This conversation will change how you handle your relationship starting tonight. The late Dr. Sue Johnson basically gave me a cheat code for relationships that not only last but amplify.

She breaks down the real signals to look for in a partner.  Why people actually cheat (not what you think) and how to spot it coming a mile away. Plus she offers a simple framework that can turn fights from something that pushes you away to something that brings you closer than ever. 

We dig into how to keep the spark alive (even after kids), how to survive the empty-nest phase, and three simple things you can do to strengthen your relationship. 

Doesn't matter if you're single, dating, married, or divorced. You need to hear this.

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Approximate Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(07:11) The Life Cycles Of Relationships

(08:13) How Do We Choose A Mate?

(17:42) Emotional Responsiveness

(24:18) Attachment Panic

(32:31) How To Deepen Romantic Relationships

(43:53) Isolation In Parenthood

(59:50) Sexual Problems Unresolved Lead To Poor Intimacy

(1:04:07) Ad Break

(1:09:10) Affairs and Infidelity

(1:36:58) The Stages Of Emotional Connection In A Relationship

(1:39:27) Warning Signs Of Relationship Detachment

(1:44:48) Predictors Of Success In Couples Therapy

(1:51:29) When Relationships Become Transactional

(1:55:09) Raising Kids And Creating A Safe Parental Alliance

(1:58:51) Retirement Phase

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The most influential retailer you’ve never heard of. How Sol Price invented the warehouse club and a philosophy that still runs Costco and Amazon.

Have you ever wondered why you can still buy a hot dog and soda for $1.50 today at Costco? We can thank Sol Price for that. To him, keeping promises to customers mattered more than profit margins.

Sam Walton said he borrowed more ideas from Sol Price than anyone else. Jim Sinegal of Costco said, “I didn’t learn a lot from Sol. I learned everything.” Jeff Bezos studied him. Home Depot echoed him. 

He invented the warehouse club, pioneered membership retail and built two multi-billion-dollar companies. The real lessons aren’t about what he built, but how he did it. 

This is the story of how a lawyer with no retail experience created an industry, mentored his competition, and proved that nice guys don't always finish last.

Sol Price founded FedMart and Price Club, pioneering the membership warehouse model that inspired Costco and Sam’s Club. His principles—limited selection, fair wages, capped markups, no loss leaders—shaped modern retail through disciples like Jim Sinegal (Costco), Sam Walton (Walmart/Sam’s Club), Bernie Marcus (Home Depot), and influenced Jeff Bezos (Prime).

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Approximate Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:01) Early Years

(08:29) Starting FedMart

(28:33) Price Club

(36:19) When Students Surpass the Teacher

(42:09) The Teacher's Last Lesson

(43:46) Reflections And Lessons

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This episode is for informational purposes only.

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Build the system behind the system. Flexport founder Ryan Petersen shows how to turn messy, multi‑party operations into a simple, scalable system that compounds growth without sacrificing trust.

He explains:

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------

Approximate Timestamps:

(0:00) Start

(2:49) Early Life  

(4:58) First “Start Up”  

(5:38) Living Abroad in China  

(10:19) Y Combinator  

(11:13) Steve Jobs & the iPhone 3G Launch  

(13:41) Lessons from Import Genius  

(22:33) Lessons from Paul Graham

(25:31) Flexport Early Days  

(36:08) COVID-Era Flexport  

(44:09) Hiring Flexport’s First COO  

(47:02) Stepping Down as CEO of Flexport  

(51:07) Cutting Cost & Improving Quality  

(53:57) Lessons from Other CEOs  

(57:05) How to Hire the Best Employees  

(59:31) Paul Graham’s Closed-Door Talk  

(1:03:21) The Value of a 6-Page Monthly Business Review  

(1:06:57) Why Do Tariffs Matter?

 (1:09:52) Tricks for Dealing with Tariffs  

(1:15:43) Other Creative Strategies for Tariffs  

(1:21:30) Dealing with Operational Bottlenecks  

(1:27:41) Lessons from Charlie Munger

(1:30:12) Lessons from Peter Kaufman  

(1:37:50) What Is Success for You?

