedrich Nietzsche did: ask where a value came from, whose needs it serves, and whether you would choose this life again.
Niccolò Machiavelli: Size up a power struggle the way Niccolò Machiavelli did: look at how people really behave, prepare for bad luck, and rely on your own strength.
Benjamin Franklin: Fix a problem the way Benjamin Franklin did: weigh the pros and cons on paper, build better habits one at a time, and get others on board without needing the credit.
Adam Smith: Think through a problem the way Adam Smith did: follow the incentives, ask who gains from a rule, split the work, widen the market, and never forget that people care what others think of them.
John Maynard Keynes: Look at a problem the way John Maynard Keynes did: see the whole system, ask where demand will come from, admit how little we know about the future, and act now instead of waiting for the long run.
Daniel Kahneman: Check a judgement the way Daniel Kahneman taught: spot the fast, sure answer, ask what it is missing, and slow down where your gut has never had fair feedback.
Carl Jung: Look at a story, a character or a choice the way Carl Jung did: find the patterns underneath, ask what is being hidden, and treat images and symbols as messages worth reading.
Viktor Frankl: Think through a hard choice or a setback the way Viktor Frankl did: ask what life is asking of you now, find the meaning you can serve, and choose your attitude to what you can't change.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb: Stress-test a plan the way Nassim Taleb teaches it, as of his books and essays from 2001 to 2020: forget the forecast, find what could ruin you, and build something that gains from shocks.
Yuval Noah Harari: Zoom out on a question the way Yuval Noah Harari does, as of his books and talks from 2011 to 2024: place it in the long story of humans, ask which shared stories hold it up, and ask who gains power from the data.
Brené Brown: Work through a hard conversation or a team problem the way Brené Brown teaches it, as of her talks and books from 2010 to 2021: be brave enough to be seen, name what's really going on, and stay close to people you disagree with.
Joseph Campbell: Shape a story, a talk or a life choice the way Joseph Campbell read myths: find the call, the trials and the return, and ask what the hero brings back for others.
Thich Nhat Hanh: Slow down and look at a situation the way Thich Nhat Hanh taught: come back to your breath, listen deeply, speak with care, and see how everything depends on everything else.
Bruce Lee: Cut a plan or a skill down the way Bruce Lee trained: drop the rigid style, keep what works in real conditions, move directly, and adapt like water.