The job was editor-in-chief. The goal was to become the platform. And she did. 

Once she made it to the top, she didn’t just edit Vogue. She reinvented the power structures beneath it. This episode unpacks how a British girl who couldn’t type built the most bulletproof career in media, survived five decades of disruption, and made herself indispensable to fashion, politics, and culture.  

You’ll hear how she weaponized speed over perfection, fired half the Vogue staff in three days, and turned a porn-funded job into a fashion laboratory. Why she said “Your job” when asked what she wanted. Why she put Madonna on the cover at the peak of a scandal. Why standards—not popularity—are her real moat. It’s not about fashion. It’s about building systems no one can take from you.  

Most people aim for realistic. Anna Wintour named her destination—Editor of Vogue—at sixteen, then built a ladder no one else could climb. 

This episode is for informational purposes only and is based on Amy Odell’s Anna: The Biography. Simon & Schuster, 2022. 

Check out highlights from these books in our repository, and find key lessons from Wintour here—⁠⁠⁠⁠https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-anna-wintour/

Approximate timestamps: Subject to variation due to dynamically inserted ads:

(03:48) PART 1: A Childhood Defined: The Girl Who Couldn’t Type
(05:50) Anna Chooses Her Path
(07:28) Learning by Drowning
(09:46) The Tyranny of Standards
(12:01) When Merit Meets Reality

(13:44) PART 2: Conquering New York: The Quiet Revolutionary
(16:05) Quiet Focus
(18:10) The Best Worst Job
(19:29) A Reputation from Nothing
(21:00) In the Wilderness
(22:39) The Preparation Advantage
(25:40) The Audacity Play
(27:22) The London Interlude
(28:44) The Execution

(30:19) PART 3: Vogue’s Transformation: The Devil in the Details
(32:04) Speed as Strategy
(34:56) The Celebrity Revolution
(38:44) The Three-Assistant Solution
(41:07) Balancing Art and Commerce
(43:11) Cannibalizing Yourself First

(46:46) PART 4: Anna’s Empire: The Power of Compartmentalization
(48:05) The Empire Strategy
(49:44) Crisis as Opportunity
(51:58) The Digital Reinvention
(53:27) The Currency of Influence
(54:36) The Machine Anna Built
(56:11) The Persistence of Power

(58:23) Reflections, afterthoughts, and lessons

Upgrade—If you want to hear my thoughts and reflections at the end of all episodes, join our membership: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get your own private feed.

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How do you build a high-performance culture without turning your company into the Hunger Games? Reed Hastings, co-founder and former CEO of Netflix, shares lessons from a career spent rewriting the rules—from severance as a management tool to “big-hearted champions who pick up the trash.” In this episode, he reveals how Netflix scaled trust, made bold bets before the data was in, and kept its edge by treating employees like adults—not assets. You’ll hear how Hastings evaluates talent beyond the interview, the reason he avoids performance improvement plans, and what most leaders misunderstand about judgment, feedback, and innovation. 

You’ll also hear why he placed a $100 million bet on House of Cards with no pilot, how Drive to Survive changed an entire sport, and why Squid Game caught even Netflix by surprise. 

Now focused on a new chapter—owning a ski mountain, reshaping education through AI tutors, and supporting charter schools—Hastings is still doing what he does best: building systems that scale culture, not just product. 

If you care about performance without politics—or culture without the clichés—this is a blueprint from one of the clearest thinkers in modern business. 

Approximate timestamps: Subject to variation due to dynamically inserted ads:

(3:09) Powder Mountain, Skiing Industry, & Buying a Mountain

Thanks to our sponsors for supporting this episode:

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Harvey Firestone built one of America’s great industrial empires from scratch, transforming from a farm boy to Henry Ford’s key partner. This episode reveals timeless principles about building businesses through booms, busts, and technological disruptions.

This episode is based on the biography Men and Rubber: The Story of Business.

