Issue 3 · Framework Jun 28, 2026
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The Leadership Economics Playbook
A field guide to the six economic principles behind good leadership decisions.
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From first principles to better choices.
Two cadences. A weekly dispatch on what we're noticing. A long-form essay at least once a month.
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Framework May 8, 2026
The four functions of every leadership decision
Allocation, Information, Motivation, Execution. Why we call it AIME, and how to use it as a diagnostic when something's off.
Issue 2 · 6 min Read →
Introduction Apr 28, 2026
Welcome to Leadership Economics
Why we built a framework for leadership grounded in first principles — and what to expect from this newsletter.
Issue 1 · 5 min Read →
Dispatch · Execution Jul 11, 2026
Incentives Are More Complicated Than You Think
Wells Fargo set a cross-selling goal of eight products per household, and employees met the number by opening millions of accounts customers never asked for.
Dispatch · Information Jul 2, 2026
A Heart in His Throat
Marching on an enemy camp in 1861, Ulysses Grant found it abandoned and understood the other colonel had been as afraid of him as he was of them. He had never before thought about the fear and uncertainty of the opposing side.
Dispatch · Allocation Jun 25, 2026
When the Ship Was Already Gone
In 1914 Ernest Shackleton lost the Endurance and the expedition he had spent years preparing. With the ship gone, he chose what to do next from where he stood, and set aside everything he had already spent.
Dispatch · Motivation Jun 18, 2026
A Joint Stock Company of Two
Ishmael is tied to Queequeg by a monkey-rope: if one falls, both go. A credible commitment binds your fate to others', and it is what lets a team chase the win instead of the credit.
Dispatch · Information Jun 11, 2026
His Passport Shall Be Made
On the morning of Agincourt, Henry offers a passport and travel money home to any soldier who would rather not fight. The offer converts an army of the mustered into an army of volunteers, and the choice is the information.
Dispatch · Allocation Jun 4, 2026
How do you know if you're maximizing your resources?
We picture optimal allocation as an elaborate plan. Economics offers a calmer answer: a scarce resource is well used when its next unit goes to its best available use. Maximizing is what those small choices add up to.
Dispatch · Information May 28, 2026
Don't You Think So, George?
In 1938, George Marshall told FDR he was wrong about military aircraft, in a room set up for everyone to agree. Roosevelt made him Army Chief of Staff five months later. Honest counsel is a public good, and the leader is the one who builds the conditions for it.
Dispatch · Information May 21, 2026
Stirrups Into Nails
Patience is accepting that we cannot see everything at once and acting on what we can see now. A 1528 expedition turning stirrups into nails is one picture of how the path becomes visible by being walked.
Dispatch · Execution May 14, 2026
A Window for the Pilots
In Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, the Mercury astronauts argued with the engineers until they got a window, an attitude controller, and the ability to take over. Ownership is the crux of Execution.