Johann Harnoss
Some things about me:
- Grew up in Berlin
- One of four brothers
- Became an economist because I wanted to understand why life outcomes depend so much on where you're born
- PhD in economics in Paris; before that, Harvard
- Partner at BCG, where I lead our work on innovation and corporate vitality
- Co-founded Imagine, a community helping skilled people build a new life in Europe
- Spent 3 years showing that cognitive variety drives country level growth
- Most of my writing can be found here
- Fellow at CGD and Faculty Affiliate at Georgetown
- Currently interviewing 100 Builders, people who create new products and businesses inside organizations they didn't found
- Live in Washington, DC
- first.last@gmail.com
Some things I believe:
- Talent is universal. Opportunity is not.
- Where you're born predicts your future better than talent or effort ever should
- Helping one person move to opportunity changes their family's story for generations
- Ideas are everywhere. The right to build is not.
- In companies, it means a fair shot to prove what can work
- You shouldn't have to quit a great institution to build a great thing
- Ideas can change the world
- I love new ideas but the few really great ones are often "same but different"
- Ideas become movements if they attract second dancers
- In every job, the gap between average and top performers is massive
- Thousands of people die because of bad doctors, stagnate because of bad teachers, or lose their jobs because of bad managers
- Yet we can fix this, with better leadership and systems designed for outcomes
- Polarization is downstream of stagnation
- When growth stalls, zero-sum thinking takes over and people fight over a fixed pie
- Growth that people can feel (=progress) is a goal worth pointing more efforts at
- Freedom is choosing your thoughts
- Inner peace is not succumbing to every one you have
- Ask: What's the best thought I can have right now? Best = most helpful
- You can just do things, but also:
- Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans