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. We're doing things a little differently this week. We dropped our third

mini series, which means you got two episodes on Monday, two episodes today, and then two episodes

on Friday. You are listening to episode four in the series, but be sure to check out today's

classic episode as well. The theme of this week's mini series is mental models. We're going to talk

about some of the most powerful tools you can use to sharpen your thinking, prioritizing, and decision

making. Many of these tools have been made famous by leaders like Elon Musk and Dwight Eisenhower.

And today, I am talking about a mental model known as second order thinking. 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 for DHS. 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 the unintended. To be a great entrepreneur, investor,

or employee, you must learn how to become a great second order thinker. And Howard Marx,

who is the founder of Oak Tree Capital, and he's one of the most successful investors of all time,

he believes deeply in the power of second order thinking. So much so that the first chapter of

his book, which is called the most important thing, is entirely dedicated to what he calls second

...