Think Like a Geek to Get Big Things Done

Andrew McAfee shares 5 key insights from The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset Transforming the Future of Business.

Are you a geek? Not too long ago, that would have been a dire insult, singling a person out for their obsessive behavior and/or lack of social skills. But in our age of technology, geeks have become kings, and notable titans of industry proudly claim the term for themselves. So maybe you should be a little geekier than you currently are. Here to help get you there is Andrew McAfee, author of the book The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset That Drives Extraordinary Results. Andrew is a principal research scientist at MIT, the co-founder and co-director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, and he wrties

The Geek Way

newsletter on Substack. Read or listen to 5 of his big ideas below.

The 5 Key Insights:

1. What makes us so special?

2. The geek shall inherit the earth.

3. The science behind science.

4. The need for speed.

5. Vulnerable leaders build tough companies.

1. What makes us so special?

Why are we humans the only species that launches spaceships? It’s not because we’re so smart. We’re actually pretty dumb in important ways. For example, almost none of us are smart enough to figure out on our own how to survive in the wilderness, while all the animals around us are doing just fine.