Check out The Firestone Principles: 12 Timeless Lessons from an Industrial Pioneer: ⁠⁠⁠https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-harvey-firestone/

(03:00) PART 1: The Best Businessman I Ever Knew
(06:50) The Vanilla Extract Lesson
(10:23) When Premium Doesn’t Matter

(12:05) PART 2: Right Beneath the Wheels
(14:21) The Back of an Envelope
(16:36) If Two of Us Stay, Neither Makes Money
(18:39) Betting on what Doesn’t Change
(20:55) The Accidental Breakfast
(24:53) The Third Option

(28:19) PART 3: The Innovators Dilemma: Pneumatic Tires
(32:24) The Ford Connection: A Partnership of Outsiders
(35:23) Navigating the Crisis
(37:17) The Underdog’s Advantage
(39:24) The Million Dollar Milestone
(43:10) Weathering the Panic of 1907
(45:55) The Simplicity Imperative

(51:25) PART 4: The Ship-by-Truck Revolution
(54:31) The Boom That Hid Everything
(56:11) The 25% Solution
(01:01:42) Cutting to the Bone

(01:04:25) PART 5: Why He Never Stopped
(01:06:54) The Human Element
(01:08:09) The Legacy

(01:10:05) Reflections, afterthoughts, and lessons

Upgrade—If you want to hear my thoughts and reflections at the end of all episodes, join our membership: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get your own private feed.

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Eight Super Bowl rings. Six with the Patriots. And a mindset that goes far deeper than football. In this rare, wide-ranging conversation, Bill Belichick breaks down the invisible factors behind sustained excellence: discipline, preparation, and the mental edge that separates contenders from champions. He shares the surprising reason he kept Tom Brady as a fourth-string rookie, why talent alone is never enough at the highest level, and how true competitors find ways to win long after their gifts fade. 

You’ll hear why Belichick cut a player the week of the Super Bowl, how technology is changing player preparation and locker room culture, and why “we have control of the game” became the rallying belief in the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. This episode covers everything from how he decides when to push a player—or pull back—to how trust is built inside elite teams. Belichick also explains why the price of success is always paid in advance—and why there’s no shortcut around the work. If you lead a team, or want to lead yourself better, this episode is a masterclass from the greatest football mind of our time. 

Approximate timestamps: Subject to variation due to dynamically inserted ads:

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Most people protect their identity. Andy Grove would rewrite his, again and again. He started as a refugee, became a chemist, turned himself into an engineer, then a manager, and finally the CEO who built Intel into a global powerhouse. He didn’t cling to credentials or titles. When a challenge came up, he didn’t delegate, he learned. This episode explores the radical adaptability that made Grove different. While his peers obsessed over innovation, he focused on something far more enduring: the systems, structures, and people needed to scale that innovation. Grove understood that as complexity rises, technical brilliance fades and coordination becomes king. 

You’ll learn how he redefined leadership, why he saw management as a creative act, and what most founders still get wrong about building great companies. If you’re serious about getting better—at work, at thinking, at leading—this is the episode you’ll be glad you didn’t miss. 

This episode is for informational purposes only and most of the research came from The Life and Times of an American by Richard S. Tedlow, Only the Paranoid Survive by Andy Grove, and Tom Wolfe’s profile of Robert Noyce available here.

Check out highlights from these books in our repository, and find key lessons from Grove here — ⁠⁠https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-andy-grove/⁠

(05:02 ) PART 1: Hungarian Beginnings
(06:48) German Occupation
(09:27) Soviet Liberation
(11:01) End of the War
(12:35) Leaving Hungary

(14:10) PART 2: In America
(16:50) Origin of Silicon Valley
(20:04) Fairchild

(22:54) PART 3: Building Intel
(25:15) Becoming a Manager
(29:39) Intel's Make-or-Break Moment
(31:35) Quality Control Obsession
(34:41) Orchestrating Brilliance
(37:49) The Microprocessor Revolution and Intel's Growth
(40:32) Intel's Growth and the Microma Lesson
(30:51) The Grove Influence
(47:00) The Birth of Intel Culture
(49:42) ​​The Fruits of Transformation
(50:43) The Test Ahead

(53:07) PART 4: Inflection Points
(55:23) The Valley of Death
(58:26) The IBM Lesson
(01:01:18) CASSANDRA’s: The Value of Middle Management
(01:04:09) Executing a Painful Pivot

(01:08:25) Reflections, afterthoughts, and lessons

Thanks to our sponsors for supporting this episode:

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Newsletter — The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter

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What if the world’s most connected tech investor handed you his mental playbook? Elad Gil, an investor behind Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase and Anduril, flips conventional wisdom on its head and prioritizes market opportunities over founders. Elad decodes why innovation has clustered geographically throughout history, from Renaissance Florence to Silicon Valley, where today 25% of global tech wealth is created. We get into why he believes AI is dramatically under-hyped and still under-appreciated, why remote work hampers innovation, and the self-inflicted wounds that he's seen kill most startups.  

