Patterns

“Rather than hiring a lawyer to write Fastenal’s articles of incorporation, Kierlin studied state statutes and wrote the document himself, using the blank sides of used paper…He wanted store managers to figure out things on their own. They were allowed to change their product mix to suit local demand, without waiting for permission from headquarters. Kierlin sought employees who were curious, liked solving problems and understood they could learn more by listening than talking. He shared his 10 rules of leadership, including ‘remember how little you know’ and ‘challenge rather than control.’ ”

• WSJ, March 13, 2025

Perspectives

“Nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it.”

• Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

“Real Freedom is to not feel limited when wearing this Zen robe, this troublesome formal robe. Similarly, in our busy life we should wear this civilization without being bothered by it, without ignoring it, without being caught by it.”

• Shunryu Suzuki, Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen

“That truth is that monsters are real, and ghosts are real, too. They live inside of us, and sometimes they win.”

• Stephen King, The Shining

Analysis: Letting Go Builds Stronger Teams and Prevents Burnout

This excerpt is from Bob Kierlin’s recent WSJ obituary. He died in February at the age of 85 and was known as the co-founder and longtime CEO of Fastenal, an international seller of nuts, bolts and other supplies for manufacturing and construction firms. As elucidated in the article, he was primarily remembered for his reputation as a particularly frugal CEO. Despite being worth hundreds of millions of dollars, he stayed in cheap motels, wore secondhand suits, and avoided unnecessary spending at Fastenal whenever possible—including buying used furniture for the company headquarters in Winona, Minnesota. Although frugality of this sort is increasingly rare in large organizations, something else stands out even more from a leadership perspective: his view on delegating authority and empowering his subordinates to think for themselves. As highlighted in the above excerpt, he didn’t believe in micromanagement and top-down control. He local store managers had an asymmetrical information advantage with respect to the wants and needs of their markets, and he wanted them to use it. There are multiple benefits to this approach. The most obvious is that it’s efficient—it allows locals operators to respond appropriately to market conditions without unnecessary burden and oversight. Less obvious was the effect on morale and buy-in with his management team.

This approach creates a genuine sense of agency with subordinates. Delegation of authority implies trust and respect. Employees respond to this. It generates loyalty, gratitude and a belief that one’s work is influencing outcome in a tangible way. In a world where “burnout” is becoming more and more prevalent, this is the antidote.

Insight: Stop Believing Everything You Think—Especially Under Stress

How do we regard our thoughts? For most, the answer is that they’re taken for granted. Meaning, they’re not reflected upon enough. They’re not questioned or explored. Most of us reflexively take our thoughts at face value, as though they’re imbued with truth and meaning simply because their ours. We’re often so closely identified with our thoughts and inner narrative that we’ve never even considered the notion that ignoring them is a reasonable option.

It is a reasonable option—and an essential skill to cultivate if you wish to have more control over how you allocate your attention. Although there is some benefit in analyzing and attempting to work with difficult thoughts, diminishing returns set in quickly.

As an example: suppose you have an upcoming performance review three weeks from now. You feel intuitively that it’s not going to your way, and you’ve been lost in your thoughts for days. Playing out worst-case scenarios, constantly rehearsing your verbal defenses when confronted with unjust and misleading feedback. Although these mental exercises may initially have merit in helping you plan for the event, they very quickly become unhelpful.

There is obviously only so much you can do to prepare for future events. You’ll never be able to control for all of the unknown variables. Modifiable risks should be identified and addressed whenever possible, but going over them again and again only serves to generate anxiety, tension and resentment. Almost nothing is gained.

We tend to act as though our persistent worrying will at some point resolve our concerns and eliminate uncertainty, but continuing to give your thoughts attention in these contexts only tends to increase the intensity and frequency of your distress.

Thoughts are sustained by the attention we give them. They have no substance otherwise.

When you engage with unpleasant thoughts, you breathe life into them and ensure that they continue to stick around.

Mastery: Using Mindfulness to Create Mental Space

The easiest way to begin deconstructing the unhelpful relationship you have with your inner narrative is to come to terms with the fact that your thoughts arise spontaneously. You don’t actually choose your thoughts. It may feel like you do, but think about it for a moment and you’ll quickly find that you don’t. If you did, would you ever find yourself entertaining any unpleasant thoughts? Of course not.

The next time you find yourself engaging in negative self-talk or persistently worrying about some unsolvable issue, hopefully you’ll remember this post. If this occurs, you’ll have an opportunity to try a different approach:

1. Create some space, and begin to observe your thought process from a distance.

2. Watch your thoughts as they come and go. Observe their chaotic and random nature. Try to see your thoughts for what they are—spontaneous mental events that you are free to either engage with or ignore at any given time.

3. This is a meditative exercise, but feel free to do it anytime and anywhere. As with formal meditation, there really is no “wrong” way to do it. If you’re aware of the fact that your watching your thoughts, then you’re doing it correctly.

4. If you observe thoughts that are especially persistent or charged with emotion, write them down or type them

   out. This is important. Do it—don’t just mentally organize them. Capture them and look at them.

5. Remember: you’re watching them from a distance, not engaging with them.

6. Don’t try and suppress them. Just be aware of them. Give yourself a few minutes and see if you can observe them decrease in intensity as you continue to dispassionately watch them.

7. Use this exercise regularly to begin reorienting your relationship with your inner narrative. It’s always helpful, and often therapeutic as well (although keep in mind that this is not the primary goal.)