Hello again, dear readers!

Out of every million tiny bricks produced by the iconic LEGO Group, only about 18 might fall out of tolerance - a failure rate of just 0.00002%. How on earth do they manage it, and what can other manufacturers learn from this incredible consistency? Read on to find out. 

Also, why are some commentators calling Gen X “the cursed generation?” Why do researchers believe people currently aged 45 to 60 are deeply unhappy compared with other cohorts? Sandwiched between long-dominant Boomers and the much larger Millennial generation, members of Gen X have been waiting in the wings for their time to shine. Is it finally here?

This issue features the usual bunch of AI Insights and recommendations for the week's podcasts, books, shows, charts, and tweets, followed by a final chuckle.

Let’s get going.

Industry Highlights: The Magic of LEGO’s Manufacturing Consistency

Coca-Cola. Apple’s iPhone. Nike Air Jordans. These products have earned a reputation for consistency and reliability, but it’s no accident. They’ve achieved this through precise manufacturing processes developed over decades, ensuring that incorrect products rarely slip through quality control. Yet, one common toy stands out above the rest: the LEGO brick.

A shoutout to Workweek’s Trung Phan for inspiring this deep-dive. 

Have You Ever Encountered a 'Wrong' LEGO Brick?

Think back to your childhood. Have you ever been building a LEGO set only to find a piece that doesn’t fit? Probably not! LEGO’s manufacturing process is designed with such precision that it’s nearly impossible for a brick to be out of spec. The Danish toymaker produces over 25 billion bricks every year, and each one must seamlessly connect with the others created over the past 60 years. With around 1 trillion bricks in circulation, the challenge of ensuring every piece fits perfectly is monumental, yet LEGO nails it.

The Engineering Behind LEGO's Consistency

LEGO’s journey began in the early 1930s, transitioning from wooden toys to the plastic bricks we know today. In 1958, the design of the modern LEGO brick was patented, featuring a unique interlocking system that allows for what’s known as “clutch power.” This innovative design ensures that bricks stay together, promoting endless creativity and play.

Oh, by the way, LEGO cheekily invented an action hero called “Clutch Powers”.

What truly sets LEGO apart is its manufacturing precision. A tiny mistake—measured in mere microns—could lead to inconsistencies across millions of bricks. LEGO maintains tolerances as tight as 0.01mm to 0.05mm. To put that in perspective, that's thinner than a human hair. Such attention to detail and NASA-level tolerances mean even the most intricate designs can be produced flawlessly, resulting in bricks that fit together perfectly every time.

The Factory Process

Did you know that a single LEGO factory can produce over 100 million pieces a day? This impressive output is a direct result of their efficient manufacturing process, which minimizes waste and maximizes quality. Every step, from molding to packaging, is carefully orchestrated to ensure each brick meets LEGO’s high standards.

LEGO's factories (the OG in Denmark, along with Czechia, Hungary, China, Mexico, and Vietnam) operate around the clock. Raw materials, including high-quality ABS plastic, are transported to the molding machines, where they’re heated, mixed with dyes, and injected into molds. Each mold is meticulously maintained and cleaned to ensure optimal performance.

Last week, the company announced a US $366 million investment to build and operate a 2,000,000 square foot regional distribution center in Virginia, to be completed in 2027. Now, this is an RDC, and possibly not a manufacturing hub, so it’s unclear whether building this facility will help LEGO Group mitigate the impact of Trump’s tariffs. You can check out LEGO’s explanation of its global distribution network here and here. 

Quality Control and Innovation

The company implements rigorous quality control measures, analyzing every batch of bricks produced. Out of every million bricks, only about 18 might fall out of tolerance. That’s a failure rate of just 0.00002%. Such meticulous attention to detail means that your childhood LEGO bricks from the 70s, 80s or 90s will fit perfectly with the latest sets. This creates the continuity that fans cherish.

Another fascinating aspect of LEGO's manufacturing strategy is their system of “Frames.” This internal currency helps manage the complexity of new designs, ensuring LEGO doesn’t overwhelm its production capabilities. Each designer is allotted a limited number of frames, encouraging creativity within constraints.

More recently, LEGO’s Bright Bricks division (which is responsible for the impressive lego displays you see at theme parks) is exploring the potential of convergent modelling software, which - according to a report by the Connected Manufacturing Forum - enables designers “to employ a combination of facets, surfaces, solids, and materials without the need to spend time converting data.” 