This is a masterclass in pattern recognition from one of tech's most consistent and accurate forecasters, revealing the counterintuitive principles behind identifying world-changing ideas. 

Disclaimer: This episode was recorded in January. The pace of AI development is staggering, and some of what we discussed has already evolved. But the mental models Elad shares about strategy, judgment, and high-agency thinking are timeless and will remain relevant for years to come.

Approximate timestamps: Subject to variation due to dynamically inserted ads.

(2:13) - Investing in Startups

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Rose Blumkin didn’t just build a business. She revolutionized retail. After fleeing Russia with $66 in her purse, she opened a basement furniture store in Omaha at 43 years old—with no English, no education, and no connections. Her formula? Sell cheap, tell the truth, don't cheat the customer. Nebraska Furniture Mart would survive depressions, fires, lawsuits, tornadoes—and eventually become a billion-dollar empire Warren Buffett called “the ideal business.” 

Learn how Mrs. B’s relentless focus, radical simplicity, and unbreakable work ethic built an empire from scratch—and what her story teaches us about business, resilience, and the power of earned trust.

This episode is for informational purposes only and most of the research came from "Women of Berkshire Hathaway" and oral history interviews with Rose Blumkin and her daughter Frances.

Check out highlights from this book in our repository, and find key lessons from Blumkin here — ⁠fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-rose-blumkin

(03:20) PART 1: Early Childhood

(07:10) A Natural Entrepreneur

(09:37) PART 2: Building an Empire 

(12:53) The Competition 

(15:54) The Passing of Isadore 

(18:32) Expansion through Hardship 

(20:32) Natural Instinct for Character

(25:15) PART 3: The $60m Handshake / The Buffett Connection 

(28:25) A Rebel at 96

(33:47) Reflections, afterthoughts, and lessons

Thanks to our sponsors for supporting this episode:

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Most accelerators fund ideas. Y Combinator funds founders—and transforms them. With a 1% acceptance rate and alumni behind 60% of the past decade’s unicorns, YC knows what separates the founders who break through from those who burn out. It's not the flashiest résumé or the boldest pitch but something President Garry Tan says is far rarer: earnestness. In this conversation, Garry reveals why this is the key to success, and how it can make or break a startup. We also dive into how AI is reshaping the whole landscape of venture capital and what the future might look like when everyone has intelligence on tap. 

If you care about innovation, agency, or the future of work, don’t miss this episode. 

Approximate timestamps: Subject to variation due to dynamically inserted ads.

(00:02:39) The Success of Y Combinator

(00:04:25) The Y Combinator Program

(00:08:25) The Application Process

(00:09:58) The Interview Process

(00:16:16) The Challenge of Early Stage Investment

(00:22:53) The Role of San Francisco in Innovation

(00:28:32) The Ideal Founder

(00:36:27) The Importance of Earnestness

(00:42:17) The Changing Landscape of AI Companies

(00:45:26) The Impact of Cloud Computing

(00:50:11) Dysfunction with Silicon Valley

(00:52:24) Forecast for the Tech Market

(00:54:40) The Regulation of AI

(00:55:56) The Need for Agency in Education

(01:01:40) AI in Biotech and Manufacturing

(01:07:24) The Issue of Data Access and The Legal Aspects of AI Outputs

(01:13:34) The Role of Meta in AI Development

(01:28:07) The Potential of AI in Decision Making

(01:40:33) Defining AGI

(01:42:03) The Use of AI and Prompting

(01:47:09) AI Model Reasoning

(01:49:48) The Competitive Advantage in AI

(01:52:42) Investing in Big Tech Companies

(01:55:47) The Role of Microsoft and Meta in AI

(01:57:00) Learning from MrBeast: YouTube Channel Optimization

(02:05:58) The Perception of Founders

(02:08:23) The Reality of Startup Success Rates

(02:09:34) The Impact of OpenAI

(02:11:46) The Golden Age of Building

MOMENTOUS: Head to livemomentous.com and use code KNOWLEDGEPROJECT for 35% off your first subscription. 

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If Warren Buffett is the king of capital allocation—Henry Singleton is the ghost. Singleton built one of the most successful conglomerates in American history, transforming business while remaining virtually unknown. While Wall Street chased fads, Singleton, who could play chess blindfolded, quietly turned industrial conglomerate Teledyne into a business juggernaut with 20.4% annual returns over nearly three decades—outperforming Buffett, outmaneuvering rivals, and outlasting the hype. Dive into the mind of a man who Charlie Munger said had "the best operating and capital deployment record in American business—bar none." This is a masterclass in disciplined capital allocation and long-term thinking on the most underrated business genius of the 20th century. 

