The Power of Ignorance

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Toby Smith: I'm curious about everything. Everything is understandable and everything is way more interesting than it seems. There's a need for reaching for something that could lead to value in the world around us. Not understanding a thing feels almost amoral to me. We've got these incredible brains. These brains run a model of planet Earth, which we then constantly interrogate. Therefore, every single thing, every single time I get to dig into something, into learning something, I can update this model. And the nice thing is first of all, that's super fun. Second, that model is the one I walk around with. I go into every encounter, every situation I hold up

Tobi Lütke is the CEO and Co-Founder of Shopify, the powerhouse company allowing anyone to start and grow their e-commerce business. Over an incredible 18 years, Tobi has scaled Shopify to 10% of total US e-commerce, millions of merchants in over 170 countries, and a market cap today of over $60BN. Huge thanks to Harley Finkelstein for making this happen.

In Today's Episode with Tobi Lütke We Discuss:

1. From a Small German Town to One of the World's Most Powerful CEOs:

What did Tobi want to be when he was growing up?
Who did Tobi learn most from in his younger years? How does Tobi think about the importance of mentorship in learning?
What does Tobi know now that he wishes he had known when he started Shopify?

2. You Can Learn More from World of Warcraft Than You Can Companies:

Why does Tobi believe you can learn more from World of Warcraft than you can from studying companies?
Why does Tobi believe that humans are terrible at company building? What are the most obvious ways we can improve the quality of the companies we build?
Why does Tobi believe that in-person is far superior to remote working? What are the nuances?

3. The Best Companies Operate with Many Constraints:

Why does Tobi believe in all cases, constraints produce creativity?
What is the difference between an enforced constraint and an artificial constraint?
How can leaders create and enforce artificial constraints when they are not real?
How do the best leaders use constraints to ensure their companies move faster and faster?

4. Inside the Mind of Tobi Lütke: Decision-Making & Prioritisation:

How does Tobi reflect on his own decision-making process? How has it changed?
Why does Tobi believe that sunk cost fallacy is BS and only leads to your outsourcing approval to someone else?
Why does Tobi hate "black boxes"? How does he remove them from the org entirely?
How does Tobi decide what to learn? What is his learning process once he has made this decision?
How does Tobi decide what to prioritise in terms of strategic initiatives for Shopify?