

@Stanford | Philomath, community builder, dreamer-doer | Entrepreneurship and Design Engineering | Previously @Axon, @Skycatch, @WHILL
Let’s take the topic of experimentation as an example. Understanding the 10,000-experiment rule is crucial for success at an individual, company, and societal level. The Leave Approach to getting better at experimentation would be to first focus on hacks like understanding how to A/B test a button on your website. The Trunk Technique would be to understand what the scientific method is first (i.e., controlled experimentation; peer-reviewed refereed journals; blind, randomized design; falsifiability; controlled placebo; double blind experimentation; computer simulations; and meta-analysis). By understanding the few core principles that make up the scientific method, one can then create thousands of experiments across every area of life and career forever. As new hacks and software tools arise, you’d be able to quickly understand their significance and use them. Then, when those specific tools become obsolete, you’d still have your trunk to grow new branches and leaves from. I attribute a large part of any success I’ve had as a writer to applying the scientific method to the creation of ideas.
Broadly speaking, “transitional” or quickly-expiring knowledge is the kind that helps us navigate a specific environment (such as the specialized field of liver medicine). Whereas “pillar” or longer-lasting knowledge is based on fundamental principles and mental models that can be applied in many contexts including unforeseen future ones.