It’s not AI that will replace you. It’s your competition using AI that will. ~Jensen Huang
Find a need and fulfill it. Successful businesses are founded on the needs of people. ~A. G. Gaston
It always looks impossible until it's done. ~Nelson Mandela
If you’re creating a company, it’s important to limit the number of miracles in series. Start with something that’s the most doable and then expand from there. ~Elon Musk
Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. ~Alexander Graham Bell
God, make me so uncomfortable that I will do the very thing I fear. ~Ruby Dee
The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity. ~Amelia Earhart
Software being "Done" is like lawn being "Mowed". ~Jim Benson
A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds. ~Mark Twain
Everybody told me no at first, including my wife. I turned the nos into yeses and the disadvantages into advantages. ~John H. Johnson
The best way to make dreams come true is to wake up. ~Mae C. Jemison
This is one of my favorite quotes from TR. Pardon the bias toward the male gender. This was written in the early 1900s.
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
In the book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell observes that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. How does Gladwell arrive at this conclusion? And, if the conclusion is true, how can we leverage this idea to achieve greatness in our professions?
Gladwell studied the lives of extremely successful people to find out how they achieved success. This article will review a few examples from Gladwell’s research, and conclude with some thoughts for moving forward.
Nine out of ten startups fail in the first year. Why? More important, what can we do to improve the odds? Entrepreneur Steve Blank might have an answer, expressed in his book The Four Steps to the Epiphany. Key points from the book are summarized in this 5-minute video.
Charlie Rose is an amazing journalist. His interviews are eclectic and rich. During his interview with mountain climber Ed Viesturs, I was struck by the parallels between mountain climbing and business achievement.
Managing Risk, Ignoring Critics
“People say that I’m a very conservative and cautious climber,” says Viesturs. “It’s true, and I’m happy about that because it’s a risky arena and it’s about managing the risk and being smart and being patient. The people who criticize me have no idea what they’re talking about. They’ve never climbed an 8,000-foot peak. So they’re either jealous or bored. My goal is to be alive. And I don’t care about critics.”
Business Parallel: Our most successful entrepreneurs press onward in the face of criticism.
It was the night before CocoaConf. I had just walked into the hotel bar. A table full of wise guys (wise as in Stooges, not Sopranos) called out to someone named Nerd.
“Hey Nerd!” they shouted again.
This time I looked at their lanyards and badges. Same as mine. They were talking to me. Complete strangers, but not for long because they invited me to join their table. I was immediately comfortable when the discussion turned to midichlorian levels and LEGO’s model of the Millenium Falcon. Camaraderie like this is why I go to conferences.
