Every person has a version of how the world works. How history happened. It’s all based on their own perspective. That’s why truth is so hard to find. In the end, the only truth is the story that the majority accept. The truth is a popularity contest.
You’re going to do the wrong thing. It happens, it’s just how business works. If you never make mistakes, you’re not taking risk, and then you’ll never get anywhere. Most times it’s ok, you just admit the mistake and course-correct. But sometimes, it’s a serious transgression. Innocent, but serious. There’s no point fighting. Fighting just…
If you don’t trust a person, you can’t work with him. There is no exception to this rule, and yet many people ignore it. Why? Because they’re raising money, or they have too much money to lose, or they risk social ostracism, or whatever. The fear of the immediate consequences of parting ways outweighs the…
You can choose a grey life or a life of adventure. If the former, don’t be surprised if no one has an opinion about you. “What you think of Bob?” “Decent bloke”. That’s it. No critics, no fans, just greyness. A life of adventure means sometimes rubbing some people up the wrong way, whilst making…
The life of an entrepreneur includes many jobs. Sales, HR, finance, litigation, operations, customer care, admin. You have no choice but to do everything. But you do have a choice what to prioritise. Don’t prioritise what you think is most important. Prioritise what gives you energy. Do the stuff that makes you come alive. It’s…
Most of the time, the way you find out what makes you happy is by finding what makes you unhappy. It’s a process of elimination. So stop chasing happiness. Just keep doing new stuff till you find something that makes you come alive. Focus on finding out what you don’t want.
“If the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?” Keynes Thomas Bayes developed a theory whereby he constantly assessed the environment for new information that he could add to his existing mental models, thereby increasing the probability of his models being correct. It was named Bayes Theory and can be expressed as…
When you’re in a position of power it’s easy to bully and entice people to do what you want them to do, even if it’s not what they want to do. For example, assume one of your stars desperately wants to take a year off and follow his dream of being a game ranger. Simply…
Being an entrepreneur can be dreary. It can be tiring. It can be painful. It can be unpleasant. That’s why you need to get good at turning your life into a story. Change the narrative in your head from, “Oh woe is me, I had to sit outside the client’s office for six hours,” to “Damn,…
Most folks are diplomatic by nature. Rather than cause confrontation, they steer clear of giving negative feedback. If someone takes a dislike to you, she won’t tell you to your face. She’ll simply stop taking your calls. If a customer doesn’t want to buy your product, he won’t tell you why. He’ll simply blame the process,…
Not all stress is bad. Some forms of stress can make you stronger, both physically and mentally. At the physical level, our muscles and bones grow stronger as a result of being worked hard. Repeated bouts of physical exercise have a strengthening effect. The body overcompensates by building stronger muscles and bones that are capable…
Feeling like nothing is going your way? Everyone out to get you? Trapped? “If you want to escape the things that harass you, the answer is not be in a different place, but to be a different person.” Seneca First, stop whining. No one likes a whiner. Second, be grateful for everything you have. Gratitude…