The LEGO Legacy

LEGO’s meticulous attention to detail, rigorous quality control, and innovative manufacturing processes demonstrate that achieving high standards is a commitment that pays off. By adopting similar strategies, other manufacturers can ensure that their products maintain quality, build trust with consumers, and stand the test of time.

So, whether you’re building the latest complex design or just trying to improve your production line, remember: every piece matters. In the world of manufacturing, as in the world of LEGO, the only limit is your willingness to innovate and refine.

The Future of Work: Why Generation X is Considered "Cursed"

According to The Economist, Generation X—those born between 1965 and 1980—has become the forgotten cohort, facing a unique set of challenges that lead many to label them the "cursed" generation. While Millennials and Gen Z steal the spotlight with their well-broadcast struggles, Gen X often gets lost in the shuffle.

The Unhappiest Generation

Research from Ipsos recently revealed 31% of Gen Xers across 30 countries say they’re "not very happy" or "not happy at all," the highest rate among all generations. But perhaps every generation goes through an unhappy stage: this unhappiness can be traced back to the "U-bend of life" theory, which suggests that happiness dips in midlife. As health issues crop up and career dreams often go unfulfilled, many Gen Xers find themselves sandwiched between caring for aging parents and raising kids.

Work Woes

The struggles continue when it comes to careers. Yes, Gen Xers earn more than previous generations, but their income growth has been painfully slow. Their real household incomes are only 16% higher than those of earlier cohorts at the same age—the smallest improvement of any generation. This stagnation is partly due to Gen X being the first cohort with a genuine preference for work-life balance over climbing the corporate ladder - something their Boomer bosses would not stand for. 

Generation X has historically been overlooked in the workplace for a couple of reasons, as explored by Ted Bauer:

1. Shiny object syndrome: No-one was excited about hiring GenX. Throughout the 2010s, companies focused on Millennials for their digital skills, believing they were essential for becoming "mobile-first" and for driving digital transformations. This shift sidelined Gen X.
   

2. Boomer Control: Until very recently, Boomers still held the majority of financial power and decision-making positions, leaving Gen X waiting in the wings for nearly their entire careers. Imagine the frustration when plum roles go to the children of Boomers, skipping Gen X entirely.
   

Gen Xers found themselves in a challenging middle ground—lacking the tech-savvy reputation of younger generations but not yet in control of the financial resources, which contributed to their professional stagnation. 

Compounding the issue, when Gen Xers were in their prime earning years, the labor markets were weak following the global financial crisis of 2007-09. This timing made it difficult for them to secure managerial roles and achieve the typical income growth that usually comes in one’s 30s and 40s.

Some of the data emerging from Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplacereport supports the “unhappy generation” theory. Global employee engagement dropped to 21%, marking the first decline in four years, with managers experiencing the largest decrease. Only 33% of employees report thriving overall. Wellbeing has declined since its peak in 2022, “especially among older and female managers.”

Housing and Wealth Accumulation

The narrative around homeownership often paints Millennials as the "perma-renters" compared to the more secure Boomer generation. However, Gen X has also seen a decline in homeownership rates as they entered their 30s and 40s. The financial crisis made it tough to secure mortgages, forcing many to rent instead. And when it comes to building wealth, Gen X is lagging behind both Boomers and Millennials. While millennials have seen their net worth triple since 2010, Gen X wealth has grown only modestly.

Retirement and Social Security

As Gen X approaches retirement, the outlook remains grim. They could be the first generation to face significant cuts to Social Security, with projections suggesting benefits might drop 20-25% by 2033. An article by Investopedia suggests that in terms of retirement planning, they should not rely on the so-called great wealth transfer from older generations. That’s a tough pill to swallow as they look toward their golden years.

AI Insights

1. Amazon’s Vulcan Robots Can “Feel”: No, I don’t mean “feel” as in experiencing emotions. I mean they have an AI-powered sensor in their hands that can feel the items they touch and determine the precise pressure and torque each object needs. While this will be very useful in a warehouse setting, I’m imagining that one day it could help robots physically handle us delicate humans with care. If only that chess-playing robot that broke a kid’s finger had been equipped with this sensor!
   

2. Chatbots Fail To Improve Medical Decisions: A 1,300-person UK study found that chatbots “made poorer diagnostic calls” and underestimated condition severity more often” when people used them for medical advice instead of using search engines. The problem is communication, with users not knowing what details to give the bots and struggling to evaluate mixed-quality answers.  
    

