Blog Archives
Adaptability Is Learnable
The Adaptability Quotient asserts that success in the next human era will belong to those who can revise their thinking under pressure. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Over more than three decades in investing, I kept seeing the same pattern. The people and organizations that performed best over time were not always the smartest or most experienced. They were the ones who recognized when reality had changed and revised their thinking fastest.
IQ describes our capacity to reason. EQ helps us understand and work with other people. AQ — the Adaptability Quotient — is our capacity to update when the terrain changes.
That matters urgently now because AI is becoming a general-purpose partner in cognition — what I call the Second Cognitive Revolution. It can research, interpret, generate hypotheses, argue a case, and produce answers with extraordinary fluency. Used well, it can expand human capability. Used passively, it can let us outsource the difficult work through which judgment and agency are built.
I am private by nature, so writing this book required stepping outside my usual world. I did it because adaptability is learnable — and because the difference between using AI to sharpen our thinking and letting it replace our thinking may be one of the defining choices of this era.
You argue that success belongs to people who can revise their thinking under pressure. Why is changing our minds so difficult?
Because most of us make being right part of our identity. You form a differentiated view, the world proves you correct, and over time that view becomes who you are. Then the environment changes, and the model that just won stops working. Updating it now feels like losing yourself, so you defend it instead.
That’s the trap. If being right is your identity, every disconfirming fact feels like an attack. If the process is your identity, every disconfirming fact is useful. The strongest decision-makers I know hold their views with real conviction and stay willing to abandon them the moment reality stops matching the model. Strong opinion, weakly held. You’re in possession of the opinion. Reality is in possession of the answer. The aim is never weaker conviction. It’s to hold the view strongly — and update before circumstances force you to.
Which example in the book surprised you the most while researching or writing it?
Ernest Shackleton — which surprised me, because I thought I knew the story. It may be the most-told leadership story there is. What startled me when I went deep was how absolute the failure was. By every measure of traditional exploration, the Endurance expedition was a catastrophe: the ship was crushed by the ice before the crew ever set foot on the continent. And Shackleton updated overnight. At what he later admitted was his lowest moment, the goal of crossing Antarctica simply ceased to exist for him, and a new definition of success — every man home alive — replaced it, with no visible mourning of the old one. Everything after that was reclassified. Setbacks became feedback. Small wins became steps. The only failure that counted was losing a man, and he never lost one.
There’s a detail that stays with me. Photographs from that golden age of polar exploration usually have a haunted quality — men who vanished into the snow. The pictures of Shackleton’s crew are different: they show men who grew old and told the story. That’s what adaptability buys. Not the original prize — the ability to redefine the prize, and still win it.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from The Adaptability Quotient?
I hope readers come away with a different relationship to uncertainty — and with one idea in particular: when knowledge becomes abundant, what becomes scarce is agency.
AI gives us access to extraordinary amounts of intelligence. We should use it enthusiastically: to challenge assumptions, widen the possibilities we consider, and move faster. But we should not confuse receiving an intelligent answer with developing judgment. Judgment is built through the difficult human work of deciding what matters, interpreting ambiguous evidence, making choices under consequences, and updating when reality proves us wrong. AI can assist in that work, but it cannot own the consequences or preserve our agency for us.
If you build the capacity to update as the world changes, uncertainty stops being something to fear and becomes something you can navigate — and sometimes use. Being wrong is not the central problem. Staying wrong is.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
Over decades of success across volatile markets, creating cultures and businesses that innovate at scale and endure, Litowitz arrived at a crucial insight. What separates progress from paralysis is not foresight, but adaptability.
In an era of uncertainty, decision-making and problem-solving require developing a high adaptability quotient or AQ―the ability to think clearly, act decisively, and pivot when the path ahead isn’t clear. And unlike intellect or emotional intelligence, AQ is not fixed. It can be learned.
