A Few Special Updates And 10 Mental Models To Maximize Your Cognitive Potential
Alex Brogan
Three years ago, Alex Brogan was publishing a newsletter called "Mental Models, Concepts, and Frameworks" to a modest audience. By November 2022, he had built enough momentum to rebrand entirely — and launch a curated talent marketplace targeting companies like Figma and Stripe. The rebrand wasn't cosmetic. It was strategic repositioning around a more ambitious thesis: that exceptional performance stems from systematic thinking, not innate talent.
The new name, "A Players," captured something specific. Not the top 10% by accident, but the top 10% by design — people who approach improvement as a deliberate practice. The newsletter's core insight remained unchanged: mental models are the infrastructure of better decision-making. But Brogan expanded the mandate to include anything that elevates cognitive performance.