The lineage
Whose thinking this is built on.
The method, the voice, and the standard all have sources. This is the working credit list: the people I return to, named and linked.
Michael Sebastian · Branded Mayhem
The rule
Credit stays attached to the idea.
Influence is useful when it remains traceable. The names below are not decoration. They are the reading list behind specific parts of the method.
working file / sources named
- 01Nate B. Jonesmethod
- 02Ethan Mollickmethod
- 03Rick Rubinstandard
- 04Dieter Ramsstandard
The four I'd name first.
- Nate B. JonesAI analyst · Nate's NewsletterHis writing on agentic work helped shape the Install method.
- Ethan MollickWharton · One Useful ThingHe made the case for managing AI as a collaborator inside real work.
- Chris DoThe FuturHis work changed how I value diagnosis and the thinking before delivery.
- Simon SinekStart With WhyThe reminder to establish purpose before prescribing a solution.
Voices I read every week.
The standing reading list behind the working file.
- Justin ObermanBrand voice · LinkedInA practical standard for writing like a person instead of a content machine.
- Justin WelshThe Saturday SolopreneurA useful model for choosing systems before adding headcount.
- Ruben HassidAI leveragePractical AI leverage, tested in public.
- Josh DavisOpenClaw UnboxedAgent and tooling ideas explained without theater.
Plus two I read by the masthead more than the byline: The Slow AI and New Economies.
Outside voices that sharpened the thesis.
Outside voices that gave sharper language to the thesis.
The design lineage.
The standard for restraint, taste, discipline, and care.
- Rick RubinMusic · tasteFind the essence, then remove what competes with it.
- Dieter RamsIndustrial designLess, but better. Restraint has to improve the work.
- Massimo VignelliGraphic designDiscipline over novelty. Structure is part of the argument.
- Jony IveProduct design · LoveFromCare should remain visible in the finished object.
Also owed, quietly: Ed Catmull (the beautifully-shaded penny, from Creativity, Inc.) and Seth Godin, for permission and patience.
If you make things I should be reading, tell me.
The list is not closed. Most of what is on it arrived because someone sent it to me.