In The Adaptability Quotient, Litowitz offers a three-part system that trains readers in:
Metacognition – How to interrogate your assumptions and decision process
Simulation – How to absorb information and model complex systems effectively
Experimentation – How to make decisions that maximize learning and minimize downside
Drawing from his experience―as well as insights from business, technology, psychology, and cognitive science―Litowitz shows how successful people and organizations move forward when navigating change.
For readers of The Scout Mindset, Thinking in Systems, and Thinking, Fast and Slow, The Adaptability Quotient shifts the focus from understanding how we think to improving how we act. As artificial intelligence, media, and scientific advances reshape the cognitive landscape, adaptability becomes the essential discipline for reclaiming human agency.
For leaders and decision-makers who want more than theory in a world where the old playbooks no longer apply, Alec Litowitz shares an actionable framework for raising and realizing your adaptability quotient.
The Adaptability Quotient: Rewiring Your Mind for Success in the Next Human Era
The Adaptability Quotient argues that success in the next human era will belong less to those who possess the right answers than to those who can revise their thinking under pressure. Alec Litowitz frames AQ as a learnable discipline built from metacognition, simulation, and experimentation, drawing on finance, entrepreneurship, cognitive science, systems thinking, AI, and lived experience to show how adaptive minds turn uncertainty into motion. The book moves from the eerie Chinese factory investigation that becomes a lesson in hidden value to the Chilean mine rescue, Shackleton’s survival logic, Kodak’s failure to cannibalize itself, and finally to the deeper question of human agency in a machine-shaped world.
I found the book most compelling when Litowitz lets the story carry the architecture of his ideas. The opening China episode has the snap of a thriller. Still, it’s really a portrait of disciplined doubt: the refusal to accept the market’s easy story, the willingness to send someone into the fog, the patience to ask what facts would make the apparent contradiction make sense. That habit of mind gives the book its pulse. I also appreciated the way Litowitz treats failure without sentimentality. The Chilean miners’ rescue, with its parallel Plans A, B, and C, becomes more than an inspirational anecdote. It becomes a moral argument for process, humility, and plurality of response. His best passages have a clean, searching confidence, especially when he writes about false certainty, cognitive drift, and the need to keep “the human in the loop.”
Litowitz wants to braid together Bayes, beginner’s mind, entropy, System 1 and System 2, cybernetics, entrepreneurship, leadership, AI, and culture, and most of the time the braid holds. There are moments when the density of frameworks threatens to crowd the emotional clarity of the argument. But I admired the intellectual generosity of the project. The ideas are serious without being bloodless, and the writing often has a restless, humane urgency. The sections on Kodak and on the Macy Conferences, in particular, lingered with me because they widen the book’s scope from personal performance to collective intelligence. Adaptability here isn’t just a career advantage; it’s a way of staying awake.
The Adaptability Quotient is a thoughtful, vigorous defense of human judgment at a time when judgment is increasingly outsourced, optimized, and dulled by convenience. It’s not merely a business book. It asks for effort, self-suspicion, curiosity, and the courage to kill weak ideas before they harden into identity. Litowitz has written a timely field guide for people who know the old maps are failing but don’t want to surrender the pen. I’d recommend it to entrepreneurs, investors, executives, educators, and reflective professionals who are trying to make better decisions in unstable conditions, especially readers who enjoy books that blend strategy with psychology and a quietly philosophical concern for what keeps us fully human.
Pages: 348 | ISBN : 978-1633311558
Stop the Hassle
Stop the Hassle offers a refreshingly practical approach to simplifying business operations and enhancing customer satisfaction. With clarity and precision, the book introduces the Hassle Score Survey (HSS), a tool designed to evaluate and improve customer experiences. It challenges traditional metrics like the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and argues for a more comprehensive framework. By examining four critical dimensions—convenience, price, product experience, and trust—the HSS provides actionable insights to reduce friction, foster loyalty, and drive sustainable business growth.
