George Mack has this question I'm obsessed with. Here's my version of it.

Imagine you find yourself in a third world prison. Nobody knows where you are or how you got there. But it is horrible and you are stuck.

You are given your phone, briefly, to make a single phone call. All you will have time to say is, "Help, I am in a Los Hell Hole prison. You are the only person who knows. Get me out." Before the guards take it off you.

Who do you call?

That, dear reader, is the most high agency person you know.

Here are some of the people you don't want to call:

The Clear Thinker Without Action:
They'll overthink the rescue while you rot in the cell.

The Action-Taker Without Clarity:
They'll barge in without a plan, and end up in the next cell.

The Agreeable Conformer:
They’ll accept "there’s nothing we can do" from the first official they meet.

The Passive Complainer:
They’ll post a sad tweet about injustice instead of taking real action.

The People-Pleaser:
They'll worry more about what others think than about getting you free.

The Stereotype Follower:
They’ll look for permission instead of finding a way.

The Groupthink Victim:
They'll wait for someone else to organise a rescue, and no one will.

The Prestige Prisoner:
They'll care more about their reputation than about your freedom.

The Non-Verifier:
They'll fall for the first scam or lie and make things worse.

The Knowledge Hoarder:
They’ll talk about how complicated it is, and do nothing.

Which of these behaviours annoys you the most btw? For me it's the passive complainer. Oh my days. Anyways...

When you're stuck in a third world prison, you need people who act without waiting for permission.

People who think clearly, act decisively, bend rules quietly, and don't care who they upset.

People who make things happen.

Now, the truth is, most of us are neither high- nor low-agency people. We behave in different ways depending on how we are feeling and the circumstances we are in.

But it is possible to train yourself to have more agency, more of the time. And so, that's the topic for this week.

And on Friday, I'll be giving a talk at 12pm (UK) on the topic of How to Have High Agency to a lovely group of my clients.

If you sign up for the free trial of HeRO Academy, you can be there too.

What would a high agency person do?

Stephen