You have to assume that the system is not going to change. But even if it does, why should you wait around for it? You can’t be paralyzed by this inequity. You can’t be afraid to confront the system as it is.

Enrich by accepting and embracing constraints, rather than trying to duck or dodge them.

Sometimes developing your basic goods and making the most effective use of them is best accomplished when you can go beyond the crowd and identify something distinctive on your own—that’s when really special things can happen.

In cultivating a mind-set for reflective improvisation,

Cooperative interdependence and competitive interdependence refer to assessments of whether the other person is someone you expect to cooperate with or compete with. This determination also colors the dynamic.

(1) power and status differences, and (2) cooperative or competitive interdependence.

No pitch should be longer than one minute—after that, you should be in full conversation mode.

I’ve studied how “soft” factors*—such as personality, the extent to which you are seen as trustworthy, passionate, or committed, and the way you interact with people—rather than objective data, drive the decisions and outcomes of individuals and firms.

WHEN EVERYONE ELSE SEEKS THE SAME DIMINISHING REWARDS BY following the same formulas in the same way, the real prizes are inevitably elsewhere. There are other veins yet to be mined, and these require a different approach. Different markets. Different values. Different networks. Different mind-sets, informed by different life experiences.