The strength of the book lies in its practical insights, rooted in decades of business expertise. Bramlett’s critique of the NPS is both insightful and persuasive. He effectively demonstrates its limitations as a single-question metric, making a strong case for a multi-dimensional approach. The HSS system is presented as a superior alternative, supported by logical arguments and real-world examples. Bramlett’s writing style is clear, concise, and engaging. His no-nonsense tone ensures complex business concepts are approachable for readers across the spectrum, from entrepreneurs to seasoned corporate leaders.
Another highlight was the chapter on product experience, where Bramlett recounts his early venture into the restaurant business. He candidly admits how neglecting customer comfort, such as failing to provide enough seating, hurt the business. The chapter on trust, while thorough and informative, focused more on general principles than on specific, fresh examples. That said, the importance of trust is clear throughout, and the emphasis on guarantees, refunds, and proactive communication offers a solid and practical guide for businesses aiming to strengthen customer relationships.
Stop the Hassle is both timely and relevant. With clients demanding seamless experiences and online feedback wielding immense power, the strategies in this book are invaluable. Bramlett offers a thoughtfully structured guide that balances simplicity with depth, making it an essential read for anyone looking to refine their approach to customer experience and business success.
Pages: 204 | ASIN : B0DGH41JPH
Billion Dollar Bullseye
In Billion Dollar Bullseye, Jonathan “JCron” Cronstedt breaks down his formula for business success by focusing on seven critical principles: Purpose, Profit, Product, Prestige, Promotion, Persuasion, and People. His central thesis is simple but powerful: hitting the “bullseye” in these areas allows businesses to scale quickly and exit on their own terms. Cronstedt offers practical advice and real-life examples from his time at Kajabi. He also supplies strategies for entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their companies meaningfully and in a sustainable way.
I like how action-oriented this book is. Cronstedt doesn’t just present lofty ideas, he translates them into concrete steps. For instance, his explanation of how Purpose drives profitability is backed by research, showing that businesses with clear purpose often grow three times faster than their competitors. This grounded approach makes the book feel more like a guidebook than a motivational read. I appreciated his emphasis on refining purpose not only for external growth but for internal clarity as well, a theme that runs throughout the book and shows up again when he discusses creating a people-centered company culture.
Cronstedt’s writing style is conversational but sharp. His advice on Promotion, for example, is laced with personal anecdotes from Kajabi’s promotional tactics, including how their “Hero” program grew into a viral success. He contrasts big-name companies like Coca-Cola and Apple with everyday entrepreneurs, driving home the point that building brand loyalty and recognition isn’t reserved for massive corporations. I found his thoughts on emotional connection, how brands should be personal and authentic, refreshing in an industry that sometimes leans too hard on hard-selling.
While Cronstedt acknowledges that failure is part of the entrepreneurial journey, the seven-ring system can feel like a magic formula that oversimplifies the messiness of real-world business. Still, I found his advice actionable—his tips on hiring and maintaining a purpose-driven culture resonated with me as a business owner who understands how essential people are to success.
Billion Dollar Bullseye is a must-read for entrepreneurs who want actionable advice wrapped in a conversational, no-nonsense tone. The author’s ability to break down each principle into digestible parts makes it ideal for seasoned business owners and people just starting. If you are looking for a book that gives you not only the “why” but also the “how” of growing your business, this is it.
Pages: 200 | ASIN : B0DB2N5NYR
Tune Out the Noise
United States of Small Business complies the wisdom and experiences shared by the entrepreneurs from your first 43 podcasts into one book for readers to access and learn from. What inspired you to turn your podcast interviews into a book?
People like to consume content in different ways. Some may not be podcast listeners but love reading a book. I think we’re going to see more podcasters doing this down the road. It’s a fantastic way to add value to your brand, the guests appreciate it, and it’s surprisingly easy to pull off.
One thing that sets your approach apart is the focus on small businesses and the provision of actionable advice that those without a lot of resources can implement. What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
The key idea is just to start. Too many people wait for perfection before they begin, but that moment never comes. Also, it’s important to embrace failure. I’ve had my fair share as an entrepreneur, but each mistake sharpens you for the next challenge. And, of course, storytelling is vital. Personal stories have the power to inspire, and we shouldn’t underestimate that.
