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April 2, 2025
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Cher Wang, Hysteresis and Workplace Motivation
At a glance
This edition is brought to you by Athyna
Good morning to all new and old readers! Here is your Wednesday edition of Faster Than Normal, exploring one short story about a person, a company, a high-performance tool, a trend I’m watching closely, and curated media to help you build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself.
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Today’s edition:
> Stories: Cher Wang & Taco Bell
> High-performance: Hysteresis
> Insights: Competing with yourself
> Tactical: Workplace motivation
> 1 Question: Effort calibration
Cheers,
Alex
P.S. Send me feedback on how we can improve. I respond to every email.
Stories of Excellence
Person: Cher Wang
Cher Wang is a Taiwanese tech entrepreneur who co-founded HTC in 1997. She's a pioneer in the mobile industry. Wang started her career in 1981 when tech was male-dominated. But she didn't see gender as a barrier. Her faith drives her. She looks to the Bible for inspiration during tough times. Wang sees technology as a great equalizer. She believes it can empower disadvantaged people globally. Her focus now is on emerging tech like AI and the metaverse.
Key Lessons from Cher Wang:
On passion: "If you are truly passionate about what you are doing, and have a clear vision on how you will benefit society, you can overcome almost all hurdles on the road to achieve your vision."
On continuous learning: "As entrepreneurs, we must continue to ask ourselves 'What's next?' It takes humility to realize that we don't know everything, not to rest on our laurels and know that we must keep learning and observing."
On passion: "I always have this imagination, something I want to use. I don't understand the idea of leisure time."
Company: Taco Bell
Taco Bell was founded by Glen Bell in Downey, California in 1962. Bell, a former Marine with experience running hot dog and hamburger stands, saw an opportunity in Mexican-inspired fast food. He started with a menu of just five items, including tacos priced at 19 cents each. The concept quickly gained popularity, and Bell opened his first franchise in 1964. By 1970, Taco Bell had grown to 325 restaurants and went public. PepsiCo acquired the chain in 1978 for $125 million. Taco Bell's expansion continued rapidly, reaching 7,000 locations by 2000. Today, it operates over 7,200 restaurants globally with annual revenue of ~$2.5 billion as of 2024.
Key Lessons from Taco Bell:
On opportunity recognition: Look across the street. Bell's genius wasn't inventing Mexican food. It was seeing the popularity of the existing Mexican restaurant and thinking "I can make that faster and cheaper."
On simplicity: Start small, expand later. Taco Bell's initial menu had just five items. This allowed for quick service and easy operations. They gradually added more complex items as they grew.
Hire remote employees with confidence
Two years ago, I hired an offshore assistant , and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made. From marketing to customer support, it’s helped streamline work and boost productivity.
Athyna is a service that finds top remote employees in <5 days in Latam, Africa, and Sth East Asia. They cover roles in finance, creative, engineering, and product, sourcing top talent from companies like Google, AWS, Microsoft, and more.
If you’re in the market for talent, visit their website to explore options and cover all your hiring needs.
Accelerants
High-performance tool
⎯
Hysteresis
Hysteresis is a phenomenon where a system's output depends on its history, not just its current input. It's observed in many fields, from physics to economics. As James Gleick put it, "Hysteresis is a kind of memory in matter."
This concept explains why some changes persist even after the cause is removed. In magnets, it's why they stay magnetized. In economics, it explains why unemployment can remain high even after a recession ends. Hysteresis is crucial in designing systems like thermostats, where it prevents constant on-off switching.
Have you ever noticed how some things in your life seem to "stick" even after conditions change? That could be hysteresis at work. How might understanding this concept help you manage changes in your business or personal life?
Insights
Sam Altman on competing with yourself:
"I think one thing that is a really important thing to strive for is being internally driven, being driven to compete with yourself, not with other people. If you compete with other people, you end up in this mimetic trap, and you sort of play this tournament, and if you win, you lose. But if you’re competing with yourself, and all you’re trying to do is — for the own self-satisfaction and for also the impact you have on the world and the duty you feel to do that — be the best possible version you can, there is no limit to how far that can drive someone to perform."—Sam Altman, CEO OpenAI
Tactical reads
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> When examining workplace motivation
Work Motivation and Satisfaction: Light at the End of the Tunnel (Read it here)
> When setting effective learning goals
Goal Setting and Self-Efficacy During Self-Regulated Learning (Read it here)
1 question
Does the amount of attention I’m giving this match its true importance?
That’s all for today, folks. As always, please give me your feedback. Which section is your favourite? What do you want to see more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.
Have a wonderful rest of week, all.
Recommendation Zone
⎯
Hire remote employees with confidence
Two years ago, I hired an offshore assistant for the first time. Since then, I’ve recommended many people do the same. It’s been one of the highest leverage things I’ve done, helping with everything marketing and customer support (for The Intelligence Age) and personal matters and email management.
Athyna is a service that quickly (<5 days!) finds remote employees across 150+ countries for you or your team. They cover roles from sales and marketing to creative and product, and have worked with companies like Facebook, Zoom, Uber, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Amazon.
I’ve personally used Athyna and recommended them to my Brother, Will, who runs a fashion label, and several close friends running their own businesses. To date, they’ve all had very positive experiences.
If you’re in the market for talent, visit their website to explore options and cover all your hiring needs.
Alex Brogan
Find me on X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok
Offshore Talent: Where to find the best offshore talent. Powered by Athyna.
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