WEBVTT
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There's a scene and one of the older Superman films
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that changed how I think about ambition. General Zod comes
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00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:10.359
to Earth looking for Superman. He can't find him, so
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he conquers the planet to get his attention. Takes over
5
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America in an afternoon, destroys the last military resistance with
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a glance, and then settles into the Oval office with
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his feet on the desk, looks at his lieutenant, and
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asks one question, Where's Superman. I'm bored. The boredom is
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the most important moment in that film. Zod just conquered
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the most powerful nation on Earth and had nothing left
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to do. That scene convinced me that orienting your ambition
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toward a moral good isn't just noble, it's strategically superior.
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My name is Josh Terry. I help business owners become unstoppable,
14
00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:52.159
and I'm in an unusual position in my life where
15
00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:54.679
I actually work with people who can affect the world
16
00:00:54.920 --> 00:00:57.200
and not in the abstract. I work with one of
17
00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.679
the fastest growing podcasters on Earth. I am council to
18
00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:04.799
people running security companies and other organizations that have real
19
00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:07.640
power to impact the world, and when someone is operating
20
00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:11.280
at that level, this question isn't philosophical. It's one of
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00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:14.920
the most practical things we address. Should I be good
22
00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:17.120
or should I break things to get what I want?
23
00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:20.959
What actually works at the highest level. I use this
24
00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:25.439
Superman framework in those conversations, and it genuinely persuades people.
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Not because it's acute analogy, but because it captures something
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real about how ambition works when the stakes are at
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their highest. If you've already built something at scale, this
28
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matters more to you than most people. Your past survival
29
00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:43.159
and you've proven that you can win. The question now
30
00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:47.079
is much harder. What is your ambition actually pointed at?
31
00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:50.840
And does the game you're playing have a ceiling? Most
32
00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:53.680
people never get far enough to face that question, But
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00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:56.719
if you're operating north of twenty million, you've hit the
34
00:01:56.760 --> 00:02:00.200
point where direction matters more than intensity. So here's why
35
00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:02.920
the Superman story is more than just a comic book reference.
36
00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:08.439
Comics are our version of mythology. Each character represents a
37
00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:12.280
different part of the human experience. Batman is the Shadow,
38
00:02:12.520 --> 00:02:16.560
the Hulk is rage, iron Man is finding a better way,
39
00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:19.240
and Superman is one of the most interesting ones for
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a reason most people miss. He has almost no reason
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to exist he has all the power and all the knowledge.
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Nothing on Earth can touch him. He has great parents,
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strong values, good community. Across every metric, Superman has already won.
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There's no struggle left, there's nothing to push against. There's
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no obvious reason to get out of bed. Literature wise,
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00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:45.639
this is an incredible challenge to write for. How do
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you write a story for a character that has no struggle.
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He should have one of the emptiest lives imaginable, but
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he doesn't because he decided he isn't finished until everyone
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around him is done. There's a line from one of
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the later films where his father sends him to Earth
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and says, you will give the people of Earth an
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ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they
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will stumble, they will fall, but in time they will
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join you in the sun. Superman isn't here for himself.
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He's here for everyone else, and because he chose that,
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his life is full, not in a sentimental way, in
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a practical one. He always has something to do, He
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always has a reason to show up. The game he's
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00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:38.199
playing never runs out of moves. The framework underneath this
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00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.680
story is incredibly important. Zod conquered Earth in ten minutes
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00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:46.240
and got bored because there's a limit to how much
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you can break stuff, but there's no limit to how
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much you can build. That's the core idea. Destruction is
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00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.280
a finite game, creation is an infinite one. If you
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00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:05.120
orient your ambition around tearing down, extraction, manipulation, winning at
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00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:09.000
other people's expense, the game gets smaller every time you
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play it. Every piece you remove from the board is gone.
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It can't generate anything new, just like Zod conquered a
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00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:19.399
planet and had nothing left to do with it. But
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00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:24.120
if you orient your ambition around building, the opposite happens,
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making people more capable, creating systems that open new doors,
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solving problems that lead to bigger and better problems. The
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game expands every time you play it. Every piece you
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add creates possibilities that didn't exist before. Superman's game has
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no ceiling. Zod's game ended the moment he won it.