What is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you were starting out building your own brand and business?
Tune out the noise from people who don’t have your best interests at heart, and stay focused on moving forward. It’s easy to get discouraged, especially when the loudest voices are often critics. Focus on creating value—it doesn’t have to be perfect. Just keep pushing forward and stay positive.
When will volume two be available? Can you give us an idea of what lessons that book will impart to readers?
Volume two is slated for release in October or November.
Author Links: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify
Discover the heart and soul of American entrepreneurship with “United States of Small Business: Everyday Advice from Everyday Entrepreneurs.” Curated by John Quick, the host of the acclaimed podcast “United States of Small Business,” this book is a rich collection of stories, insights, and practical advice from remarkable small business owners across the nation.
In this inaugural volume, John Quick compiles the wisdom and experiences shared by entrepreneurs from the first 43 episodes of his podcast. Each chapter offers a unique glimpse into the lives, victories, and challenges faced by these inspiring individuals, providing readers with valuable lessons and actionable strategies that can be applied to their own entrepreneurial journeys.
What You’ll Find Inside:Real-Life Lessons: Gain invaluable insights from firsthand accounts of entrepreneurial journeys, highlighting the challenges and triumphs that come with starting and running a business.
Inspiration and Motivation: Discover stories of resilience, innovation, and success that will inspire you to pursue your own dreams with renewed vigor.
Practical Advice: From marketing and customer engagement to financial planning and scaling operations, this book is packed with practical advice and actionable strategies to help you succeed.
Diverse Perspectives: Featuring entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries and backgrounds, this book offers a rich tapestry of perspectives and experiences.
Reflection Questions: Each chapter concludes with thought-provoking questions designed to help you reflect on the insights and apply them to your own business or personal life.
John Quick’s “United States of Small Business: Everyday Advice from Everyday Entrepreneurs” is more than a collection of interviews; it’s a testament to the enduring power of the American Dream. This book celebrates the resilience, innovation, and determination that define entrepreneurship in America. Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned business owner, or someone seeking inspiration and practical advice, this book has something for you.
Join John Quick and the remarkable entrepreneurs featured in these pages as they share their journeys, strategies, and wisdom, guiding you on your path to success. Embrace the lessons, be inspired by the stories, and apply the practical tools to create a lasting impact in your business and beyond.
United States of Small Business is the publisher of this book. https://www.unitedstatesofsmallbusiness.com/legal/
Impactful, Purpose-Driven Workplaces
Purposeful Performance is a guide for leaders and professionals seeking to infuse their work with greater meaning and value while advocating for a shift from profit-centric models to purpose-driven approaches that prioritize empathy, employee well-being, and community impact. Why was this an important book for you to write?
When the company I founded was acquired, I felt lonely and isolated. I went from being deeply connected to a purpose-driven organization to feeling isolated and disconnected in a new environment. My previous company had a clear mission of making a social impact and supporting our community, which gave me a profound sense of purpose.
The transition was tough, and I initially struggled with it. However, I recognized the need to adapt and embraced a new role at the acquiring company. I focused on transforming the organization’s approach from a profit-centric model to one that embraced a purpose-driven ethos. This shift not only re-engaged me but also reignited my passion for work.
Drawing from this experience, I wrote a book to address a critical issue: the broken state of the American workforce. Disengagement at work is at an all-time high, and people are searching for meaning. I aim to help leaders and professionals cultivate a work environment that fosters purpose and meaning. By sharing my journey and insights, I hope to inspire others to create impactful, purpose-driven workplaces that stand out and drive lasting change.
What is a common misconception you feel people have about gaging what is successful in business and life?
A common misconception about success in business and life is the overemphasis on money. While financial gain is often seen as the ultimate measure of success, true success is more about our impact on others.
Many of the most successful individuals I know lead with a mindset of support and service. They prioritize the well-being and success of those around them rather than focusing solely on their achievements. These leaders help others, offer support, and create connections that facilitate growth and progress for everyone involved.