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Ryan Peterson @typefast

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When Katharine Graham took over the Washington Post in 1963, she was a shy socialite who'd never run anything. By retirement, she'd taken down a president, ended the most violent strike in a generation, and built one of the best-performing companies in American history.

Graham had no training, no experience, not even confidence. Just a newspaper bleeding money and a government that expected her to fall in line.

When her editors brought her stolen classified documents, her lawyers begged her not to publish. They said it would destroy the company. She published them anyway. Nixon came after her, attacking her with the full force of the executive. Then Watergate. For nearly a year she was ridiculed and isolated while pursuing the story that would eventually bring down the president. 

Graham proved that you can grow into a job that initially seems impossible and no amount of training can substitute for having the right values and the courage to act on them.

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10 Lessons from Katharine Graham: ⁠⁠⁠https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-katharine-graham/

Approximate timestamps: 

(0:00) Start

(02:19) The Making of an Unlikely Heiress

(10:15) The Education of a Publisher’s Wife  

(22:16) Learning to Lead

(30:46) Becoming a Media Titan  

(44:12) Legacy  

(47:59) Reflections + Lessons

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Thanks to ReMarkable for sponsoring this episode. Get your paper tablet at reMarkable.com today

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This episode is for informational purposes only and contains the lessons I learned reading her memoir, Personal History and watching Becoming Katharine Graham.

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Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize for proving we're not as rational as we think. In this timeless conversation we discuss how to think clearly in a world full of noise, the invisible forces that cloud our judgement, and why more information doesn't equal better thinking. Kahneman also reveals the mental model he discovered at 22 that still guides elite teams today. 

Approximate timestamps: 

(00:36) – Episode Introduction  

(05:37) – Daniel Kahneman on Childhood and Early Psychology  

(12:44) – Influences and Career Path  

(15:32) – Working with Amos Tversky  

(17:20) – Happiness vs. Life Satisfaction  

(21:04) – Changing Behavior: Myths and Realities  

(24:38) – Psychological Forces Behind Behavior  

(28:02) – Understanding Motivation and Situational Forces  

(30:45) – Situational Awareness and Clear Thinking  

(34:11) – Intuition, Judgment, and Algorithms  

(39:33) – Improving Decision-Making with Structured Processes  

(43:26) – Organizational Thinking and Dissent  

(46:00) – Judgment Quality and Biases  

(50:12) – Teaching Negotiation Through Understanding  

(52:14) – Procedures That Elevate Group Thinking  

(55:30) – Recording and Reviewing Decisions  

(57:58) – The Concept of Noise in Decision-Making  

(01:01:14) – Reducing Noise and Improving Accuracy  

(01:04:09) – Replication Crisis and Changing Beliefs  

(01:08:21) – Why Psychologists Overestimate Their Hypotheses  

(01:12:20) – Closing Thoughts and Gratitude

Thanks to MINT MOBILE for sponsoring this episode: Get this new customer offer and your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at MINTMOBILE.com/KNOWLEDGEPROJECT.

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.

Watch on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tkppodcast

Photograph: Richard Saker/The Guardian

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They weren’t employees. They were partners. Les Schwab didn’t build a company. He built a culture.

This episode reveals how one small-town tire dealer scaled to $3 billion by turning customers into evangelists and employees into owners. Somewhere between changing his first flat tire and opening his 410th Les Schwab Tire Center, Les discovered something profound: his people weren't just working for him, they were working with him. They weren't building his dream, they were building their own. This episode is a case study on how strategy, incentives, and trust create massive advantages that resources can’t buy. When investment bankers offered Schwab billions to sell his empire, he refused after asking himself just one question: “What would I do with the money?”

Les Schwab understood something most never learn: the real wealth isn't in what you keep. 

