This edition is brought to you by The Last Invention

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: Ingvar Kamprad

Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish entrepreneur who founded IKEA, transformed the furniture industry with his vision of affordable, functional design. Born in 1926 on a small farm, Kamprad showed early business acumen, selling matches at age five. He founded IKEA at 17, using his initials and those of his family farm. Kamprad's commitment to cost-cutting and efficiency led to IKEA's flat-pack furniture concept, revolutionizing the industry. His frugal lifestyle - flying economy and driving an old Volvo - became legendary. Kamprad's dyslexia inspired IKEA's product naming system, using Swedish words instead of numbers. Despite controversy over his youthful Nazi sympathies, Kamprad built IKEA into a global brand with 412 stores in 49 countries. He died in 2018, leaving behind a company valued at $58.7 billion.

Key Lessons from Ingvar Kamprad:

• On learning from mistakes: "Only while sleeping one makes no mistakes."

• On persistence: "Most of the job remains to be done. Let us continue to be a group of positive fanatics who stubbornly and persistently refuse to accept the impossible."

• On humility: "Never boast, always show humility, take nothing for granted."

Read More.

Company: Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886 by three brothers: Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson, and Edward Mead Johnson. The company started in a small building in New Brunswick, New Jersey, with just 14 employees. Initially, they produced ready-to-use surgical dressings, inspired by Robert's encounter with Joseph Lister's theories on antiseptic surgery. The brothers' previous experience in the medical plaster business proved invaluable. By 1887, J&J had already expanded to 50 employees and introduced its iconic "Red Cross" logo. The company went public in 1944 and saw rapid growth post-World War II. Today, J&J is a global healthcare giant with over 130,000 employees and reported revenue of over $100 billion in 2024.

Key Lessons from Johnson & Johnson:

• On ethical standards: Set high ethical standards from the start. Robert Wood Johnson's "Our Credo" from 1943 emphasized responsibility to customers, employees, communities, and shareholders - in that order. This guided J&J through crises like the 1982 Tylenol tampering incident.

• On decentralization: Trust your units. J&J operates as a "family of companies." Each business has significant autonomy. Allows for faster decision-making and innovation.

• On crisis management: Act fast, take responsibility. During the 1982 Tylenol poisoning crisis, J&J quickly recalled 31 million bottles and developed tamper-evident packaging. Cost them $100 million. Saved their reputation.

Read More.

The Next Chapter of Intelligence

We’re entering a moment where machines are beginning to think, create, and reason alongside us.

I wrote The Last Invention to explore what that really means—not through hype or fear, but with curiosity and clarity. How will intelligence reshape work, creativity, and meaning? What will remain distinctly human?

It’s a reflection on where technology is taking us and how we might navigate the transition with wisdom instead of worry.

If you’ve found value in my writing, please consider supporting my work by ordering the ebook on Gumroad or Amazon. I think you’ll genuinely enjoy it.

Read The Last Invention.

Accelerants

High-performance tool

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Insights

Tactical reads

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> When cultivating speed as a competitive advantage
Speed as a Habit (Read it here)

> When overcoming irrational fears and anxieties
Idiots Scaring Themselves in the Dark (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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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.

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