Black Box Thinking
Matthew Syed
Summary
We're all trapped in our old frameworks of thinking and how to think differently
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Success hinges on how we react to failure
Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself - Eleonore Roosevelt
You must take into account all data, even that you do not see, if you are going to learn from adverse incidents
The paradox of success is it’s built on failure
Knowledge doesn’t progress by only looking at confirmatory data but also contradictory data
Set up systems where feedback happens quickly and errors are celebrated
Systems that do not engage in failure struggle to learn
Cognitive dissonance: when our beliefs are challenged by evidence
Intellectuals have a higher cognitive dissonance because they stand to lose the most from their false predictions
Memories are not reliable and are often distorted
Markets work because many businesses fail (creative destruction)
Narrative fallacy: create stories about what we see after the even
- The world is more complex than many people think
Fail early and often. Don’t chase perfectionism, chase iteration
Success is not about intelligence and talent, it’s about evolving
When presented with evidence that challenges our beliefs, we tend to reject the evidence of the messenger rather than change our beliefs
Look for marginal gains - use RCTs in small areas to look for minor improvements that could make huge changes in outcomes
Innovation is creativity working in response to failure
Encouragement of debate stimulates more ideas
Creating is synthesis of existing ideas, often leading to ground breaking innovation
Key ingredient that characterizes winners over pioneers is discipline
Grit is one of the best predictions of long term success
The social world is more complex than the natural world
We need to reclassify failure as learning and not punish people for it
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Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
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