Approximate timestamps: Subject to variation due to dynamically inserted ads:  
(01:49) Roots   
(11:21) In Business  
(27:50) Building an Empire  
(40:18) Maturation and Legacy  
(48:21) Reflections from Les Schwab  
(51:22) Lessons from Les Schwab  

This episode is for informational purposes only and is based on Pride in Performance: Keep It Going by Les Schwab

Thanks to Basecamp for sponsoring this episode: basecamp.com/knowledgeproject

Check out highlights from this book in our repository, and find key lessons from Schwab here: https://www.fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-les-schwab

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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Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein reveals the one standard that actually scales your career and your family.

Harley shares why stepping down as COO was his hardest choice, the family motto that guides his daughters, and what makes someone good at storytelling. They discuss AI's real advantage, the calendar system that keeps him accountable, and how he maintains high standards.

If this gives you one standard to raise your team—or your family—share it with a friend who needs to hear it today.

------------

About Harley:

Harley Finkelstein is the President of Shopify. He leads storytelling, external relations, and company energy—translating world-class product into world-class adoption.

Approximate timestamps: 

Thanks to our sponsor for supporting this episode:

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Jimmy Pattison still runs his $16 billion empire personally at 96 years old.

He’s built The Pattison Group over the last 63 years without outside capital or a college degree. He owns 100% of car dealerships, grocery stores, billboards, radio stations and even Ripley’s Believe It or Not—with a philosophy of: "No partners, no shareholders, no relatives." 

This episode reveals the principles behind one of North America’s great private empires

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Get a summary of the 11 key lessons you can learn from Jimmy here: https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-jimmy-pattison/

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Approximate timestamps: 

(01:10) Jimmy Pattison’s Billion-Dollar Playbook
(03:24) The Debt That Built Character
(05:41) Part 1: Foundations - The Boy Who Sold Seeds Door-To-Door
(06:52) When Victory Becomes a Liability
(08:46) The University of Used Cars
(10:02) The Art of the Close
(13:30) When Business Becomes Theater
(15:22) The Price of Independence
(16:36) The Pattern
(17:44) Part 2: Starting to Build - Back to Zero
(18:09) The Price of Independence
(20:08) Bleeding Money
(21:11) The Secret Weapon
(22:11) The Main Street Disaster
(23:09) Dead Air to Hot Air
(24:33) The Ghost Station
(25:40) The Conglomerate Dream
(27:03) The Target
(28:24) Cold Calling Wall Street
(29:35) The Silent Hunt
(30:49) The Takeover
(31:36) Part 3: Neonex International
(32:09) The Magic Money Machine
(34:17) The Toast Order
(35:06) The Forbidden Target
(36:15) The Christmas Surprise
(37:27) The Bluff
(38:07) The Unraveling
(39:07) The Education
(40:27) Part 4: The Jim Pattison Group of Companies
(40:49) The Corporate Confession

(42:08) The New Operating System
(44:01) The Dinner That Changed Everything
(46:23) The Great Escape
(47:31) The Boy and the Bicycle
(49:07) The Quality Revolution
(51:14) Part 5: The Empire Builder - Still at the Wheel
(51:47) The New Playbook
(54:17) The Grocery Gambit
(55:13) The Media Monopoly
(55:52) The Numbers Game
(57:20) The Ultimate Lesson
(59:15) Reflections and Lessons

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This episode is for informational purposes only and is based on Jimmy: An Autobiography by Jim Pattison and Paul Grescoe. 

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On her first day as CEO of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi fired her general counsel. Then rehired him before dinner. It wasn’t a stunt. It was a signal. 

She ran a $200 billion empire the same way she ran her life: with surgical precision, uncompromising standards, and an allergy to corporate theater. But here's what separates this conversation from every other CEO interview: she tells you what her massive ambition cost her and her family. What it means to carry the hopes of millions who look like you. What happens when a strategy you bet your career on starts to crumble. She reveals her private system for tracking 400 rising stars inside of a corporate giant and the advice Steve Jobs gave her that changed everything. 

If you’ve ever felt the pull between ambition and identity, this one’s for you. Indra doesn’t just talk about power. She shows what it costs. 

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

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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.

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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