We explore the fight between democracy and autocracy for the future of the internet. We’re joined by Jacob Helberg, author of The Wires of War. We cover the definition of autocracy, watershed moments in geopolitics, and how the physical infrastructure of the internet can be manipulated.“We have to see the world for what it is, not as we wish it were.” – Jacob HelbergEPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/jacob-helberg1-outlier-academy-show-notes FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPThttps://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/jacob-helberg-outlier-academy-transcript CHAPTERSThis episode is our definitive guide to the fight between democracy and autocracy for the future of the internet. In it we cover: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:03:13 – Jacob's background and introduction to geopolitics 00:05:45 – Jacob's book, The Wires of War 00:08:16 – Defining autocracy 00:12:02 – Watershed moments in geopolitics 00:15:27 – The physical infrastructure of the internet, and how it can be manipulated 00:18:13 – China is a peer competitor 00:28:20 – The need for US proactivity with autocracies 00:36:52 – Cold war, gray war, and hot peace 00:40:02 – How the US should work to preserve democracy 00:48:12 – Optimism in geopolitics ABOUT THE WIRES OF WARThe Wires of War is all about the battle being waged that will determine the future of the internet, and in many ways, the future of global society. And it's a battle that's being waged both on the front and back end of the internet. On the front end, that's taking place in the apps we use every day, from Google to Facebook, to TikTok, to Twitter. On the back end, in the hardware, routers, protocols and even the undersea cables that travel hundreds of thousands of miles crisscrossing and connecting the entire world. The Wires of War is deeply compelling, expansive, and an incredibly detailed picture woven together of the world that we're in and what we face. The Wires of War is out now and available on amazon.com.💌 FREE NEWSLETTERhttps://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter🎙 LISTEN ONiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMYLearn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.Website: https://www.outlieracademy.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademyABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNEROutlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.Website: https://www.danielscrivner.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We deconstruct Jacob Helberg's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. Jacob is the author of The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power. We cover trend spotting, the wisdom of Winston Churchill, and avoiding procrastination.“If you know in your heart of hearts that something just doesn't feel right with the current path that you're on, I think being open and willing to take some pretty drastic changes, for me, has worked out pretty well.” – Jacob HelbergEPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/jacob-helberg2-outlier-academy-show-notes FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPThttps://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/jacob-helberg-outlier-academy-transcript CHAPTERSIn this episode, we deconstruct Jacob Helberg's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. In it we cover: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:42 – Investing in technology that advances national security 00:02:39 – Trend spotting and forming deep-seated convictions 00:06:17 – Avoiding procrastination and the importance of exercise 00:09:07 – On Henry Kissinger and Winston Churchill 00:14:35 – Dropping out of law school and trusting your gut ABOUT JACOB HELBERGJacob Helberg is the author of the incredible new book, The Wires of War, which details the technical battle that's being waged that will determine the future of the internet and, in many ways, the future of global society. It's a battle that's being waged on both the front and back end of the internet, on the front end in the apps we use every single day from Google to Facebook to TikTok and Twitter, it's stuff like misinformation campaigns, fake followers, and fake news, and on the back end, in the hardware, routers, protocols, and even the undersea cables that travel hundreds of thousands of miles crisscrossing and connecting the entire world.I loved reading The Wires of War because it's deeply compelling, it's really expansive, and it's an incredibly detailed picture that it paints of where we're at and what we face. It's out now and available on amazon.com.💌 FREE NEWSLETTERhttps://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter🎙 LISTEN ONiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMYLearn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.Website: https://www.outlieracademy.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademyABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNEROutlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.Website: https://www.danielscrivner.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We explore technological progress and how innovation and invention happens. We’re joined by Jason Crawford, Founder of Roots of Progress. We cover nurturing progress as a moral imperative, the growth of progress studies, and how bureaucracy can slow progress.“We can pay it forward to future generations by making sure that progress continues and by making sure that future generations are living as well off compared to us today, as we are compared to the past. So let's have that ambition for the future.” – Jason Crawford EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/progress-studies-roots-of-progress-jason-crawford-ig-show-notes FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPThttps://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/progress-studies-roots-of-progress-jason-crawford-ig-transcript CHAPTERSThis episode is our definitive guide to technological progress and innovation. In it we cover: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:02:09 – About Jason’s work with The Roots of Progress 00:04:30 – Nurturing progress is a moral imperative 00:06:24 – On Louis Pasteur 00:14:20 – What is progress? What is technology? 00:21:06 – On starting The Roots of Progress  00:25:18 – The growth of progress studies 00:30:30 – Is progress really stagnating? 