Traction Heroes
Digging in to get results with Harry Max and Jorge Arango
Episodes
Spurred by a reading from Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Jorge and Harry have a rambling conversation about building resilient businesses during times of disruptive technological change.
- Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Peak Priorities
- unfinishe_
- The Great Mental Models by Shane Parrish
- Xenix
- Cursor
- Lovable
Harry brings to the discussion a four-part model for skillfully navigating change.
Show notes:
- Thresholds of Change by Rebecca Borland Reynolds and Connolly Fox
- ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government and our Community by Jeffrey M. Hiatt
- PROSCI
- Kübler-Ross Change Curve®
- Liminal Thinking by Dave Gray
Harry offers a taxonomy of five "social traps" that can keep us from gaining traction.
Show notes:
- Social Traps by John Cross and Melvin Guyer
- Steve Jobs Stanford commencement address
- Matthew Perry
- Frequency Illusion (the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon)
A reading from a famous director's memoir sparks a discussion about a key trait for gaining traction: boldness coupled with the ability to get things done.
Show notes:
Harry offers a short reading from a surprising source about an important question: How do you decide when it's time to let go?
Show notes:
- What Would Harry Do? by Juliana Sharaf
- Necessary Endings by Henry Cloud
- The Innovators Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
- Kodak
- Harry’s newsletter
Jorge and Harry discuss how to proactively shift your mental models to get unstuck.
- Framers by Kenneth Cukier, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, and Francis de Véricourt
- Breakneck by Dan Wang
- Precision questioning
- Iceberg model
Jorge and Harry discuss a classic book about how to avoid getting in your own way through overthinking.
Show notes:
- The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey
- Stick (Apple TV show)
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
- Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel
- Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- Esther Dyson
Harry and Jorge discuss the implications of John Boyd's work beyond its original military context.
Show notes:
- The Mind of War: John Boyd and American Security by Grant Hammond
- John Boyd
- OODA loop
- Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War by Robert Coram
- Science, Strategy and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd by Francis P.B. Osinga
- Hoyt Ng
- Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Chris...
Jorge and Harry discuss a book focused on using AI to lead better — and has underpinnings that align with the show's themes.
Show notes:
- More Human by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter
- The Mind of the Leader by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter
- The Glass Cage by Nicholas Carr
Harry reads a passage from a book by Robert Pirsig that raises questions about what authentic effort looks like — and the traps inherent in its trappings.
- On Quality by Robert Pirsig
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
- Lila by Robert Pirsig
- Traction Heroes Ep. 11: Gall’s Law
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
Harry gives Jorge advice on how to focus on strategically important things.
Show notes:
- The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
- unfinishe_ – Jorge's new consultancy with Greg Petroff
- The Power of a Positive No by William Ury
- The Harry Max Boot-up Protocol (How to get going in the morning) by Christina Wodtke
- Essentialism by Greg McKeown
- Impro by Keith Johnstone
Harry explains a framework for learning and change that originated in the field of NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) — just in time for the launch of Jorge's new consultancy.
Show notes:
- unfinishe_ – Jorge Arango and Greg Petroff’s strategic AI consultancy
- Sam and Jony introduce io
- Tools for Dreamers by Robert B. Dilts, Todd Epstein, and Robert W. Dilts
- Neuro-linguistic programming
- Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins
- Gene...
On the folly of designing complex systems in one go, from the top down.
Show notes:
- Traction Heroes ep. 6: Chesterton's Fence
- Traction Heroes ep. 2: Unprecedented
- The Design Squiggle
- Systemantics by John Gall
- A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram
- Wardley map
It's important to plan ahead when working on large, complex projects. Alas, some people's bias for action keeps them from undertaking what they perceive as wasteful exercise. In this episode, Harry shares an exercise that can help.
Show notes:
- Planning for Everything by Peter Morville
- How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner
- On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gaddis
- Hofstadter's law
- Performing a Project P...
What keeps you from doing the things you know you need to do, when you need to do them? The answers go deeper than you think.
Show notes:
- Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
- Innovation Games by Luke Hohmann
- Nonviolent Communication Marshall Rosenberg
A discussion about the deep underlying causes of the turbulence we're experiencing, and how to think about our agency in the situation.
Show notes:
- Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows
- Harry’s TEDx San Antonio presentation
- Cynefin framework
- Mistakes Were Made (but Not By Me) by Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson
- Rich Diviney
- Jocko Willink
- Leif Babin
- Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif...
How do you act effectively in times of uncertainty? One way is by asking yourself better questions. In this conversation, Harry shares a framework to do just that.
Show notes:
- Masters of Uncertainty by Rich Diviney
- 8 1/2
- Cascading Choices Framework by Roger Martin
Implementing changes – especially irreversible and potentially catastrophic changes – requires humility and understanding. In this conversation, we discuss Chesterton's fence and the art of mindful change-making.
Show notes:
- The Thing by GK Chesterton
- Chesterton’s fence
- Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott
- Systemantics by John Gall
- Gall’s law
- Christopher Alexander
- Drift Into Failure by Sidney Dekker
Acting skillfully entails choosing the right thing to do at any given moment. But these actions must also serve higher-level goals. In this conversation, we explore the relationship between both levels of priorities.
Show notes:
- On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gaddis
- The New How by Nilofer Merchant
- Playing to Win by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin
- Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
- Innovation Games by Luke Hohmann
Mental models are key to thinking and acting skillfully. But the phrase "mental models" itself has several meanings. In this conversation, we explore models of mental models – and land on one with practical implications for your life.
- The Power of Impossible Thinking by Yoram (Jerry) Wind, Colin Crook and Robert Gunther
- Indi Young
- The Informed Life ep. 82: Indi Young on Time to Listen
- Mental Models by Indi Young
- Farnam Str...
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