This edition is brought to you by Superpower

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:

Cheers,
Alex

P.S. Send me feedback on how we can improve. I respond to every email.

Stories of Excellence

Person: Bernie Marcus

Bernie Marcus, co-founder of The Home Depot, is a quintessential American success story. Born in 1929 to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Marcus grew up in a tenement in Newark, New Jersey. He started his career as a pharmacist but found his true calling in retail. At 48, he was fired from his job at Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers. Undeterred, Marcus teamed up with Arthur Blank to launch The Home Depot in 1979. "If you're going to be successful, you need to have a vision of where you're going," Marcus once said. The company revolutionized the home improvement industry, growing from four stores to over 2,300 locations. Now retired, Marcus focuses on philanthropy, having pledged to donate 90% of his wealth, estimated at $5.8 billion.

Key Lessons from Bernie Marcus:

• On resilience: "Being fired was the best thing that happened to me. It forced me to start my own business."

• On vision: "You need to have a clear picture of what you want to achieve. We saw a gap in the market for a one-stop shop for home improvement."

Read More.

Company: Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz's story began in 1886 when Karl Benz patented the first gasoline-powered automobile. Simultaneously, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach were developing their own motorized carriage. In 1926, these parallel efforts merged to form Daimler-Benz AG. The company's iconic three-pointed star logo, designed by Gottlieb Daimler's sons, symbolized motorization on land, sea, and air. Mercedes-Benz quickly established itself as a luxury car manufacturer, introducing innovations like the first diesel passenger car in 1936 and the safety cell body in 1951. Despite facing challenges during World War II, the company rebounded, expanding globally and cementing its reputation for engineering excellence and automotive luxury.

Key Lessons from Mercedes-Benz:

• On market positioning: Own your niche. Mercedes-Benz dominates the top-end vehicle segment, selling about 300,000 units annually. They've embraced their position as a luxury brand rather than trying to compete in all market segments.

• On product portfolio: Simplify to strengthen. Mercedes-Benz is reducing their compact models from seven to four, focusing on quality over quantity. This streamlining allows them to concentrate resources on their most profitable segments.

Read More.

Nothing else matters if you don't have your health.

After experiencing the pitfalls of mainstream medicine firsthand: 10 years of misdiagnosis, 20 doctors, surgery, and being told to medicate for life, Max Marchione, a close friend and founder of Superpower.com, decided to do something about it.

He’s launched a digital health clinic that gives you the most complete picture of your health: whole-body testing that covers everything from hormones and thyroid function to toxins, genetics, and cancer risk.

Superpower currently has over a 150,000 person waiting list.

But, I’ve worked worked directly with Superpower to give readers of Faster Than Normal early access, so for $499, you get the following: 100+ lab tests covering your whole body, an hour-long consultation to review your results, and unlimited messaging with your private concierge clinician throughout the year.

Get early access here.

Accelerants

High-performance tool

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Radical Candor

Radical Candor is a management philosophy developed by Kim Scott, a former executive at Google and Apple. It's about giving feedback that's both direct and caring. "Radical Candor is the ability to Challenge Directly and show you Care Personally at the same time," Scott says.

This approach works because it creates a culture of honest, constructive feedback without damaging relationships. It allows for faster improvement and stronger team bonds. However, it requires a delicate balance - too much challenge without care becomes "obnoxious aggression," while too much care without challenge leads to "ruinous empathy."

Think about your last feedback conversation. Were you radically candid? How might this approach change your interactions with your team?

Insights

Tactical reads

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> When studying effective leadership frameworks
Single Threaded Leadership framework — Here's how to lead like an Amazonian (Brett Adcock) (Read it here)

> When cultivating deep concentration
Focus: The Last Superpower? (Read it here)

1 question

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.

Recommendation Zone

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Nothing else matters if you don't have your health.

After experiencing the pitfalls of mainstream medicine firsthand: 10 years of misdiagnosis, 20 doctors, surgery, and being told to medicate for life, Max Marchione, a close friend and founder of Superpower.com, decided to do something about it.

He’s launched a digital health clinic that gives you the most complete picture of your health: whole-body testing that covers everything from hormones and thyroid function to toxins, genetics, and cancer risk.

Superpower currently has over a 150,000 person waiting list.

But, I’ve worked worked directly with Superpower to give readers of Faster Than Normal early access, so for $499, you get the following: 100+ lab tests covering your whole body, an hour-long consultation to review your results, and unlimited messaging with your private concierge clinician throughout the year.

Get early access here.

Why Faster Than Normal? Our mission is to be a friend to the ambitious, a mentor to the becoming, and a partner to the bold. We achieve this by sharing the stories, ideas, and frameworks of the world's most prolific people and companies—and how you can apply them to build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself.

Faster Than Normal is a ‘state' of being’ rather than an outcome. Outlier performance requires continuous, compounded improvement. We’re your partner on this journey.

Send us your feedback and help us continuously improve our content and achieve our mission. We want to hear from you and respond to everyone.

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