Leverage > Agency > Intelligence. Every person on earth has 24 hours. No matter how much agency you have, you cannot outdo a person who knows how to leverage.

You can leverage anything: network, wealth, technology, reputation, knowledge, tariffs, policies, playing turf, brand, partnerships, or even nationality.

The best badminton player in the world cannot out-earn the best tennis player—not due to talent, effort, or agency, but because tennis plays on a bigger lever of audience and attention.

My explanation:

Agency is powerful, but leverage is a force multiplier. Agency is about taking control and making things happen.

Leverage is about taking risks and making things happen without your control. It’s when your decisions, systems, and incentives start working even when you’re not.

People with leverage don’t just rely on effort or discipline—they place the right incentives at the right points to multiply their impact. Where agency says, “I’ll do it,” leverage says, “I’ll get it done by someone who can do it 10x better.”

Leverage is about respecting external forces not in your control and using them to your advantage. Consider Elon buying Twitter instead of building from scratch, Microsoft partnering with OpenAI rather than competing, or Steve Jobs incentivizing Steve Wozniak instead of building the Mac himself.

Agency has pride in it. It believes it can control the wind through will. Leverage is humble, it respects the wind and simply learns how to redirect it.

Someone with strong agency can move mountains through sheer force. Someone with leverage figures out how to move ten mountains with one lever and the right incentives. It’s the difference between rowing harder and building a sail.

It’s the difference between being the driver of your life and letting someone better drive you to your destination while you enjoy the view or take an important call that truly matters.