If you're building a business, allocating capital, or simply trying to think more clearly in a noisy world, you cannot afford to miss this one. 

(03:16) Prologue

(05:59) PART 1: THE MAKING OF A MAVERICK

(07:48) After MIT

(10:24) Founding of Teledyne

(14:04) The Future is Semiconductors

(17:18) What to Acquire?

(19:12) Integrating into the Teledyne System

(21:49) Vasco Metals and George Roberts

(23:40) PART 2: MASTER CAPITAL ALLOCATOR

(28:10) Entering Insurance

(29:44) The Great Buyback Revolution

(32:46) Teledyne Operating Systems

(34:56) Thinking Local

(37:41) Building Knowledge

(39:59) PART 3: PEAK PERFORMANCE

(42:51) Planning for Retirement

(44:09) Passing the Torch

(46:45) End of an Era: Singleton Retires

(47:41) Teledyne After Singleton

(48:46) Singleton’s Legacy

(51:05) SHANE’S REFLECTIONS

This episode is for informational purposes only and most of the research came from reading Distant Force: A Memoir of the Teledyne Corporation and the Man Who Created It, with an Introduction to Teledyne Technologies by Dr. George A. Roberts with Robert J McVicker and The Outsiders by William N. Thorndike, Jr.

Additional source: 1979 Interview with Forbes

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Check out highlights from these books in our repository, and find key lessons from Singleton here —https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-henry-singleton/

Upgrade — If you want to hear my thoughts and reflections at the end of all episodes, join our membership: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠ and get your own private feed.

Newsletter — The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at fs.blog/newsletter

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What happens when one of the most legendary minds in tech delves deep into the real workings of modern AI? A 2-hour long masterclass that you don’t want to miss.

Bret Taylor, current chairman of OpenAI, unpacks why AI is transforming software engineering forever, how founders can survive acquisition (he’s done it twice), and why the true bottlenecks in AI aren’t what most think. Drawing on his extensive experiences at Facebook, Google, Twitter and more, he explains why the next phase of AI won’t just be about building better models—it’s about creating entirely new ways for us to work with them. Bret exposes the reality gap between what AI insiders understand and what everyone else believes.

Listen now to recalibrate your thinking before your competitors do. 

(00:02:46) Aha Moments with AI

(00:04:43) Founders Working for Founders

(00:07:59) Acquisition Process

(00:14:14) The Role of a Board

(00:17:05) Founder Mode

(00:20:29) Engineers as Leaders

(00:24:54) Applying First Principles in Business

(00:28:43) The Future of Software Engineering

(00:35:11) Efficiency and Verification of AI-Generated Code

(00:36:46) The Future of Software Development

(00:37:24) Defining AGI

(00:47:03) AI Self-Improvement?

(00:47:58) Safety Measures and Supervision in AI

(00:49:47) Benefiting Humanity and AI Safety

(00:54:06) Regulation and Geopolitical Landscape in AI

(00:55:58) Foundation Models and Frontier Models

(01:01:06) Economics and Open Source Models

(01:05:18) AI and AGI Accessibility

(01:07:42) Optimizing AI Prompts

(01:11:18) Creating an AI Superpower

(01:14:12) Future of Education and AI

(01:19:34) The Impact of AI on Job Roles

(01:21:58) AI in Problem-Solving and Research

(01:25:24) Importance of AI Context Window

(01:27:37) AI Output and Intellectual Property

(01:30:09) Google Maps Launch and Challenges

(01:37:57) Long-Term Investment in AI

(01:43:02) Balancing Work and Family Life

(01:44:25) Building Sierra as an Enduring Company

(01:45:38) Lessons from Tech Company Lifecycles

(01:48:31) Definition and Applications of AI Agents

(01:53:56) Challenges and Importance of Branded AI Agents

(01:56:28) Fending Off Complacency in Companies

(02:01:21) Customer Obsession and Leadership in Companies

Bret Taylor is currently the Chairman of OpenAI and CEO of Sierra. Previously, he was the CTO of Facebook, Chairman of the board for X, and the Co-CEO of Salesforce. 

Newsletter - The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at fs.blog/newsletter

Upgrade — If you want to hear my thoughts and reflections at the end of the episode, join our membership: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠ and get your own private feed.

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