The biggest lesson from the 100 billion people who are no longer alive is that they tried everything we’re trying today. They swung from optimism to pessimism at the worst times. They battled unsuccessfully against reversion to the mean. They learned that popular things seem safe because so many ...

• Countries, states, parties, companies, industries, departments, investment styles, economic philosophies, religions, families, schools, majors, credentials, Twitter communities.

• People are drawn to tribes because there’s comfort in knowing others understand your background a...

• Tribes reduce the ability to challenge ideas or diversify your views because no one wants to lose support of the tribe.

• Tribes are as self-interested as people, encouraging ideas and narratives that promote their survival. But they’re exponentially more influential than any ...

There’s as much to learn about your field from other fields than there is within your field. Once you see the roots shared by most fields you realize there’s a sink of information you’ve been ignoring.

Communication is important. Many doctors who struggle to communicate effectively with the...

• Learn faster than your competition.

• Empathize with customers more than your competition.

• Communicate more effectively than your competition.

• Be willing to fail more than your competition.

• Wait longer than your competition.

It’s usually viewed as a conservative hedge, used by those who don’t want to take much risk. But when used appropriately it’s the opposite. Room for error lets you stick around long enough to let the odds of benefiting from a low-probability outcome fall in your favor.

People believe what they’ve seen happen exponentially more than what they read about has happened to other people, if they read about other people at all. We’re all biased to our own personal history. Everyone.

[Y]ou...