

Lazy Leverage
Jon Matzner and Peter Lohmann
Talking about using leverage in life and business.
Episodes
Mentioned books

14 snips
Dec 23, 2025 • 44min
How the 37% Rule Solves Hiring, House Hunting, and Life's Biggest Decisions | Lazy Leverage #88
Discover the secrets of the 37% Rule, a clever mathematical strategy for making tough decisions like hiring or house hunting. Learn how interviewing 37% of candidates before making a commitment can maximize your choices. Explore the challenges of when to use time-bound constraints versus knowing total options. Delve into the debate on salary—should pay reflect global standards or individual value? Plus, tips on how to sell opportunities effectively to attract great talent. It's all about making smarter, informed decisions!

57 snips
Dec 18, 2025 • 1h 16min
The Single Most Important Business Concept: Theory of Constraints Explained | Lazy Leverage #87
Explore the Theory of Constraints, a game-changing concept that reveals every business has a singular bottleneck impacting throughput. Discover why optimizing non-constraints can be a waste of resources and how strategic idleness can actually boost efficiency. Learn from analogies like F1 pit crews and a chain's weakest link to understand operational implications. The five-step TOC process offers actionable insights, emphasizing profitably aligning resources. Transform your approach by identifying and focusing on that critical constraint!

45 snips
Dec 15, 2025 • 54min
The Death of Cover Letters: AI, Costly Signals, and the Broken Job Market | Lazy Leverage #86
AI is shaking up the job market by making traditional signals of candidate quality, like cover letters, obsolete. The hosts discuss how easily AI can generate fraudulent rental applications and legal documents. They critique job marketplaces for increasing hiring costs and advocate for tailored hiring processes. The idea of a new social contract emerges: making applications tougher in exchange for valuable feedback. Role-specific assessments, like real project tests, are proposed to truly gauge a candidate's skills.

34 snips
Dec 9, 2025 • 42min
Floors & Ceilings: The Anti-Perfectionist Framework for Business Owners | Lazy Leverage #85
Explore frameworks that reshape small business thinking. Discover how the floors-and-ceilings concept can combat perfectionism by redefining goals. Leaders can benefit from a touch of mystique, adding depth to their authority. The conversation also dives into the implications of using AI in workplace communication, balancing efficiency with the need for a human touch. With innovative ideas on recruiting and feedback, Jon and Peter emphasize the importance of processes before tech, ensuring clarity in all business practices.

26 snips
Dec 4, 2025 • 43min
Why Your Best People Are 8,000 Miles Away | Lazy Leverage #84
Jacob Klein, a savvy real estate entrepreneur behind Incline Homes, reveals how his Filipino team dramatically outperforms local workers. He discusses revolutionizing construction by delivering luxury homes at a fraction of the cost, powered by global talent and AI. Jacob shares his journey from micromanaging to embracing a systems-oriented approach, highlighting the importance of outsourcing and evolving leadership roles. With insights on automation and process documentation, he demonstrates how smart hiring can reignite passion and drive business success.

15 snips
Nov 21, 2025 • 14min
Building Internal Software That Actually Gets Used | Lazy Leverage #83
In this engaging discussion, Anya Dashligina, a senior leader on Sagan's team in Buenos Aires, shares her insights on transforming internal software. She reveals how Sagan's talent pool concept repurposes vetted candidates for members to hire for free. Anya highlights the initial struggles with clunky PDFs and static posts, paving the way for a sophisticated searchable platform. Her key takeaway? Perfection can hinder progress—embrace iterative development with AI tools to refine and enhance functionality.

32 snips
Nov 20, 2025 • 45min
The Barnacle Problem: Why Your Business Keeps Slowing Down | Lazy Leverage #82
Explore the intriguing challenges of business growth, likened to barnacles slowing down a ship. Learn how outdated processes and irrelevant marketing create frustration within teams. Discover the concept of Chesterton's Fence and why analyzing existing structures is vital before making changes. Delve into mapping tasks by identifying outputs, inputs, and transformation processes, helping to uncover hidden inefficiencies. Lastly, understand the importance of focusing on high-value roles, balancing workloads, and creating meaningful job descriptions.

17 snips
Nov 14, 2025 • 20min
Radical Candor Across Cultures: High Care, High Honesty | Lazy Leverage #81
Sofía Bravo, Head of Recruitment at Sagan, shares her expertise on cultural dynamics in Latin America. She explains the phenomenon of performative work, where junior team members focus on justifying mistakes rather than analyzing them. Jon and Sofía discuss the importance of radical candor—high care and high honesty—and how leaders can model this behavior to foster psychological safety. They emphasize the need for clear feedback while avoiding defensive responses and highlight the power of selective praise to reinforce desired behaviors.

18 snips
Nov 11, 2025 • 18min
Specific, Shared, Supported: The Leadership Standard That Actually Works | Lazy Leverage #80
In this engaging discussion, Christian Ruf, a special operations veteran and founder of Uncommon Elite, shares his expertise on effective leadership. He emphasizes the crucial role of clear expectations in avoiding delegation failures. Christian introduces his three S's framework: Specific, Shared, and Supported. He highlights the importance of making expectations crystal clear, providing context for autonomy, and equipping teams with necessary resources. Plus, the innovative brief-back technique ensures alignment before tasks are executed, preventing miscommunication and enhancing performance.

20 snips
Nov 6, 2025 • 47min
Career Transitions Without Burning Bridges | Lazy Leverage #79
Entrepreneurs often find it tough to be present with family while juggling work pressures. The discussion delves into the paradox of physical presence versus mental distraction at home. The hosts explore how household help can actually enhance meaningful family time. Transitioning careers without severing connections is another key theme, emphasizing the importance of reinventing oneself gradually while leveraging past experiences. Relationships are highlighted for their lifelong value, encouraging a smart approach to career moves.