Success, in my view, is about empowering others to reach their full potential and celebrating their achievements alongside them, not simply ahead of them. When you put the interests of others before your own, whether in your professional or personal life, you cultivate meaningful emotional connections.
For example, you demonstrate care and support when you come home and engage with your spouse by asking about their day and genuinely listening. This shift in focus from self to others enhances relationships and contributes to a broader sense of self-fulfillment and success.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
In my book, I emphasize that leaders can make a meaningful difference in the lives of the people they serve. One key idea is that selling products and services should not be about merely being the best but about positively impacting people’s feelings.
In many boardrooms, discussions rarely touch on a product’s or service’s emotional impact, yet understanding this is one of the best-kept secrets of fast-growing companies. Rather than focusing solely on metrics like increasing sales, businesses should ask themselves how they can change people’s perceptions of their offerings.
For instance, consider what emotions you want to evoke when customers interact with your brand. Identifying and targeting these emotions creates a deeper connection and enhances the customer experience. This emotional engagement can drive loyalty and satisfaction, setting your business apart.
Here’s a quick story that illustrates the power of emotion. I often visit a local convenience store where the staff has consistently made me feel valued and appreciated. However, a new employee has been operating the counter on my recent visits. This individual frequently leans against the counter, engrossed in his phone, and during my last visit, I waited for five minutes before he even acknowledged my presence at the register.
The shift was palpable: I went from feeling valued and respected to completely overlooked and unimportant. The loyalty and sense of belonging I once felt turned into frustration and alienation in a short period.
This experience highlights the crucial role of emotional engagement. How we interact with others can significantly impact their feelings and perceptions, underscoring the importance of maintaining a genuine connection in every interaction.
What is the one thing that people point out after reading your book that surprises you?
As a first-time author, I was initially apprehensive about sharing my work with the world. The overwhelming support and positive feedback deeply humbled me. One of the most surprising and gratifying aspects has been how readers resonate with the book’s core message about leading with intention.
For instance, one reader shared that the book inspired him to leave his job and pursue his dream of starting a purpose-driven business. While I don’t advocate making such significant changes without careful planning, it was fulfilling to see that my book provided the encouragement he needed to step out of his comfort zone.
Additionally, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to hear that many readers buy multiple copies—one for themselves and one for a leader they work with. This reflects a genuine desire for authenticity and meaning in the workplace, which the book seems to address effectively.
I’m incredibly grateful for the support from leaders and professionals who embrace the book’s message and find value in it.
Author Links: Goodreads | Linkedin | Website | Amazon
From profit to purpose: transform your business for meaningful impact.
The business landscape is shifting. At one time, the profit-first model drove strategic decision-making. Now business leaders are struggling with disengaged employees, unclear plans, and lack of purpose. It’s time to take a step back, get down to the heart of your organization’s mission, and lead with purpose.
In Purposeful Performance, business-strategy consultant and coach Jonathan Stanley gives business owners the key to developing a sense of purpose and meaning within and beyond their organization. Jonathan distills decades of experience as a business owner and CEO into a powerful framework that simplifies strategic planning into just eight slides. The Infinite Loop of Connection is a proven strategic plan that helps leaders define and create meaningful experiences for their employees, customers, and community. By aligning their teams around an authentic purpose and expressing their values, readers will learn how to unleash the full potential of their organizations.
In this book, you’ll discover:
Why the most successful businesses are those that operate with a clear, purpose-driven strategy.The 8-slide strategic plan that simplifies execution and alignment and deeply reflects your mission to drive societal impact.How to create a workplace where every team member is motivated by a shared sense of purpose, vastly improving productivity and satisfaction.Strategies for attracting customers who align with your values and purpose, including how to avoid the mistake of focusing on features over feeling. Tools for measuring and communicating the positive impact your business is making.
If you want to stand out, focus on showing care with an understanding of the advantages of being more human. Combining powerful insights on engagement, customer experience, and social impact into a cohesive approach that is accessible to leaders of small to medium-sized companies, Purposeful Performance is the guide to transforming your business and maybe the world around you. Ensure your next business move is fueled by meaning, and create a legacy that goes beyond the bottom line.