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And this is where it stops being a comic book
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metaphor and starts being something I use with everyone that
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I work with. I counsel somebody who runs a very
80
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large security company with real power and real reach, and
81
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at one point we had to address this question directly
82
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because at his level, the option to break things and
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00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:09.000
get what you want is always on the table. It's
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not theoretical. He could extract, consolidate, squeeze the competition out
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of existence and it would work for a while. But
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I've watched founders do that, treat every negotiation as an extraction,
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Squeeze the partner, grind the vendor, capture every dollar of
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value that's on the table, and eventually they run out
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of people who are willing to sit across from them.
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The market gets smaller each year. They've built a forty
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million dollar company, but there's Zod in the Oval office
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wondering why nothing interesting shows up. The ones who build differently,
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who treat every interaction as a chance to make the
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total pie bigger. Their world expands every year. Opportunities show
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up because they've built systems that generate new ones. Naturally.
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Both types of founders are incredibly ambitious and aggressive. Both
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want to win. The difference isn't the intensity, it's the
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game they choose, and the game you choose determines whether
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your ambition has a ceiling. And to be clear, I'm
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not making a moral argument for niceness. I'm making one
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for how your brain actually works. Your mind adapts to
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the game you're playing. If you choose a finite game
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where you are only crushing competition in such a way
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that there is less when you are done with it,
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some part of your brain registers that there's a wall ahead.
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It knows the runway is limited, and it throttles your
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creativity accordingly. Your risk appetite narrows, your thinking gets smaller
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because the frame is smaller. But choose an infinite game,
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and your brain adapts to that frame Instead, it operates
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like there's always more territory ahead. You think bigger, you
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take smarter risks, and you attract better people because builders
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want to build alongside other builders. This isn't moral, and
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it isn't mystical. It's how your brain responds to the
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story you're living inside. I've had this conversation over dinner
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with smart people who pick it apart from every angle,
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and they can find faults because they're brilliant. You can
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always find a logical inconsistency in a metaphor, but the
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faults don't take away from the utility. Even if you're
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deeply competitive, even if you're committed to winning harder than
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anyone else in the room. It's still worth orienting that
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ambition toward a moral good, because if you don't, your
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brain knows there's a limit, and it performs inside that limit,
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whether you want it to or not. So the question
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worth sitting with is are you playing a game that
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ends when you win? Or are you playing one that
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expands every time you win. The people I work with
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who are genuinely thriving at scale, not just performing but
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actually enjoying what they've built, have all landed on this.
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They're buildings something that gets more interesting as it grows.
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Their ambition has no ceiling because their game has no ceiling,
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and the ones who are winning but feel hollow are
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almost always playing a finite game without realizing it, extracting
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instead of building, conquering instead of creating. Somewhere inside, they
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know there's a wall ahead, even if they can't name
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it yet. So choose good, not because it's virtuous, but
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because evil has a ceiling. If you orient your ambition
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toward building something greater than yourself, the game never ends.
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If this resonates, go to Josh terryplays dot com and
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book a call with me. I work with a small
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number of people who've already proven they can win and
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are now dealing with the harder questions of what their
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ambition is actually pointed at. We look at the game
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you've chosen and whether it has a ceiling, and if
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it does, we redesign it so your ambition has somewhere
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infinite to go. You've already built something significant. Let's make
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sure it's pointed at something that doesn't run out.
1
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There's a scene and one of the older Superman films
2
00:00:02.919 --> 00:00:07.480
that changed how I think about ambition. General Zod comes
3
00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:10.359
to Earth looking for Superman. He can't find him, so
4
00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:13.640
he conquers the planet to get his attention. Takes over
5
00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:17.519
America in an afternoon, destroys the last military resistance with
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00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:20.960
a glance, and then settles into the Oval office with
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00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:23.440
his feet on the desk, looks at his lieutenant, and
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asks one question, Where's Superman. I'm bored. The boredom is
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the most important moment in that film. Zod just conquered
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the most powerful nation on Earth and had nothing left
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to do. That scene convinced me that orienting your ambition
12
00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:44.840
toward a moral good isn't just noble, it's strategically superior.