3. Future AGI firms Could Replicate an Army of Phd-level Experts: I’m going to quote directly from Dwarkesh Patel’s essay here, because this is fascinating stuff: “What if Google had a million AI software engineers? Not untrained amorphous ‘workers,’ but the AGI equivalents of Jeff Dean and Noam Shazeer, with all their skills, judgment, and tacit knowledge intact. This ability to turn capital into compute and compute into equivalents of your top talent is a fundamental transformation. Since you can amortize the training cost across thousands of copies, you could sensibly give these AIs ever-deeper expertise - PhDs in every relevant field, decades of business case studies, intimate knowledge of every system and codebase the company relies on.”

The Supply Aside

📕 Read -  Conquering Crisis: Ten Lessons to Learn Before You Need Them

If the name William Harry McRaven is familiar to you, it’s probably because he was credited with organizing and overseeing Operation Neptune Spear, the 2011 special ops raid that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden. Later in his career, the former U.S. Navy four-star admiral served as commander of SOCOM. 

McRaven, in other words, is no stranger to crises, which is why his book is worth a read. Conquering Crisis is about giving you the tools to handle tough situations with confidence. He breaks down crises into five simple phases: Assess, Report, Contain, Shape, and Manage, with practical steps to help you come out stronger on the other side.

Filled with personal stories and relatable parables, the book makes the lessons memorable and engaging. McRaven shows how anyone can step up as a leader during a crisis, no matter what’s going on. It’s a great read for anyone looking to boost their resilience and navigate challenges with a cool head. McRaven is also the author of the famous book ‘Make Your Bed’ and others. I’ve been a long time fan of the Admiral, so any book he releases is a must read for me.

What Else I’m Reading

• Is likeability a leadership quality? Google certainly thinks so. One of the questions hiring managers at Google ask themselves when assessing candidates is “Would I want to sit next to this person on a 10-hour flight?” The PR team around Mark Zuckerberg obviously have a problem with likeability, with a concerted effort to transform “Robot Zuck” into “Cool Zuck” currently underway. The key for leaders is to find the balance between likeability and respect, which are not mutually exclusive.

• Pandemic-era salaries could be too high: Workers in tech and other sectors who scored lucrative salaries during the desperate COVID-era war for talent are now discovering the market does not want to pay them quite so much. Some believe their high salaries are why they’re being laid off, while others are finding that job-hopping requires a downgrade in salary expectations. 

• Forget tariffs. The U.S. should copy China’s manufacturing playbook:The authors of this article point out that China didn’t turn itself into the world’s factory by deploying tariffs. Instead, it worked hard to attract foreign investment (today, foreign companies produce almost one-third of China’s exports), and has built a network of giant industrial hubs with vast concentrations of talent. The U.S. hasn’t seen the like since the heyday of Detroit.

📺 Watch - High Ground

What a legend. Erik Weihenmayer is an American climber, author, and speaker, best known for being the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest and to complete the seven peaks challenge. He has dedicated much of his life to inspiring others, and I was lucky enough to see him speaking live at the Coupa conference I attended recently. In the 2012 film High Ground, he leads a team of wounded veterans on a Himalayan climbing expedition, highlighting their journey of healing and resilience after the traumas of war. 

👂 Listen - What “Super Agers” Reveal About Preventing Disease

Moving from reactive care to “precision prevention” in healthcare requires an array of high-tech tools including AI-powered risk prediction, organ clocks, polygenic risk scores, GLP-1s, along with cultural and economic shifts. Interviewed by the a16z podcast, Dr. Eric Topol, an expert in longevity science, breaks down why understanding the biology of aging (not reversing it) is the key to preventing cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative conditions, potentially adding seven healthy years to the average life.

💡 Think - Even Buffet Ages Out

Warren Buffett stepping down as CEO at 94 is a reminder that even icons eventually have to pass the torch. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Buffett said there wasn't a single defining moment. It was a gradual realization: his pace had slowed, his energy wasn't the same, and Greg Abel, his chosen successor, was simply moving faster.

What stood out was Buffett's clarity. No drama, no ego, just a thoughtful handoff rooted in trust and timing. He'll stay on as board chair and continue to offer guidance, but the day-to-day is shifting to the next in line.

There's something admirable about that kind of transition. Not a fade-out, but a reframe. Still present. Still engaged. Just playing a different role. Which, at 94, is incredible in itself. And I'm willing to bet we'll still talk about Buffett and his legacy for the next 94 years.

Charts of the Week

Quote of the Week

Tweet of the Week

The Final Chuckle

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Thanks so much for reading. I’d love to know what you think about this issue and how I can make it more useful to you. If you have suggestions or topics you want to see me address, email me at [email protected]!

-- Naseem