I’m taking January off (to study one word)

We toss it around in board meetings and coaching sessions as if we all mean the same thing. But do we?

Depending on who you ask, leverage is a very different tool:

• To a Financier, leverage is Debt. It is the use of borrowed capital to amplify returns. It is high stakes, high risk, and mathematical.

• To a Physicist, leverage is Mechanical Advantage. It is Archimedes and his fulcrum: "Give me a lever long enough... and I shall move the world." It is about moving massive objects with minimal force.

• To a Tech Founder, leverage is Scale. It is code and media that replicate with zero marginal cost.

But when I talk to my clients—and when I look at my own life—I feel these definitions are missing the human nuance. They miss the emotional weight of leverage, the relational friction, and the courage required to wield it.

The January Experiment

One of the privileges of my new reality as an author is the ability to disconnect to think.

So, I am taking all of January off. No client calls. No podcasts. No noise.

I am dedicating the entire month to deep work on this single topic: The true nature of Leverage for the modern entrepreneur.

I have my own theories. But I also have something better: You.

There are now 6,500 of you reading this newsletter — CEOs, investors, and operators. You are the practitioners who wield leverage every day.

I want to know what you see.

The Ask (Takes 2 minutes)

Reply to this email with one or two thoughts:

1. How do you define leverage? (Is it efficiency? Debt? Speed? Freedom?)

2. What is the single best resource you’ve ever found on the topic? (A book, an article, a podcast episode, a mental model).

I will be curating the best insights and sharing them when I return.

Warmly, Julius

P.S. Are you obsessed with this topic? If you have a unique thesis on leverage that you’re dying to debate, I’m opening a few 30-minute slots in January specifically for "Idea Jams." No coaching, no pitching — just a raw exchange of ideas.