The Business Canon

Episode 90: "Winning Without Fighting": The Core Idea

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. In this profound and essential Brief, we distill the single most important and often-overlooked principle from Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Our hosts quickly explain why the ultimate victory is the one that is won before the battle even begins, through superior positioning, strategy, and psychological advantage. You will learn why the most brilliant general—and the most brilliant business strategist—is the one who makes their victory look easy and inevitable. In just a few minutes, you’ll have a powerful, counter-intuitive principle to guide your thinking about competition and success.

Episode 91: Is Business War? A Critique of Military Metaphors

Business leaders love to use the language of war: we "target" customers, "launch" campaigns, and "fight" for market share. But is this a helpful and inspiring metaphor, or is it a toxic and misleading one? In this Critique episode, we analyze the widespread use of military metaphors in business, using Sun Tzu's The Art of War as a starting point. Our hosts question whether a framework based on zero-sum conflict, enemies, and victory is a healthy or effective model for a modern economy that also relies on collaboration, customer service, and positive-sum partnerships.

Episode 92: Power vs. Influence

What is the more effective and sustainable path to achieving your goals: the hard, coercive power described by Machiavelli in The Prince, or the soft, persuasive power described by Dale Carnegie in How to Win Friends and Influence People? This episode stages a classic Debate on the nature of leadership and human relations. One host argues that in a competitive world, the Machiavellian understanding of power—that it is better to be feared than loved—is a necessary and realistic view. The other host argues that this approach is ultimately self-defeating. They contend that the Carnegie model of building genuine rapport and influence is the only path to long-term, sustainable success.

Episode 93: Zero to One (Part 1): The Challenge of the Future

We begin our multi-part series on Peter Thiel's provocative and influential book, Zero to One. In this first episode, our hosts unpack Thiel's central challenge to the modern world: that we must focus on creating new things ("vertical" progress, or going from 0 to 1) rather than just copying what already works ("horizontal" progress, or going from 1 to n). The conversation explores his contrarian history of the future and his argument that we have been living in an age of technological stagnation. This is a powerful and often-uncomfortable call to action for anyone who wants to build the future.

Episode 94: Competition is for Losers: The Monopoly Question

What if the goal of a business is not to compete, but to create a monopoly? In this provocative and counter-intuitive Brief, we distill the most famous idea from Peter Thiel's Zero to One. Our hosts quickly explain Thiel's argument that competition is a destructive force that erodes profits, and that the greatest and most impactful businesses are "creative monopolies" that have created something so new and valuable that they have no real competitors. In just a few minutes, you’ll have a powerful new framework for thinking about strategy, innovation, and the very purpose of a startup.

Episode 95: The Libertarian Utopia: A Critique of Thiel's Politics

Peter Thiel is not just a successful entrepreneur and investor; he is also one of the most influential political thinkers in Silicon Valley. In this Critique episode, we analyze the deep-seated libertarian philosophy that underpins his business ideas in Zero to One. Our hosts explore the appeal of his vision of a world driven by heroic entrepreneurs and technological progress, free from the constraints of government and traditional institutions. However, we also offer a strong critique. We question the social and ethical implications of this worldview, analyzing its potential to create vast inequality and to undermine the democratic processes that are essential for a just and stable society.

Episode 96: The Social Network: The Facebook Effect vs. The Four

What is the true nature of Facebook's power? This episode stages a Debate between two different perspectives on the social media giant. One host, drawing on David Kirkpatrick's early and optimistic book The Facebook Effect, argues that Facebook's success is a story of a mission-driven company that connected the world and empowered individuals. The other host, channeling the sharp and cynical analysis of Scott Galloway in The Four, argues that Facebook's power comes from its masterful exploitation of our primal human need for connection and its creation of an outrage-driven, ad-supported machine.

Episode 97: The Black Swan (Part 2): The Narrative Fallacy

In the second part of our series on Nassim Taleb's The Black Swan, we explore the dangerous stories we tell ourselves to make the world seem more predictable than it is. Our hosts do a deep dive into the "Narrative Fallacy"—our tendency to create simple, coherent, and often false stories to explain complex past events. The conversation explores how this fallacy, combined with hindsight bias, makes us blind to the role of randomness in success and failure. We analyze why this makes us vulnerable to the next Black Swan and why we must learn to be more skeptical of our own explanations.

Episode 98: Skin in the Game: The Core Idea

Never trust anyone who doesn't have skin in the game. In this concise and powerful Brief, we distill the core ethical principle from Nassim Nicholas Taleb's work. Our hosts quickly explain why having "skin in the game"—bearing the downside risk of your own decisions and advice—is the only true guarantor of accountability, fairness, and true expertise. You will learn why Taleb believes that the lack of this simple symmetry is the root cause of many of the problems in the modern world, from financial crises to bad policy. In just a few minutes, you’ll have a powerful and uncompromising new tool for evaluating the advice you receive.

Episode 99: The Barbell Strategy: A Critique of Taleb's Investment Advice

Nassim Taleb's investment philosophy, the "barbell strategy," is a radical departure from conventional wisdom, but is it a practical approach for the average investor? In this Critique episode, we analyze this famous strategy. Our hosts praise the intellectual coherence of the barbell—keeping the vast majority of your assets in extremely safe investments while taking small, speculative bets on high-risk, high-payoff opportunities. However, we also offer a critique. We question the practical difficulty of implementing this strategy, from identifying true Black Swan opportunities to the immense psychological discipline required to stick with it through long periods of inactivity.