Author: Cameron Johnson
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For decades, game theory has helped leaders, economists, and military strategists understand human cooperation and conflict. One of its most famous models: the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma, illustrates a simple truth: when individuals cooperate over time, everyone benefits; when they defect or betray, everyone suffers. But what happens when cooperation itself loses value? What happens when…
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Leadership is not simply about authority or expertise, it is about trust. People look to leaders as anchors in uncertain times, and when leaders lose control of their emotions, they erode the very foundation they are supposed to provide. While passion and humanity are necessary in leadership, unchecked emotion is not strength; it is weakness.…
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In the modern information environment, the human mind has become the battlefield. Psychological operations, commonly shortened to psyops, are not relics of Cold War intelligence manuals or obscure military jargon. They are active, evolving strategies designed to shape perception, manipulate emotions, and influence behavior. Originally developed in military contexts, psyops now exist at the intersection…
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The most useful leadership idea you can steal this year is simple and demanding. Systems do not fail because leaders stop caring. They fail because success hardens into safety, safety dulls curiosity, and then an outlier event resets the game. Dr. David Robertson calls this the Adversity Nexus. It is a repeating cycle: Adversity creates…
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There’s a certain comfort in a label. In a world that feels chaotic, it’s tempting to reach for anything that offers clarity: an identity, a framework, a name. Personality tests, attachment style quizzes, Enneagram types, Myers-Briggs profiles, even the flood of TikTok “Which Disney Princess Are You?” filters. These tools seem to promise that if…
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Few figures in history have captivated the imagination like Alexander the Great. Born in 356 BCE, he ascended to the throne of Macedonia at just 20 years old and within a decade forged one of the largest empires the world had ever seen. His campaigns stretched from Greece through Persia and into India, reshaping cultures…
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I grew up a punk rock kid.Skateboards. Beaches. Summers filled with salty air and busted Converse. I was the kid with a pocket full of sand and a Walkman full of Ska, Punk, and alt-rock: Blink-182, Green Day, Less Than Jake, Bad Religion, NOFX, Rancid. I wore Vans like armor. Rebellion was the anthem, and…
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Contrastive inquiry is such a fascinating concept. Whenever a statement is made with certainty, ask yourself the opposite and challenge the accuracy of the statement. “The best burgers in town.” It’s a simple analogy, but a common enough one that you have probably seen it somewhere before. I’ve always questioned these statements but never fully…