No More Gold Stars: Regenerating Capacity to Think for Ourselves
No More Gold Stars by Carol Sanford is a thought-provoking exploration of how behaviorist principles have infiltrated our educational and societal systems, undermining individual self-determination and critical thinking. The author argues for a revolutionary shift towards nurturing self-directed learning and intrinsic motivation, away from the traditional reward-punishment paradigm epitomized by the ubiquitous gold star. Through a blend of personal anecdotes, theoretical discussions, and practical examples, the book challenges readers to reconsider how we raise children, educate students, and organize our institutions.
One of the book’s strengths is its compelling critique of behaviorism. Sanford does a masterful job of tracing the historical roots of this approach and its pervasive influence on modern education. By pointing out how behaviorist methods condition children to seek external validation rather than developing their own values and motivations, the book sheds light on a crucial issue. The discussions about how standardized education suppresses creativity and curiosity resonated deeply with me. It’s a call to action for educators and parents to foster environments where children can explore and learn autonomously. I also appreciated the practical suggestions offered for fostering self-determination in children. The author’s emphasis on Socratic questioning and reflective practices provides concrete tools that parents and teachers can implement immediately. Some sections delve deeply into philosophical discussions that provide rich, thought-provoking content for those interested in deeper exploration. The intermezzos inserted between chapters are designed to disrupt passive reading and encourage active engagement, offering unique opportunities for reflection. These exercises are crafted to cultivate critical thinking, and while they momentarily pause the book’s main narrative, they enrich the overall reading experience and underscore the book’s core message of fostering independent thought.
No More Gold Stars is a compelling and challenging read for anyone interested in education reform, parenting, or personal development. It will particularly resonate with educators, parents, and anyone disillusioned with the current state of our educational systems. The book’s call to embrace self-determination and critical thinking is timely and essential, making it a valuable addition to the ongoing conversation about how best to prepare our children for a rapidly changing world.
Pages: 265 | ASIN : B0CF48NZ12
United States of Small Business: Everyday Advice from Everyday Entrepreneurs
As an entrepreneur, whether you’re new or seasoned, advice is invaluable. Some advice will be less useful, but some wise words offered by others will be absolute gems. Enter John Quick with a practical guide and inspirational resource for entrepreneurs at all stages of their business journey. United States of Small Business compiles stories and lessons from a diverse array of small business owners across the United States, based on interviews. Each chapter offers insights into the lives, challenges, and successes of these entrepreneurs, providing readers with a blend of real-life lessons, motivational stories, and actionable advice.
This book is a treasure trove of lessons and wisdom amassed over lifetimes of experience and business dealings. Each chapter provides a glimpse into an entrepreneur’s journey, complete with its ups and downs, making this book a practical resource. Readers can expect to find inspiration within its pages. A common thread in the stories is the resilience and motivation to keep trying, which provides readers with the encouragement to persevere, no matter how daunting the current obstacles may seem. The diverse perspectives presented in the book allow readers to choose what works best for them. This book applies to anyone, regardless of their business type, tenure, or the challenges they face. This relatability enhances the rapport the author builds with the reader.
The true value of this book lies in John Quick’s ability to transform these stories into actionable steps that readers can take to advance their businesses. The reflective questions included in each chapter provoke readers to think critically and infuse their creativity into propelling their businesses forward. Each chapter is rich with insights and serves as a call to action to adapt the lessons to their own situations. The book covers a comprehensive range of subjects, from time management to networking, equipping readers with the tools needed to achieve success.
United States of Small Business is more than just a collection of interviews. It proves that success is attainable and that persistence pays off. This is the biggest takeaway from the book: it celebrates resilience and business acumen as the world welcomes new generations of entrepreneurs. John Quick’s writing, with its clarity and precision, makes this book an essential read for anyone looking to thrive in the business world.
Pages: 106 | ASIN : B0D5TPP6J7
