Right now, as you read this, one of the most powerful demonstrations of leverage in modern history is playing out on a single stretch of water.
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow channel between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. At its tightest, the shipping lanes are only a couple of miles wide. And through that thin gap flows a very
large share of the world's seaborne oil. Before the current crisis, roughly a hundred and thirty ships passed through it on an average day. In a recent twenty-four hour period, that number had fallen to nine.
A single country, by threatening one narrow point, has forced the most powerful militaries and economies on earth to react to its will. Not by
defeating them or matching their strength, but simply by sitting on top of the one place everyone has to pass through.
Set aside the politics of it entirely. Whatever you think of the parties involved, look only at the mechanism, because the mechanism is one of the oldest and most important principles in the study of power. And it does not
only apply to nations. It applies to you, in your work, your industry, and your life, more directly than almost anything else I could teach you.
Strength is not the same as leverage
Most men spend their entire lives trying to become stronger. More skilled, more knowledgeable, more productive, more capable across the board. This is not wrong. But it quietly misunderstands
how power actually distributes itself, because raw strength and real