00:37:38 – How bureaucracy can slow progress 00:42:18 – The speed of innovation 00:48:26 – Advancements in biotech, artificial intelligence, energy technologies, and nanotech 00:56:00 – Appreciating the progress we see on a daily basis ABOUT ROOTS OF PROGRESSJason Crawford is one of the researchers and writers at the forefront of the progress studies movement, which seeks to understand what's driven human progress historically in order to cultivate and accelerate it moving forward. Jason Crawford, through his blog and non-profit Roots of Progress, has studied and written about everything from the invention of the bicycle and why it took so long to be invented, to the smallpox vaccine. He's one of the world's leading thinkers on how progress happens, why it seems to have slowed in recent years, or at the least narrowed, and what we need to do to accelerate human progress in the coming years.💌 FREE NEWSLETTERhttps://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter🎙 LISTEN ONiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMYLearn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.Website: https://www.outlieracademy.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademyABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNEROutlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.Website: https://www.danielscrivner.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We deconstruct Jason Crawford's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. Jason Crawford is the Founder and CEO of The Roots of Progress. We cover the Gutenberg press, startup failures, and recommended apps.“I would say the single most powerful technique that I have found is when you start your day, rather than checking email or or anything, start by pulling out a blank sheet of paper, whether that's literal paper or whether, like me, you use an electronic note-taking system, and just think on paper about your day. How's it going? What's up? What am I going to do today? What are my priorities and so forth?” – Jason CrawfordEPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/roots-of-progress-jason-crawford-20mp-show-notes FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPThttps://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/roots-of-progress-jason-crawford-20mp-transcript CHAPTERSIn this episode, we deconstruct Jason Crawford's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. In it we cover: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:24 – Research on the Gutenberg press 00:03:51 – Learning, planning the day, and improving sleep 00:10:09 – Recommended apps, including Bear, Readwise, and Anki 00:12:27 – Startup failures, sci-fi books, and success on your own terms ABOUT JASON CRAWFORDJason Crawford is one of the researchers and writers at the forefront of the progress studies movement, which seeks to understand what's driven human progress historically in order to cultivate and accelerate moving forward, which is to say the least absolutely fascinating. Jason Crawford, through his blog and nonprofit Roots of Progress has studied and written about everything from the invention of the bicycle, to the smallpox vaccine. He's one of the world's leading thinkers on how progress happens, why it seems to have slowed or at least narrowed in recent years, and what we need to do to accelerate it in the coming years.💌 FREE NEWSLETTERhttps://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter🎙 LISTEN ONiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMYLearn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.Website: https://www.outlieracademy.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademyABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNEROutlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.Website: https://www.danielscrivner.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We explore emerging markets and the great pendulum shift. We’re joined by Howie Schwab, Lead Portfolio Manager for Emerging Markets Growth at Driehaus Capital. We cover the lure of emerging markets, a behavioral focus on investing, and the impact of shifting voting demographics.“I think it's true everywhere, but data shows it's particularly true in emerging markets, which is that the persistence of risk is generally higher than the persistence of return.” – Howie SchwabEPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/driehaus-capital-investing-emerging-markets-howie-schwab-spotlight-show-notes FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPThttps://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/driehaus-capital-investing-emerging-markets-howie-schwab-spotlight-transcript CHAPTERSThis episode is our definitive guide to emerging markets and the great pendulum shift. In it we cover: (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:02:20) – Howie’s background and work at Driehaus Capital (00:06:52) – The lure of emerging markets (00:12:20) – A behavioral focus in investing (00:19:30) – Seeing patterns and avoiding fraud (00:24:12) – Researching and publishing market analysis (00:43:21) – The state of financial assets today (00:49:41) – The future and financial repression (00:56:42) – The shift in voting demographics and its economic impact (01:02:14) – Advice for investors ABOUT DRIEHAUSHowie Schwab manages more than five billion in emerging market growth for Driehaus, which is based in Chicago, and it's where Howie has worked for the last 20 years. At Driehaus, Howie is the lead portfolio manager for the Emerging Markets Growth, and he's a portfolio manager for the Emerging Markets Small Cap Equity and Emerging Markets Opportunity Strategies. I've learned an enormous amount from Howie, both as an investor and a macro thinker, since I first met him, and I am beyond thrilled to have him on the show to share what he's learned managing many of the world's best performing emerging market funds over the last 20 years.💌 FREE NEWSLETTERhttps://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter🎙 LISTEN ONiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMYLearn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.Website: https://www.outlieracademy.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademyABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNEROutlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.Website: https://www.danielscrivner.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to one of our favorite moments from tomorrow’s Spotlight episode featuring Driehaus Capital with Howie Schwab. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We deconstruct Howie Schwab's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. Howie is the Lead Portfolio Manager for Emerging Markets Growth of Driehaus Capital. We cover regime shifts in the market and obsessing over failures.