This is something I work hard to mitigate. For systems I'm trying to improve I keep records of every decision and outcome in an effort to get a better picture of which ones helped and which ones didn't. For many I also write down what I'm thinking and why I'm making that decision that way. This allows 'future me' to reconstruct the mental model of 'past me' and more clearly see what I missed but could have seen, and what I missed and I could not have seen.
It takes time and it can be boring but it can also be amazingly insightful too.
> Examining the lives of successful entrepreneurs teaches us very little. We would do far better to analyze the causes of failure, then act accordingly. Even better would be learning from both failures and successes.
Any recommendations (books, blogs etc.) on material that actually does this? The one business book that comes to mind is "Business Adventures" by John Brooks [1], which ironically might be as popular as it is because it's one of Bill Gates' favourite business books.
I've suggested for years, on this site no less, that people share their failure stories and we could compile them somewhere into a book.
However nobody wants to share them because they are worried that they will be seen...as failures - a reasonable position to take honestly.
The only people that seem to be happy to share failures are currently successful people, and they generally don't have either the time or inclination to wax poetic about their failures.
I've stopped reading books and blogs from company founders who have never had to weather a storm. If I hear on a podcast intro that "Company X has been profitable since day 1 and have grown 100% per year for the past decade" then I usually skip to the next podcast.
I'd rather hear from company founders who have faced months of living on ramen, and had days of not being able to make payroll, or who have had to deal with a PR nightmare or a valued staff member having to leave at an inopportune time.
These are the situations that are part and parcel of most company's day to day struggles, and people who have never experienced those things (or don't talk about them at all) really don't have anything to say that I would take time to listen to.
According to what I read, all "Company X has been profitable since day 1 and have grown 100% per year for the past decade" are actually what the press made of it, and behind the scenes took years of hard work with lots of setbacks and near death experiences.
Guy Raz's podcast "How I Built This" has been (for the few episodes I've listened to), surprisingly engaging.
I don't consider myself to have an entrepreneurial mindset, and generally don't go for business hagiographies. The Spanx story, of all the damned things to start with, was impressive. With it and Lara Bars, getting into the store was only the start of the battle, and a lot of hustle was required to turn that beginning opportunity into success.
(For all you idea people out there, ideas aren't even nearly enough. And yeah, that pains me to the bone.)
> Often, as we revel in stories of start-up founders who struggled their way through on cups of ramen before the tide finally turned on viral product launches, high team performance or strategic partnerships, we forget how many other founders did the same thing, in the same industry and perished…
You're getting the wrong takeaway. It's not that people who made it with few hardships are bad examples, it's that anyone who made it is a bad example.
This is most especially true in sports. For every tennis, soccer, NBA players that became professional, thousands of others had failed despite the fact they all started at a very young age and went through the same rigorous training throughout their lives.
Simply being better did not guarantee that they would make it. Example: Cesc Fabregas, the former Arsenal captain soccer player, often wondered how he could even made it into a professional soccer team. He still did not understand why many of his peers from La Masia Academy back in the days, despite having more talents and being so much better players than him, just could not succeed in the end.
A lot of successful people, especially in sports, say that because they’re humble. They’ve spent years putting in more work and dedication than others.
Because natural talent alone is not sufficient to be the best at something. It takes time and work. Fans only see the end result, and miss the life dedication to achieving that result. When genetic talent plus insane work ethic collide you get people like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James. Without a work ethic they all may have made it to the NBA, but I doubt we would have known their names. You also have people like Steph Curry, who at least on the surface isn't a genetic freak, but has been practicing basketball since before he could walk.
Knowing he’s ordinary, he’s always trying to improve himself. No one appreciates the agonizing effort he’s had to make. Now that his years of training have yielded such spectacular results, everybody’s talking about his ‘god-given talent.’ That’s how men who don’t try very hard comfort themselves.” -Musashi
I was happy to see mention of the airplane reinforcing story, because this whole article reminded me of it. Paying attention to the failures is essential.
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[ 5.0 ms ] story [ 61.3 ms ] threadIt takes time and it can be boring but it can also be amazingly insightful too.
Any recommendations (books, blogs etc.) on material that actually does this? The one business book that comes to mind is "Business Adventures" by John Brooks [1], which ironically might be as popular as it is because it's one of Bill Gates' favourite business books.
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Business-Adventures-Twelve-Classic-St...
However nobody wants to share them because they are worried that they will be seen...as failures - a reasonable position to take honestly.
The only people that seem to be happy to share failures are currently successful people, and they generally don't have either the time or inclination to wax poetic about their failures.
[1]: https://getautopsy.wixsite.com/failed-startups
I'd rather hear from company founders who have faced months of living on ramen, and had days of not being able to make payroll, or who have had to deal with a PR nightmare or a valued staff member having to leave at an inopportune time.
These are the situations that are part and parcel of most company's day to day struggles, and people who have never experienced those things (or don't talk about them at all) really don't have anything to say that I would take time to listen to.
I don't consider myself to have an entrepreneurial mindset, and generally don't go for business hagiographies. The Spanx story, of all the damned things to start with, was impressive. With it and Lara Bars, getting into the store was only the start of the battle, and a lot of hustle was required to turn that beginning opportunity into success.
(For all you idea people out there, ideas aren't even nearly enough. And yeah, that pains me to the bone.)
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this
> Often, as we revel in stories of start-up founders who struggled their way through on cups of ramen before the tide finally turned on viral product launches, high team performance or strategic partnerships, we forget how many other founders did the same thing, in the same industry and perished…
You're getting the wrong takeaway. It's not that people who made it with few hardships are bad examples, it's that anyone who made it is a bad example.
Simply being better did not guarantee that they would make it. Example: Cesc Fabregas, the former Arsenal captain soccer player, often wondered how he could even made it into a professional soccer team. He still did not understand why many of his peers from La Masia Academy back in the days, despite having more talents and being so much better players than him, just could not succeed in the end.
Meritocracy is truly a false belief.
Knowing he’s ordinary, he’s always trying to improve himself. No one appreciates the agonizing effort he’s had to make. Now that his years of training have yielded such spectacular results, everybody’s talking about his ‘god-given talent.’ That’s how men who don’t try very hard comfort themselves.” -Musashi
People often don't know what to work on, so it's left up to chance. Some will simply luck into the right way to train.
And this is a good parallel to successful companies: many succeed just because they're lucky.