Episode highlights:

If you want to achieve the same success that someone else has, don’t copy what they’ve done or what they’re doing, copy how they think. For example, a company could copy a great ad from a competitor, but without innovating, they’re always going to follow, never lead.

Becoming a more innovative company at the forefront of the market requires a better way of thinking, rather than simply copying what already exists in the market.

The first mental model is “The Map is not the Territory”. A map does not perfectly reflect every detail of a landscape, nor does your best strategy account for every nuance with your client. The simple ideas you want to deploy are not simple.

The second mental model is the “Circle of Competence”. You need to know where your knowledge of a particular topic ends and higher experts in that field to do the work. It’s good to have a base-level understanding of many topics so you know what to look for.

The third mental model is “First Principles Thinking”. While new ideas are extremely exciting, before engaging with them, you need to check if they align with the basic ways to grow a business. Does this new idea help you gain new customers, grow the transaction value, or increase the frequency of repeat purchases? If not, you need to focus on other ideas that will fulfill one of those outcomes.

Add these models to your mindset alongside solving bigger problems and delegating everything but leadership.