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: Lucille Ball & Novartis
> High-performance: Systems thinking
> Insights: Making your art
> Tactical: Optimizing your time and energy
> 1 Question: Compound benefits
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: Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball was a trailblazing comedian and businesswoman who transformed television comedy. Born in 1911 in Jamestown, New York, she overcame early setbacks to become one of the most beloved figures in American entertainment. Ball's iconic sitcom "I Love Lucy" debuted in 1951 and quickly became a national phenomenon. Her physical comedy and impeccable timing made her a star. But Ball wasn't just funny on screen. She was a savvy entrepreneur behind the scenes. In 1962, she became the first woman to run a major television production company, Desilu Productions. Ball continued performing into her later years, never losing her passion for making people laugh. She died in 1989 at age 77, leaving behind a legacy as a pioneering woman in comedy and business.
Key Lessons from Lucille Ball:
On character: "I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done."
On going against the grain: "The more things you do, the more you can do."
On high agency: "Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world."
Company: Novartis
Novartis was formed in 1996 through the merger of Swiss companies Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz. The merger, valued at $41 billion, created one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Daniel Vasella, a physician and former Sandoz executive, became the first CEO. Novartis quickly established itself as a leader in research and development, investing heavily in new drug discovery. In 2000, the company spun off its agribusiness division to focus on healthcare. Over the years, Novartis has made several strategic acquisitions, including Alcon in 2011 for $52 billion. Today, Novartis is a global healthcare company with a market cap of over $200 billion, focusing on innovative medicines and generics.
Key Lessons from Novartis:
On market approach. Go where others aren't. Novartis has focused on developing treatments for rare diseases and gene therapies, areas often overlooked by competitors due to small patient populations. This strategy has led to high-value, specialized treatments. Don't always follow the crowd.
On acquisitions. Buy for capability, not just products. When Novartis acquires companies, they often seek specific technological capabilities or research platforms, not just marketable drugs. This strategy builds long-term innovation potential. Look beyond immediate gains in M&A.
On culture. Embrace diversity of thought. Novartis has implemented "unbossed" leadership principles, encouraging employees at all levels to take ownership and share ideas. This flattens hierarchies and fosters innovation. Former CEO Joe Jimenez said, "We want to create an environment where people feel empowered to speak up."
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Systems Thinking
Insights
Neil Gaiman on making your art:
"While you are at it, make your art. Do the stuff that only you can do.
The urge, starting out, is to copy. And that’s not a bad thing. Most of us only find our own voices after we’ve sounded like a lot of other people. But the one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.
The moment that you feel that, just possibly, you’re walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself. That’s the moment you may be starting to get it right.
The things I’ve done that worked the best were the things I was the least certain about, the stories where I was sure they would either work, or more likely be the kinds of embarrassing failures people would gather together and talk about until the end of time. They always had that in common: looking back at them, people explain why they were inevitable successes. While I was doing them, I had no idea.
I still don’t. And where would be the fun in making something you knew was going to work?
And sometimes the things I did really didn’t work. There are stories of mine that have never been reprinted. Some of them never even left the house. But I learned as much from them as I did from the things that worked."
Tactical reads
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> When optimizing your time and energy
Life of Leverage — Eric Jorgenson (Read it here)
> When redesigning your life for maximum efficiency
4 Hour Work Week — Tim Ferriss (Read it here)
1 question
What can I do today that will make life easier ten years from now?
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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