Don't Feed the Thought Leaders
Being a hedgehog is useful on the journey to domain mastery because sticking to frameworks saves you time and headache compared to not having any frameworks at all.<p>The 3 stages of domain mastery:<p>Stage 1 - No knowledge or structure to approach a domain (everything is hard, pitfalls are everywhere)<p>Stage 2 - Frameworks that are useful to approach the domain (Map to avoid pitfall areas)<p>Stage 3 - Detailed understanding of the domain (in which you can move through pitfall areas freely and see where frameworks fall short)<p>Hedgehogs are at stage 2. You move from stage 1 to stage 2 by adopting frameworks; hence, hedgehogs are seen as &quot;thought leaders&quot; because they teach the frameworks that lead MOST people to more mastery. Except when you&#x27;re at stage 3, in which case frameworks lead you to more inefficiencies compared to your own understanding.<p>All good decisions must be made by stage 3 persons, but ironically, training is most efficiently done by stage 2 persons. Hedgehogs get more limelight because 90% of the population is at stage 1 and values the knowledge of stage 2 (and can&#x27;t grasp the complexities and nuances of stage 3).<p>Many hedgehogs struggle to touch stage 3, and instead see stage 2 as mastery. This is compounded by the positive feedback loops of success - the frameworks save time, it gives them reputation, it allows them to save stage 1 persons from their ignorance, and it&#x27;s the foundation of their current level and achievements. Frameworks are also convenient and broadly applicable to many problems; detailed domain mastery in contrast is difficult, time consuming, and  highly contextualized.<p>All of this makes it hard to move beyond stage 2 into stage 3.