The Laws
In nine hard lines
Not the story, and not the argument. The book in nine hard lines — what to carry into the room when the pages are not with you. Each line is a verdict; each question is the test.
The weakest layer sets the ceiling for all the rest.
Which of the six below did you least want to read? That is your ceiling. Start there.
Purpose — the thread through all six
A purpose that costs nothing decides nothing.
Name a decision it changed this quarter. If you can’t, it is decoration.
01Strategy
A real strategy is a thing you pay for.
What did you give up for it? If you can’t name the loss, you have a plan.
02Discovery
You cannot plan your way to a thing no one has built.
What are you most afraid to be wrong about — and when did you last test it cheaply? If never, you are planning, not discovering.
03Portfolio
One clock cannot govern two kinds of work.
What clock does your newest bet run on? If it is the quarter’s, you already know how it ends.
04The boundary of the firm
Half of building well is deciding what not to build.
What are you building that you should have bought — and what that only you could build did you hand away?
05The small trusted team
A team is small enough when the whole picture fits one head.
Can one person on it hold the whole problem? If not, it is a queue, not a team.
06The human conditions
Safety is the freedom to say the expensive thing.
When did someone last tell you something you didn’t want to hear? If you can’t recall, the room has gone quiet.
What it asks of you
Integrity is visible only under cost.
What did the last honest thing cost you? If nothing, it hasn’t been tested.