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- Playing With Networking (Weekly Recap June 21, 2025)
Playing With Networking (Weekly Recap June 21, 2025)
When Exit Velocity Meets Professional Courage: How Authentic Transitions Create Lasting Impact
Matt Zeigler
June 21, 2025
Let's connect some dots from this week's notes...
But first: Did you know you can now sign up for this weekly email ONLY? That's right. If my dailies are clogging your inbox, I've got you. Open this email in your browser, then click > the profile icon in the top right > manage subscriptions > preferences (on the menu on the left) > select daily or weekly > and it will auto save! Click reply with any questions.
On to the recap…
This Intentional Investor profile reveals how a bagpipe-playing electrician from rural Ontario achieved financial independence through pure intellectual curiosity and unconventional path navigation. Andrew's journey from oil rigs to law school to options trading demonstrates the "exit velocity" principle - that breaking free from your current circumstances requires extraordinary effort beyond maintaining the status quo. His story challenges the myth that you need traditional credentials to master complex fields, showing instead how pattern recognition and relentless self-education can create entirely new career trajectories.
Quote from the (Personal) Archive: (as Andrew said it!) "Most people when they get home from the construction site, you come home, you shower, you turn on the game, you have a beer, right? The exit velocity is - you get home from the job site, you shower, you put on a pot of coffee, you drink 10 cups of coffee, and you study the LSAT until 10:30 at night."
Coach Vass embodies professional courage at 41, transitioning from high school football to finance while building a defensive systems consulting business. His approach of learning directly from masters before developing his own voice offers a blueprint for career transitions that honors expertise while fostering innovation. The deeper insight here is about moving from fixed scoreboards (win/lose every Friday night) to collaborative ones where you help others define success on their own terms - a shift that transforms relationships from transactional to relational.
Quote from the (Personal) Archive: (quote from Vass about his impending career transition) "The thing that's exciting to me about becoming an advisor is you get to make your own scoreboard and you get to know someone... It's a lot more forgiving. That's what's cool is creating the scoreboard together... helping them create their own scoreboard and then being able to achieve that for them."
Cullen's evolution from selling insurance products he couldn't believe in to creating behaviorally-robust investment solutions demonstrates intellectual honesty as a competitive advantage. His framework of investing as a "loser's game" where you win by not losing extends far beyond finance - it's about building sustainable systems that avoid catastrophic errors rather than chasing brilliant breakthroughs. This philosophy of nuanced thinking that seeks points of agreement rather than tribal positioning becomes essential for navigating complexity in any field.
Quote from the (Personal) Archive: (Cullen quote on how everything is political and it’s not a bad thing!) "I can talk to a really hardcore Trump advocate and I can find a point of agreement where I can say, okay, well, you know what? We actually agree that inequality is bad... And so those are the sorts of things that I think people don't do enough of. They just make these blanket statements... and you don't look for any of the nuance in any of this and try to find a point of agreement."
This conversation explores the fascinating tension between "you must win" games (football coaching) and "just don't lose" games (investment management). The discussion reveals how both men navigated impostor syndrome and lack of formal training in their current fields, finding that fresh eyes on old problems can be more valuable than credentials. Their exchange demonstrates that expertise isn't about having all the answers but about loving the process of continuous learning and being willing to work really, really hard at what fascinates you.
Quote from the (Personal) Archive: "Sometimes, the best way to learn what all the sections are on a new scoreboard is to admit you don't understand the game yet, and then to just start playing."
Earl Stevens' story transcends music business acumen to reveal principles of community building and authentic influence. His ability to convince a major label to pay him $1 million per album NOT to need them, then channel that success into building the Bay Area hyphy scene, demonstrates how individual achievement can elevate entire communities. The deeper lesson is about using whatever platform you have to celebrate the small, make a scene around shared values, and tell stories that bring resources and attention back to your people rather than just yourself.
Quote from the (Personal) Archive: "The world needs more people like Earl Stevens. People who have an impact on their otherwise unknown communities, the mid-tier cities that populate the world - that's what Earl Stevens did for the Bay Area and music. Celebrate the small. Make a scene. Tell its story."
This personal reflection captures how consistent creative work creates serendipitous opportunities, as demonstrated by my signing as Senior Editor with Perscient after years of informal relationship building. The week's events - from dancing 6 miles at a DJ party to watching the Phillies with my business partner and our families - illustrate how showing up authentically in multiple contexts creates unexpected convergences. The core insight is that when you do creative work because you love it, you simultaneously create and attract opportunities for people to potentially hire you for your efforts.
Quote from the (Personal) Archive: "For those wondering, and especially my creative peers, I want you to think of the Perscient work as a formalized arrangement for what I was previously doing informally. I want you to know that when you do creative work because you love it, you'll both accept and create opportunities for people to potentially hire you for your efforts."
This reflection uses Battlestar Galactica's Commander Adama to explore fundamental principles of institutional design and leadership responsibility. The core insight about separating functions - one fights enemies of the state, the other serves and protects people - becomes a framework for thinking about role clarity in any organization or system. The piece demonstrates how science fiction can provide moral clarity during complex real-world situations, offering leaders a framework for balancing competing demands without losing sight of their fundamental responsibilities.
Quote from the (Personal) Archive: (straight from the show)"There's a reason you separate military and police. One fights the enemies of the state. The other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people."
Where Else I Showed Up This Week
Oh all that wasn’t enough for you?
Read that “weeks when years happen” post again!
Personal Archive Prompts (for you):
What extra hours could you dedicate each day to building skills that would create exit velocity from your current professional constraints?
WHO IS THE MASTER IN YOUR FIELD THAT YOU COULD MODEL MORE CLOSELY BEFORE DEVELOPING YOUR OWN VOICE, AND HOW MIGHT YOU SYSTEMATICALLY ABSORB THEIR METHODS?
Where are you trying to win a "winner's game" when you should be focused on not losing a "loser's game"?
WHAT SINGLE IDENTITY OR ROLE ARE YOU OVERLY ATTACHED TO THAT MIGHT BE LIMITING YOUR ABILITY TO ADAPT AND GROW?
How could you move from measuring yourself against someone else's scoreboard to creating your own metrics in collaboration with others?
WHAT CREATIVE WORK ARE YOU DOING FOR LOVE THAT COULD BECOME A FORMAL OPPORTUNITY IF YOU TRUSTED THE PROCESS?
How could you use whatever success or platform you have to celebrate and strengthen your local community or scene rather than just advancing yourself?
As always, I did my part, now it's your turn to write some reflections in your own Personal Archive.
(then, be sure to let me know where you're keeping it, I'm in search of the others too)
ps. Claude helped me organize and synthesize these thoughts from the week's posts. If you are curious how I use AI, read this post: Did AI Do That: Personal Rules