Good morning to all new and old readers! Here is your Wednesday edition of Faster Than Normal, exploring one short story about a person, a company, a high-performance tool, a trend I’m watching closely, and curated media to help you build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself.
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Today’s edition:
> Stories: James Cameron & Lockheed Martin
> High-performance: How to learn to think like an artist
> Insights: Ambition to build
> Tactical: Complex systems and emergent phenomena
> 1 Question: Essentials
Cheers,
Alex
P.S. Send me feedback on how we can improve. I respond to every email.
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Stories of Excellence
Person: James Cameron
James Cameron, born in 1954 in Ontario, Canada, is a filmmaker known for pushing technological boundaries. He started as a truck driver before breaking into the film industry. His big break came with "The Terminator" in 1984. Cameron's films often blend cutting-edge visual effects with compelling storytelling. "All my movies are love stories," he says. His biggest hits include "Titanic" and "Avatar," which broke box office records. Cameron is also an avid explorer, having made deep-sea dives to the Mariana Trench. He continues to work on "Avatar" sequels, saying, "If I was living to be 200, I could still be working on things that I already have in my mind right now."
Key Lessons from James Cameron:
On curiosity: "Curiosity is the most powerful thing you own."
On setting goals: "If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success."
On fear: "Hope is not a strategy. Luck is not a factor. Fear is not an option."
On perfectionism: "People call me a perfectionist, but I'm not. I'm a rightist. I do something until it's right, and then I move on to the next thing."
Company: Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin's roots trace back to 1912 when Glenn L. Martin and the Loughead brothers (Allan and Malcolm) separately founded their aerospace companies. The modern Lockheed Martin was formed in 1995 through the merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta, creating a defense industry giant. This merger was a response to post-Cold War defense spending cuts, as advised by then-Deputy Defense Secretary William Perry at the famous "Last Supper" meeting in 1993. The company has since grown into a global aerospace and defense powerhouse, with 2024 sales over $70 billion. They now employ approximately 115,000 people worldwide and are known for iconic projects like the F-35 fighter jet and the Orion spacecraft.
Key Lessons from Lockheed Martin:
On innovation: Sometimes, secrecy breeds creativity. Lockheed's Skunk Works division, founded in 1943, operated in near-total isolation. This allowed for rapid prototyping and unconventional thinking. Result? The U-2 spy plane and SR-71 Blackbird.
On leadership: Leaders should get their hands dirty. Kelly Johnson, Skunk Works' first director, insisted on working alongside his team. He said, "Be quick, be quiet, and be on time." This hands-on approach fostered trust and accelerated problem-solving.
Something New
You read the newsletter. Now search the library. Faster Than Normal has 350+ founder playbooks and 380+ company breakdowns — every one structured, searchable, and cited to the source.
Try asking: "How did Steve Jobs think about product focus differently than his peers?"
Try it free for 7 days →Accelerants
High-performance tool
⎯
How To Learn To Think Like An Artist
Insights
John D. Rockefeller on the ambition to build:
"I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money making has never been my goal. I saw a marvelous future for our country, and I wanted to participate in the work of making our country great. I had an ambition to build."
Tactical reads
⎯
> When examining complex systems and emergent phenomena
Daniel Schmactenberger Talk on Emergence (Read it here)
> When setting audacious personal or professional goals
How to Achieve Ambitious Goals (Read it here)
1 question
What are my 5 core values?
That’s all for today, folks. As always, please give me your feedback. Which section is your favourite? What do you want to see more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.
Have a wonderful rest of week, all.
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