Requests for Advice (Part I)

Over the last few weeks, I've had a few people stumble over this blog and contact me directly to ask for my thoughts on a few things. For one, I try not to be an "expert" on anything and most of what I say is simply a regurgitation of those who have accomplished far more than I ever will.

Yet, as I was writing my second message I noticed that I was roughly saying the same things and because I have a perpetual mini-Adam Slovik on my shoulder reminding me that I'm not being very productive and doing it very much WRONG, I have decided to post them here. Most advice, I believe, is indefensible, contains a lot of bias, is typically self-serving and no way applies to every situation in the world. There, I think I've covered my bases.

There's no such thing as a silver bullet - There's no right way to do anything. Trust me, I've looked and tried. Success is essentially persevering long enough so that the lessons of your mistakes have time to take root and start paying off. Over time, you gain enough scar tissue to develop more intelligent intuition. I've talked to tons of entrepreneurs, investors and academics. This is true regardless of where you go or what you do, be it arts, science or business.

The world changes - A lot of the established academics are confronting the fact that we are now able to do many of the things that were previously thought impossible. Some are struggling to keep up in raw production output because of technological advances (namely, programming's ability to capture and manipulate large amounts of data). This may be a generational thing but my familiarity and comfort with technology is setting me up to overtake what is par for the course as far as data quality and size which means that I put up high volume output compared to my relative age and lack of experience. The difference between me and them is not raw talent but they have more scar tissue and know how to navigate the nuanced systems of bureaucracy and taste-making (there is no short-cut for that). Conversely, I will need to stay relevant with the changes as I get older because the rate of change is increasing at an increasing rate.

The world doesn't change - no matter what field or industry you go to, there will always be those on the inside and everyone else. People who are in power often construct systems to perpetuate their hold on power and limit insiders. This is not as evident as it seems and you might find yourself from time to time in possession of power. Remember that power, like most anything in life, is not real but a game that we've made up and decided to continue to play. I personally don't have a lot of patience for the system. Call it personality flaws or immaturity but I just have a hard time fitting within it. I'd rather create better systems. Focus more on being the counter example. Everyone will be nipping at your every flaw and weak point but at least you are doing something they aren't: something interesting.

Be up to something big in life (really) - You have one life, might as well as doing something really big with it. Someone once told me "if you aren't crapping yourself with fear and excitement, your ideas aren't big enough. I encourage you to enter a much larger discourse in your life and surround yourself with people who are interested in doing big things and not just eking out a living." It's kind of like a "Matrix moment" but essentially you need to be really trying to make something much much bigger than, you to actually be physically tangible in the world. This will force you to start shedding some of the hold habits and perspectives and start creating a new version of you. This is not a bad thing.

You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with - this is very true, in all aspects. I have gone through many sets of friends and are very selective about who I choose to spend time with since my habits and perspectives are continuously shaped by our conversations and my fellowship with them.

Stay relevant - the world moves much faster than it did 3-4 years ago. I recommend reading blogs (via Google Reader) and getting an account on XYDO. I'll also recommend some books.

Blogs:

• Ben Horowitz
• Chris Guillebeau
• Seth Godin
• HumbledMBA
• "Change This" Manifesto
• Both Sides of the Table
• A VC
• VentureBeat
• VentureHacks
• Orgtheory.net
• Organizations and Markets
• Steve Blank
• Eric Ries

Vlogs (video blogs)

• TED Talks
  

Books:

• How The Way We Talk Can Change The Way We Work - Kegan & Lahey
  
• High Output Management - Andy Grove
  
• The Goal - Eli Goldratt
  
• Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done - Bossidy & Charam
  
• How We Decide - Jonah Lehrer
• Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki
  

That's all the general advice that I've permitted myself to give right now. Try that stuff out and feel free to dialogue with me about stuff that you think is useful. I'll also publish the second part of this series tomorrow.

AOM 2011: A Different Kind of Book Smart.

It's Sunday and I am enjoying a brief slowdown in midst of the busy session schedule I picked out for myself. There are many emerging customs here at AOM, one of which is that the two undergrads go down to the lobby to respond to email, wrap up projects that we are working on and get prepped for the next day. During this time, Gary and I often decompress from the day's bustle and just do what's easy: normal work.

It's also a time for us to talk about our experiences and the generalizable take-aways. This is a subtle, yet valuable habit the two of us honed through our Foundry experience: group learning. Though we have different interests (Gary's into social entrepreneurship and I tend to be drawn to theory and methodologies), we often share the evolution of what we are up to and discuss insights. One particular insight Gary mentioned was how hard it is to succeed in this space.

After being heavily immersed in the sheer complexity of ideas, problems and the equal complexity of the possible combination of methods to solve them, we were remarking how tough it is to be a successful scholar.

For one, it's extremely difficult to find a question that makes a real contribution to the literature. Everyone that you are competing with is as smart as you are, thinking as hard as you are and bringing as much to bear as you are. Sure you might be able to find that some things are linked together but it's likelihood of making a significant difference is little - that's exactly how high the level of work is being produced. Furthermore, even if you do find something that WILL make a meaningful contribution, the likelihood of actually accomplishing it is another thing entirely.

Writing A-class papers is a lot like starting companies. They require as much commitment and cognitive effort and takes just as long to get into publication (~36 months, 18 of it in the review process alone). Even then, you have to write and present your ideas in such a way that someone who doesn't know the intricacies of your space can easily make the connection.

The other complaint (one that I held for a while) is that it seems so little of academic production translates into practical implications for the real world. At first glance, this seems obvious. But the more that I discover about the nature of the work, the more Emerson comes to mind:

"Tis the good reader that makes the book."

Just reading academic work requires a higher level of cognitive effort. Not to say that academics are elitist but, to reference Sir Isaac Newton, not a lot people are in the practice of thinking really hard about big problems. Furthermore, we take a lot of what we think about the world (our personal truths) for granted. If we tried to actually go prove most of what we say about how the world works, we'd be saying a lot less with even less certainty.

"The world is a complicated place" is a common saying we have here and finding the balance between realism and rigor is not as simple as conducting an experiment and writing about it. I have a newfound respect for academics and the pursuit of meaningful scholarship. Some time it just takes walking a mile in someone else's shoes.

On another notes, everyone has been largely accepting (if not surprised) of my presence and gracious enough to lend their time and attention to converse and in doing so advise on how to avoid their pitfalls and offer other pieces of "scar tissue advice".

I am certainly a better man for having been here.