“In terms of how we invest, I think integrating and overlaying macro as well as behavioral components, not simply wedding ourselves to this bottom up, here's our specific template and it's time tested is really important.” – Howie SchwabEPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/howie-schwab-driehaus-capital-playbook-show-notes FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPThttps://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/howie-schwab-driehaus-capital-playbook-transcript CHAPTERSIn this episode, we deconstruct Howie Schwab’s peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. In it we cover: (00:01:41) – Regime shifts in the market (00:06:51) – Learning from investing mentors (00:10:08) – Great investors obsess over their failures (00:12:48) – Advice for young investors (00:16:43) – Howie’s investment philosophy (00:24:24) – Challenging yourself ABOUT HOWIE SCHWABHowie Schwab manages more than 5 billion in emerging market growth funds for Driehaus which is a firm that's based in Chicago and where Howie has worked for the last 20 years. At Driehaus, Howie is the lead portfolio manager for the emerging market's growth. And he's a portfolio manager for the emerging market, small cap equity and emerging markets opportunities.💌 FREE NEWSLETTERhttps://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter🎙 LISTEN ONiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMYLearn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.Website: https://www.outlieracademy.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademyABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNEROutlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.Website: https://www.danielscrivner.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to a trailer for our next 20 Minute Playbook episode featuring Howie Schwab of Driehaus Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven Pressfield’s The Warrior Ethos is a deep historical examination of the values and ethics of warriors throughout history—from the ancient Spartans to Japan’s Samurai to Alexander the Great—and how these values can be applied to the battles we each fight. We all struggle daily to find and defense our sense of purpose, to show up as our best ourselves, and to overcome the obstacles we face in our own pursuits. In that struggle, there's much we can learn and apply from the world's great warriors and warrior cultures.The Book in Three SentencesWhen we speak of The Warrior Ethos, we really speak of Warrior ethics and values as ethos is latin for ethics. Warriors prize virtues including courage, honor, loyalty, integrity, love, and selflessness—many of which evolved as a counterpoise to fear and self-preservation. True warriors lead from the front, they prize valor and honor as highly as victory, they embrace adversity and shared suffering, they laugh in the face of death, and they exemplify selflessness.About The BookThe Warrior Ethos is really a mini-book. The book’s content is drawn almost exclusively from the ancient world, from Herodotus and Arrian, Plutarch, Vegetius, Xenophon, Thucydides, etc. There are anecdotes about the Spartans, the Romans, the Macedonians, with a few thrown in from the modern British and Israelis and even the Afrika Korps under Rommel. Here’s one story about Alexander the Great, taken from Plutarch, to give you the flavor of the book:Once, Alexander was leading his army through a waterless desert. The column was strung out for miles, with men and horses suffering terribly from thirst. Suddenly, a detachment of scouts came galloping back to the king. They had found a small spring and managed to fill a helmet with water. They rushed to Alexander and presented this to him. The army held in place, watching. Every man’s eye was fixed upon his commander. Alexander thanked the scouts for bringing him this gift, then, without touching a drop, he lifted the helmet and poured the precious liquid into the sand. At once, a great cheer ascended, rolling from one end of the column to the other. A man was heard to say, “With a king like this to lead us, no force on earth can stand against us.”There’s no other better author to write this book than Steven Pressfield. He’s spent his career writing about war—external and internal wars, ancient and modern ones, real wars from history and imagined ones. One of his books, Gates of Fire, which tells the story of the 300 Spartans sent to fight and die against the Persian emperor King Xerxes, is my all-time favorite book. Steven Pressfield has also written A Man at Arms, The Virtues of War, Killing Rommel, The Afghan Campaign, Tides of War, and some incredible nonfiction books including The War of Art. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven Pressfield’s The Warrior Ethos is a deep historical examination of the values and ethics of warriors throughout history—from the ancient Spartans to Japan’s Samurai to Alexander the Great—and how these values can be applied to the battles we each fight. We all struggle daily to find and defense our sense of purpose, to show up as our best ourselves, and to overcome the obstacles we face in our own pursuits. In that struggle, there's much we can learn and apply from the world's great warriors and warrior cultures.The Warrior Ethos is really a mini-book. The book’s content is drawn almost exclusively from the ancient world, from Herodotus and Arrian, Plutarch, Vegetius, Xenophon, Thucydides, etc. There are anecdotes about the Spartans, the Romans, the Macedonians, with a few thrown in from the modern British and Israelis and even the Afrika Korps under Rommel. Here’s one story about Alexander the Great, taken from Plutarch, to give you the flavor of the book:Once, Alexander was leading his army through a waterless desert. The column was strung out for miles, with men and horses suffering terribly from thirst. Suddenly, a detachment of scouts came galloping back to the king. They had found a small spring and managed to fill a helmet with water. They rushed to Alexander and presented this to him. The army held in place, watching. Every man’s eye was fixed upon his commander. Alexander thanked the scouts for bringing him this gift, then, without touching a drop, he lifted the helmet and poured the precious liquid into the sand. At once, a great cheer ascended, rolling from one end of the column to the other. A man was heard to say, “With a king like this to lead us, no force on earth can stand against us.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices