Find your fulcrum — achieve 10x results with 1x effort
Leverage Return = Core Competency × Lever Tool × Strategic Fulcrum
The Root Problem: What is the one thing that, if solved, would make everything else easier or irrelevant?
The Lever: What external force multiplies your effort? (Capital, technology, media, talent, network)
The Fulcrum: Your unique, irreplaceable core competency — where you apply the lever.
Asymmetry: Seek bets with limited downside and unlimited upside. Stop pushing boulders; find the lever.
Root problem (housing prices severely detached from fundamentals) + Lever (credit default swaps: 1% premium → potential 20x return) + Core competency (complex financial product pricing) → $2B cost → $15B profit
'Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.' The same applies to careers and companies — find your lever.