By Matt Doan · Nov 1, 2025 · 3-min read

The Spell of “High Potential”

They gave me a label—and it felt like a crown.

I didn’t realize how damaging it was.

“High potential.”

Senior leaders said it with a genuine tone. They told me I’d be a partner one day. They pulled me into cool projects. Sent me to executive trainings. Invited me to secret offsites.

And I fell for it.

I thought I was rising.

But I wasn’t free. I was just favored.

Still locked inside someone else’s system.

That label—“high potential”—felt like a gift.

But it was a leash.

You might be wearing that same label right now.

You think you’re climbing.

But you’re not building. You’re not betting on yourself. You’re not owning the end-to-end.

And that’s the difference between High Potential and High Agency.

High Potential:

• Waits
• Thinks of roles, promotions, politics
• Asks, “What do they want from me?”

High Agency:

• Moves
• Thinks of leverage, movement, time compression.
• Asks, “What do I want to build—and how fast can I do it?”

The entrepreneur George Mack defines it as the ability to bend reality rather than accept it.

It’s the decision to act on the degrees of freedom you already have.

It’s refusing to be slotted, paused, or tamed.

High Agency is the opposite of corporate conditioning.

It’s the core operating requirement for Corporate Graduation™.

But how do you know if you're High Agency?

Core traits:

1. Clear Thinking
​You spot real constraints vs imaginary ones.
You ask, “What’s truly stopping me?” And answer honestly.

2. Bias to Action
​You learn by doing, not theorizing.
You default to experiments, not excuses.

3. Disagreeability
​You don’t just nod along.
You’re willing to dissent when the direction is wrong.

4. Self-Initiated Motion
​You don’t need motivation.
You need a problem worth solving—then you’re off.

5. Non-Permission Seeking
​You don’t wait for approval to act.
You move while others are still in meetings.

6. Resourcefulness
​You don’t say “I can’t.”
You say, “What’s another way?”

7. Emotional Ownership
​You don’t blame the org, the timing, the market.
You own your pace and outcomes.

8. Environment Control
​You don’t just manage time.
You reshape your world to produce velocity.

9. Adaptability
​You drop bad ideas quickly.
You pivot fast. You update beliefs without ego.

10. Agency Stack
​You surround yourself with momentum—mentors, peers, systems—to stay in action.

11. Personal Leverage Mindset
​You see your mind, skills, and time as your greatest assets.
You invest in coaching, rooms, tools, systems that multiply you.

12. Curated Proximity
​You don’t rely on motivation.
You create momentum by surrounding yourself with others building fast in the same direction.

13. Self-Funded Growth
​You don’t wait for company budgets.
You bet on yourself and act when you see long-term ROI.

This is anti-corporate thinking at its core—the transition from being resourced by others to resourcing yourself.

Take Steve Jobs.

He didn’t just invent products—he imposed a vision.

He obsessed over the end-to-end experience: from chip architecture to the curve of the aluminum. He fired committees, scrapped consensus, and made design a non-negotiable.

When others optimized for quarterly returns, he optimized for legacy. He didn’t ask what was possible—he asked what was necessary, then made the system rise to meet it.

Jobs was High Agency personified. He didn’t wait for permission. He created pressure. He demanded precision. And he knew that taste, speed, and ownership mattered more than approval.

But this isn’t just a tech founder story.

High Agency shows up across every domain—in those who refuse to be boxed:

• Oprah: refused to be boxed in by network control, built an empire on her own terms.
• Taylor Swift: reclaimed her masters, redefined industry norms, and turned reinvention into an entire economy—by owning every move.
• Ryan Reynolds: leveraged his fame into massive exits, not by waiting, but by owning.
• Lady Gaga: turned rejection into world-building, never fit the mold, built her own.
• Winston Churchill: rejected political caution, took command in chaos, reshaped history through force of will.
• Beyoncé: broke free from the label machine, owned her narrative, built a creative empire with full control.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger: mastered multiple domains, kicked down doors, turned raw ambition into global leverage.

These are High Agency operators.

They don’t just exist inside the system.

They reshape it—or exit it completely.

So what about you?

• Still stuck in strategy decks?
• Still convincing yourself you’re building?
• Still telling stories about how this current role is just a “stepping stone”?

Be honest:

You’ve been waiting.

You’ve been hesitating.

You’ve been adjusting to the system, not breaking out of it.

That’s not High Agency.

That’s living under the spell of “High Potential.”

Your task is to decide differently—right now.

You don’t need more time.

You need a container that demands action.

That’s why we built:

The 4-Hour Founder, happening live on November 11th.

In one focused sprint, you’ll do the deep work most people avoid for years. Founder Mode gets activated. The shift begins.

You'll begin rapidly downshifting out of corporate life. And you’ll start building a premium service business with real leverage—one that opens up options far beyond what the “high potential” track could ever offer.

But that shift?

It only happens when you install conditions that create pressure and force movement.

That’s what we do together inside The 4-Hour Founder.

Because that’s what High Agency requires.

High Agency isn’t found. It’s chosen.

It’s a way of operating where you stop waiting for perfect plans and start building under imperfect conditions. You realize that the face in the mirror is your #1 asset, and you invest accordingly.

High Agency isn’t something you visit when you’re inspired—It’s the operating system you install permanently.

Everywhere you go.

In everything you do.

From this moment forward.

—Matt

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PS - The 4-Hour Founder workshop happens once. On November 11th.

You’ll activate your High Agency. You'll finally stop performing and start building.

It’s free to join, but only the right crowd gets in.

→ Apply HERE.

High Agency is already in you.

But only you can decide to bring it to life.

Shoot me a reply with any questions you might have.​
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