The Great Mental Models, Volume 2: Physics, Chemistry and Biology

by Shane Parrish

Tecumseh & Brock: The War of 1812,

Alloying is about increasing strength through the combination of elements. One plus one can really equal ten. Consider a person possessing deep engineering skills with an ability to explain ideas clearly. Surely they are more valuable than someone with just the engineering skills. Now add empathy, humility, resilience, and drive. Now this person is incredibly valuable. Combining a deep specialized knowledge in a domain with a broader understanding of the rules that govern the physical world is a rare combination that saves you time, money, and problems. If you can find people to partner with who can complement and augment your skills to create even more capabilities, then so much the better.

Humans have big brains. A benefit is unmatched problem-solving ability. We can survive in a wide variety of situations for which we have no direct experience. The tradeoff? The bodies that house these big brains can’t be fully grown inside the womb. So, we are vulnerable for many years after birth.

Complacency will kill you. The stronger we are relative to others, the less willing we generally are to change. We see strength as an immediate advantage that we don’t want to compromise. However, it’s not strength that survives, but adaptability. Strength becomes rigidity. Eventually your competitors will match your strength or find innovative ways to neutralize it. Real success comes from being flexible enough to change, to let go of what worked in the past, and to focus on what you need to thrive in the future.

Nothing exists in isolation. Everything is connected. The ecosystem lens reveals that the actions of any one species have consequences for many others in the same environment. Many systems can take care of themselves, possessing abilities to correct and compensate for changes and external pressures. We need to take the time to learn how the components of our system are interconnected so we can understand how our actions will impact the connections and affect the outcome we are trying to produce.

An ecosystem is comprised of niches, and we can think of these as roles to be filled. There is a trade-off between specialization—dominating a smaller niche—and generalization, occupying a larger niche. Specialists have less competition and stress, but only in times of stability. Generalists face a greater day-to-day challenge for resources and survival but have more flexibility to respond when times change.

Self-preservation is a core instinct that explains many of our actions including why we are highly sensitive to situations of scarcity, why we try to increase our value at the expense of our organization, and why we make sacrifices to ensure legacy. Our notions of self-preservation are tied into our identities and a way to give meaning to our lives. If my children or my ideas survive, grow, and multiply, I have, in a sense, preserved myself.

Cooperation led to the powerful brains we have, capable of art and abstract thinking. Our complex societies are built on our ability to work with each other, believe in the same ideas, and share the same goals. Cooperation is the fuel that powers our day, from raising our children, to the jobs we perform, and the social structures that give us everything from leisure time to meaning and purpose. When we cooperate, we lighten our individual loads and sometimes create something brand new.

One of the challenges of leadership is aligning incentives. How do you get people to move in the same direction without being waylaid by immediate reward? Sun Tzu suggested over 2,000 years ago that a good leader “leads his men into battle like a man climbing to a height and kicking away the ladder.”1 When you can’t go back, your motivation is to go forward together.

« The way people solve problems is first by having an enormous amount of common-sense knowledge, like maybe 50 million anecdotes or entries, and then having some unknown system for finding among those 50 million old stories the 5 or 10 that seem most relevant to the situation. This is reasoning by analogy.»

Sometimes our tendency to conserve energy helps us, and sometimes it hurts us. While minimizing our output ensures we will have extra to draw on in times of increased need, it can also get in the way of learning. Experience doesn’t become learning without reflection, and reflection is an energy expenditure. If we want to develop our thinking and get the most out of our environments, then we have to be aware of the natural tendency to minimize energy output and correct for it where doing so creates value.

While most people assume that experience is the key to learning, the key is actually reflection.