The Outlast Journal

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Text reading “The OUTLAST Journal.”
A search for the wisdom of what lasts.
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We are living through a unique moment in history: profound technological change alongside an endless churn of fads, making it harder to distinguish what’s fleeting from what will actually last. The Outlast Journal cuts through that noise, seeking out the ideas and hard-won lessons with real staying power. Through stories of remarkable people and enduring companies around the world, it explores how to make wiser decisions, achieve lasting success, and create a body of work worthy of becoming a legacy.

The Outlast Journal is written by Eric Markowitz, who has spent years traveling the globe studying the world’s oldest companies. His forthcoming book, Outlast (Scribner/Simon & Schuster, 2027), explores what these enduring firms can teach us about mastery, resilience, and long-term thinking.

with

Eric Markowitz is Director of Research at Nightview Capital and a former award-winning business journalist. He is the author of the forthcoming book Outlast, to be published by Scribner.

Full Profile
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Why the AI boom is creating a hunger for human connection
As AI makes life more efficient, people are seeking out real-world community — and all its messiness.

by Eric Markowitz

A crowded, dimly lit indoor space where people standing together before a large window share a sense of human connection.
Everything Articles
Two men stand beside an early D'Ieteren motor vehicle with large wheels and a lamp, set against a brown and pink background.
The Outlast Journal
The 221-year-old company that reinvented itself — 4 times
This carriage maker didn’t get wiped out by the automobile. Instead, it became one of the most successful car businesses in European history.
Eric Markowitz
Two scenes: Top shows climbers on an ice-covered terrain, embodying fun and success. Bottom captures an airplane in flight against a clear sky.
The Outlast Journal
Play it again: The causal link between fun and resilience
Fun in business is no laughing matter — it can create a golden strategic advantage and bring serious success in the long term.
Eric Markowitz
Four workers assemble a large wooden tank using scaffolding and ladders at an outdoor construction site, with stacks of materials in the background.
The Outlast Journal
The 250-year-old company that survived by refusing to lay people off
What would your company do if it lost all its customers at once?
Eric Markowitz
A man stands in front of a collapsed wooden building with debris scattered around in an outdoor setting.
The Outlast Journal
How helping your rivals makes you harder to beat
A counterpoint to zero-sum thinking from Japan.
Eric Markowitz
A close-up of a small snail with a light brown shell crawling on a dark, textured surface in sunlight.
The Outlast Journal
The radical act of slowing down
A meditation on how our obsession with speed and productivity undermines our health, relationships, and chances for lasting success.
Eric Markowitz
Two stylized trees with intertwined roots and branches stand against a gradient background, symbolizing resilience, with floating leaves above them and abstract dark clouds overhead.
The Outlast Journal
What 1,000-year-old companies know about resilience
Long-lived companies show that resilience comes not from individual toughness, but from the strength of the systems around us.
Eric Markowitz
A small human figure stands at the base of a very tall tree, emphasizing the tree’s large size against a background with faint grid lines.
The Outlast Journal
It was never about AI (we are not our tools)
Every generation has faced a version of this moment — the question has never been what our tools can do, but what we choose to do with them.
Eric Markowitz
A craftsman hammers metal on a wooden block; beside him, a cylindrical copper container—showcasing Kaikado mastery—rests against a green background.
The Outlast Journal
How a small shop in Kyoto connects mastery with meditation
What 150-year-old Japanese workshop Kaikado can teach us about finding calm through focus in an age of distraction.
Eric Markowitz
A petri dish containing smart slime mold with branching vein-like structures, viewed from above against a black background.
The Outlast Journal
How slime and dumb rocks can help us better define “smart”
As we crank up our search for more powerful AI, maybe we should slow down and reimagine the shape and language of intelligence itself.
Eric Markowitz
Scott Britton, in business attire, sits cross-legged on a desk meditating, while blurred figures move in the background.
The Outlast Journal
How to be ambitious without losing your soul
Former tech founder Scott Britton wants to shatter the binary myth that separates driving ambition from inner development.
Eric Markowitz
A collage featuring Andrew Markell thinking at a desk, a close-up of a handshake, and a person standing alone, overlaid with swirling red and green arrows.
The Outlast Journal
Resilience is overrated: Unlock the real secret to business longevity
Andrew Markell — philosopher, martial artist, and CEO advisor — argues that true endurance comes from desire, ritual, and learning to evolve through chaos.
Eric Markowitz
A man in a dark polo shirt sits and smiles in front of a background with graph lines and stock charts, evoking the analytical style of Buffett and Munger.
The Outlast Journal
A fresh take on the Buffett-Munger axis of genius
A conversation with investor and author Alex Morris on what Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger can teach us about focus, discipline, and building a life that lasts.
Eric Markowitz
Row of identical yellow rubber ducks in profile, lined up against a black background with abstract white dotted patterns, reminiscent of motifs explored by Susan Schneider.
The Outlast Journal
Why the AI “megasystem problem” needs our attention
A conversation with Dr. Susan Schneider on the AI risks we’re not talking about and why the fixation on AGI is misplaced.
Eric Markowitz
Angus Fletcher, wearing a plaid shirt, smiles at the camera as he stands in front of a blue, patterned background.
The Outlast Journal
Why your intuition, imagination, and emotion will outlast AI
A dialogue with Angus Fletcher — author of the bestseller "Primal Intelligence" — exploring the unique engines of human progress.
Eric Markowitz
John Candeto, in a white shirt, smiles while sitting outdoors near stone steps and green potted plants.
The Outlast Journal
The John Candeto interview: Bigger dreams and the colossal effect of “power laws”
Fund manager and writer John Candeto is on a mission to decode the hidden patterns that drive extraordinary outcomes.
Eric Markowitz
Bogumil Baranowski, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, and patterned tie, stands and smiles in front of a plain light blue background.
The Outlast Journal
The Bogumil Baranowski interview: “Treat everyone with care”
The investment advisor and host of the Talking Billions podcast explores childhood curiosity, building networks through kindness, and more.
Eric Markowitz
Halftone close-ups of a person's smiling mouth and eyes, with a small silhouette of people climbing a hill—evoking the adventurous spirit of Brad Feld—set against abstract backgrounds.
The Outlast Journal
The Brad Feld interview: Meaning, mentorship, and giving first
A conversation with the legendary VC on his latest book, his work at Techstars, and why “give first” is more than a motto — it’s a mindset.
Eric Markowitz
Two glowing spheres connected by a thin line suggest a quantum link above a red, knotted rope, with abstract wave patterns in the background.
The Outlast Journal
The “quantum long game”
A meditation on quantum physics, creative endurance, and the unseen forces that shape what lasts.
Eric Markowitz
A worker in protective gear operates machinery in an industrial facility, with a partial overlay of solar panels and geometric patterns above—hinting at the innovative spirit found in stellar societies.
The Outlast Journal
The Tony Seba and James Arbib interview: Why the future belongs to “stellar societies”
The cofounders of think tank RethinkX are convinced that humanity is undergoing civilizational phase change.
Eric Markowitz
A split image features a sketched portrait of a bearded man above, with rippling water merging into Leonardo Da Vinci-style sketches below.
The Outlast Journal
What Leonardo’s obsession with water teaches us about longevity
What made Leonardo da Vinci last wasn’t magic — it was process — and his study of fluids can help us win the long game.
Eric Markowitz