Book Review: Antifragile – Things that Gain from Disorder
I recently listened to an Entrepreneurial Thought Leader podcast by Nassim Taleb, author of “Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder.” The topic was interesting, so I picked up the book and skimmed it for a few hours.
The thesis of the book is that we all encounter chaos. Many times we erect passive defenses against the chaos we encounter. However, by positioning ourselves properly and recognizing some opportunities, we can actively seek to benefit from the chaos as it occurs. Achievement of that end is what he calls becoming “antifragile.”
Wind Analogies to Chaos
Taleb uses an analogy of wind (as chaos) throughout the book. Sometimes we erect walls to shield us from wind. Other times, we erect windmills and harness chaos for our benefit.
Likewise, if we position ourselves only as a matchstick, the wind will put out our flame. But if we position ourselves as a more robust fire surrounded by additional fuel, wind in any direction will cause our fire to grow.
Asymmetry
To benefit from chaos, we need to position ourselves so we benefit more from the times when we are right than we lose during the times when we are wrong. We can construct our approach so that asymmetry exists in our operating framework.
Optionality
Options make us antifragile and allow us to benefit from the positive side of uncertainty. Taleb talks about how America’s risk tolerance and use of optionality provide a big competitive advantage: “Like Britain in the Industrial Revolution, America’s asset is, simply, risk taking and the use of optionality, this remarkable ability to engage in rational forms of trial and error, with no comparative shame in failing, starting again, and repeating failure. In modern Japan, by contrast, shame comes with failure, which causes people to hide risks under the rug.”
Options = Asymmetry + Rationality
Rationality merely means that we discard bad options and double down on good options as new information presents itself.
Fail Fast
In the end, the theory Taleb describes around “Antifragilility,” “Asymmetry,” and “Optionality” really just boils down to providing a framework in which to understand the importance of failing fast as we explore options. Over the past decade, “Fail Fast” has become ingrained as the ideal model for approaching startups. You want to try ideas quickly to know if they will stick or not. Discard the bad ones; press forward with the good ones. The end result is an asymmetric return on investment where the ones that stick provide huge return, while the ones that fail have minimal negative impact.
Earlier this year, I wrote about startup ideas that I dropped during undergrad and grad school. Each of those ideas had minimal downside and were fail fast experiences for me.
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What do you think about Taleb’s book? Have you failed fast before?