High Agency
topic on 3 shows · 6 statements across 4 episodes
the Knowledge Project 
Lenny's Podcast 
My First Million
6 statements about High Agency, every show
Harley Finkelstein defines high agency as single-threaded problem ownership
“High agency is someone that sees a problem and says, I'm going to fix it, and then fixes it themselves, that they take, they put themselves into the role of single-threaded owner, responsible person.”
Mack: High agency is the most under-discussed and important personality trait
“I think it's the most under-discussed personality trait, and it's the most probably important personality trait.”
Parr: A person's level of high agency is fixed and unchangeable
“And that's, I think it's not changeable. It's sort of like telling people they should have started a business before they had children. It's like, dude, like we don't, I don't like talking about that because like, you can't fucking change that. Like you are wh…”
Mack: Screen job candidates by asking about weird teenage hobbies
“Asking for weird teenage hobbies. Because if they can go against the crowd when they're a teenager, so much easier as an adult. It's tough, but it's easier.”
Doshi: Great teams need only a few high-agency people to drive impact
“You don't need the entire team to be extremely high agency, but the ability of at least a few individuals on the team to have and embody this high agency approach such that, oh, actually, yes, we do have this obstacle, but here's how we're going to creatively …”
Doshi: High agency means achieving goals without blaming external circumstances
“High agency is about finding a way to get what you want without waiting for conditions to be perfect or otherwise blaming the circumstances. Right. And so high agency people will, and we've seen, we've all seen such people, they just either push through in the…”