13
00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:49.200
My name is Josh Terry. I help business owners become unstoppable,
14
00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:52.159
and I'm in an unusual position in my life where
15
00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:54.679
I actually work with people who can affect the world
16
00:00:54.920 --> 00:00:57.200
and not in the abstract. I work with one of
17
00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.679
the fastest growing podcasters on Earth. I am council to
18
00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:04.799
people running security companies and other organizations that have real
19
00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:07.640
power to impact the world, and when someone is operating
20
00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:11.280
at that level, this question isn't philosophical. It's one of
21
00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:14.920
the most practical things we address. Should I be good
22
00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:17.120
or should I break things to get what I want?
23
00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:20.959
What actually works at the highest level. I use this
24
00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:25.439
Superman framework in those conversations, and it genuinely persuades people.
25
00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:28.879
Not because it's acute analogy, but because it captures something
26
00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:32.519
real about how ambition works when the stakes are at
27
00:01:32.519 --> 00:01:35.760
their highest. If you've already built something at scale, this
28
00:01:35.879 --> 00:01:39.560
matters more to you than most people. Your past survival
29
00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:43.159
and you've proven that you can win. The question now
30
00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:47.079
is much harder. What is your ambition actually pointed at?
31
00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:50.840
And does the game you're playing have a ceiling? Most
32
00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:53.680
people never get far enough to face that question, But
33
00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:56.719
if you're operating north of twenty million, you've hit the
34
00:01:56.760 --> 00:02:00.200
point where direction matters more than intensity. So here's why
35
00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:02.920
the Superman story is more than just a comic book reference.
36
00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:08.439
Comics are our version of mythology. Each character represents a
37
00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:12.280
different part of the human experience. Batman is the Shadow,
38
00:02:12.520 --> 00:02:16.560
the Hulk is rage, iron Man is finding a better way,
39
00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:19.240
and Superman is one of the most interesting ones for
40
00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:22.919
a reason most people miss. He has almost no reason
41
00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:26.400
to exist he has all the power and all the knowledge.
42
00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:29.479
Nothing on Earth can touch him. He has great parents,
43
00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:34.680
strong values, good community. Across every metric, Superman has already won.
44
00:02:35.240 --> 00:02:38.680
There's no struggle left, there's nothing to push against. There's
45
00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:42.319
no obvious reason to get out of bed. Literature wise,
46
00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:45.639
this is an incredible challenge to write for. How do
47
00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:48.039
you write a story for a character that has no struggle.
48
00:02:48.599 --> 00:02:52.719
He should have one of the emptiest lives imaginable, but
49
00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:58.080
he doesn't because he decided he isn't finished until everyone
50
00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:01.560
around him is done. There's a line from one of
51
00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:04.039
the later films where his father sends him to Earth
52
00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:06.639
and says, you will give the people of Earth an
53
00:03:06.680 --> 00:03:10.159
ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they
54
00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:13.759
will stumble, they will fall, but in time they will
55
00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:18.439
join you in the sun. Superman isn't here for himself.
56
00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:22.479
He's here for everyone else, and because he chose that,
57
00:03:23.159 --> 00:03:25.919
his life is full, not in a sentimental way, in
58
00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:30.280
a practical one. He always has something to do, He
59
00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:34.000
always has a reason to show up. The game he's
60
00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:38.199
playing never runs out of moves. The framework underneath this
61
00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.680
story is incredibly important. Zod conquered Earth in ten minutes
62
00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:46.240
and got bored because there's a limit to how much
63
00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:49.400
you can break stuff, but there's no limit to how
64
00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:53.479
much you can build. That's the core idea. Destruction is
65
00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.280
a finite game, creation is an infinite one. If you
66
00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:05.120
orient your ambition around tearing down, extraction, manipulation, winning at
67
00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:09.000
other people's expense, the game gets smaller every time you
68
00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:12.840
play it. Every piece you remove from the board is gone.
