First principles is a term commonly associated with math, physics and philosophy. But they can be applied to great effect in marketing. Being first is a big deal. The first person to adopt a new ...

Founder of Four Sigmatic - a functional foods company making the world’s most nutrient-dense foods more delicious and easier to consume. In my experience, being an entrepreneur is a constant lesson in ...

“Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch'd from” (Walt Whitman) In any field of endeavor, there are core assumptions that serve as a foundation for more complex and ...

Eugene Hayden has worked at Google, KPMG, and Boston Consulting Group. He takes an actual case study from a recent interview and solves it by using first principles thinking. The Big 3 companies want ...

Before he was a world-changing entrepreneur, Elon Musk was on track to become a physicist — even starting an applied physics Ph.D. at Stanford University. But while he dropped out of the program after ...

In an increasingly creative-driven world, having the best ideas are essential to getting ahead. Few people know that better than Elon Musk, who recommends coming up with new ideas with the "first ...

What if the secret to solving the world’s most complex problems wasn’t about thinking bigger, but thinking smaller, breaking things down to their most basic truths? This is the power of first ...

When I first started writing and was asked to choose a name for this column, I decided on “First Principles.” The New Oxford American Dictionary defines first principles as, “the fundamental concepts ...

The next time I start a college, I’d like to hire Thomas E. Ricks as the provost. Even before Ricks wrote his excellent new volume First Principles, he would have been a strong choice to direct the ...