What's up, everyone? This is Alex Lieberman, co-founder and executive chairman of Morning Brew.

Welcome back to Founders Journal, my personal audio diary, where I give you the business builder,

the tools you need to think better in order to build better, whether that's building a business,

a team, or a new product. I want to share an update with you all. For the next little while,

few weeks probably, we're going to be republishing classic episodes of Founders Journal. Why?

Well, first of all, these classic episodes, I think, are really good, and many of you haven't heard

them. Second, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about how we can evolve this show,

so it can be as good as humanly possible for the next generation of builders and entrepreneurs.

And I'd love for you to help me as we think about what is this next iteration of Founders Journal.

So once you've listened to this episode, shoot me an email to Alex at Morning Brew.com and the prompt

is simple. If you had your perfect entrepreneurship show, what would we be talking about? What are

the biggest pain points you're dealing with? Who would I be talking to? Shoot me that email.

Now, time for the episode. In this classic episode, originally published on November 17th, 2021,

I break down why every great entrepreneur, investor, or employee must learn how to become a great

second-order thinker. Let's hop into it. Think about the best people that you have ever worked with.

How would you describe them? For me, here's what comes to mind.

They are obsessive. They are a perfectionist. They think of everything. They just get it.

They think three steps ahead. They play 4D chess. While illustrative, none of these phrases get to

the core of what actually makes a special employee or founder special. And while I don't think you

can sum it up in a single way, I do think there's a powerful mental model that can make you the

person that is obsessive or thinks three steps ahead. And that model is called second-order thinking.

Very simply, first-order thinking is considering the intended. Second-order thinking is considering

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