69
00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:16.800
It can't generate anything new, just like Zod conquered a
70
00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:19.399
planet and had nothing left to do with it. But
71
00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:24.120
if you orient your ambition around building, the opposite happens,
72
00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:28.920
making people more capable, creating systems that open new doors,
73
00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:33.160
solving problems that lead to bigger and better problems. The
74
00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:36.839
game expands every time you play it. Every piece you
75
00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:42.600
add creates possibilities that didn't exist before. Superman's game has
76
00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:47.120
no ceiling. Zod's game ended the moment he won it.
77
00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:49.639
And this is where it stops being a comic book
78
00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:53.000
metaphor and starts being something I use with everyone that
79
00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:56.680
I work with. I counsel somebody who runs a very
80
00:04:56.759 --> 00:05:00.600
large security company with real power and real reach, and
81
00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.319
at one point we had to address this question directly
82
00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:06.439
because at his level, the option to break things and
83
00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:09.000
get what you want is always on the table. It's
84
00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:13.519
not theoretical. He could extract, consolidate, squeeze the competition out
85
00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:16.160
of existence and it would work for a while. But
86
00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:20.759
I've watched founders do that, treat every negotiation as an extraction,
87
00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:24.920
Squeeze the partner, grind the vendor, capture every dollar of
88
00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:27.639
value that's on the table, and eventually they run out
89
00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:30.040
of people who are willing to sit across from them.
90
00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:33.720
The market gets smaller each year. They've built a forty
91
00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:37.160
million dollar company, but there's Zod in the Oval office
92
00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:41.600
wondering why nothing interesting shows up. The ones who build differently,
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who treat every interaction as a chance to make the
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total pie bigger. Their world expands every year. Opportunities show
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up because they've built systems that generate new ones. Naturally.
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Both types of founders are incredibly ambitious and aggressive. Both
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want to win. The difference isn't the intensity, it's the
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game they choose, and the game you choose determines whether
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your ambition has a ceiling. And to be clear, I'm
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not making a moral argument for niceness. I'm making one
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for how your brain actually works. Your mind adapts to
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the game you're playing. If you choose a finite game
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where you are only crushing competition in such a way
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that there is less when you are done with it,
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some part of your brain registers that there's a wall ahead.
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It knows the runway is limited, and it throttles your
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creativity accordingly. Your risk appetite narrows, your thinking gets smaller
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because the frame is smaller. But choose an infinite game,
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and your brain adapts to that frame Instead, it operates
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like there's always more territory ahead. You think bigger, you
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take smarter risks, and you attract better people because builders
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want to build alongside other builders. This isn't moral, and
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it isn't mystical. It's how your brain responds to the
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story you're living inside. I've had this conversation over dinner
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with smart people who pick it apart from every angle,
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and they can find faults because they're brilliant. You can
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always find a logical inconsistency in a metaphor, but the
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faults don't take away from the utility. Even if you're
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deeply competitive, even if you're committed to winning harder than
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anyone else in the room. It's still worth orienting that
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ambition toward a moral good, because if you don't, your
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brain knows there's a limit, and it performs inside that limit,
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whether you want it to or not. So the question
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worth sitting with is are you playing a game that
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ends when you win? Or are you playing one that
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expands every time you win. The people I work with
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who are genuinely thriving at scale, not just performing but
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actually enjoying what they've built, have all landed on this.
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They're buildings something that gets more interesting as it grows.
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Their ambition has no ceiling because their game has no ceiling,
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and the ones who are winning but feel hollow are
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almost always playing a finite game without realizing it, extracting
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instead of building, conquering instead of creating. Somewhere inside, they
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know there's a wall ahead, even if they can't name
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it yet. So choose good, not because it's virtuous, but
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because evil has a ceiling. If you orient your ambition
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toward building something greater than yourself, the game never ends.
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If this resonates, go to Josh terryplays dot com and
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book a call with me. I work with a small
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number of people who've already proven they can win and
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are now dealing with the harder questions of what their
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ambition is actually pointed at. We look at the game
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you've chosen and whether it has a ceiling, and if
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it does, we redesign it so your ambition has somewhere
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infinite to go. You've already built something significant. Let's make
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sure it's pointed at something that doesn't run out.
