Every day I talk to smart young people who want to work in tech or become founders. And I ask them a simple and obvious question—one that should be instinctual to answer. Not about their revenue goals or their product or how they’re going to scale a team from 5 to 50. But a more essential question: What do you believe? Why will people follow you? I... See more
on the importance of having high agency beliefs + conviction
In a controversial speech by Lee Kuan Yew who served as the Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 – 1990, he has a really great line about conviction:
“I ignore polling as a method of government. I think that shows a certain weakness of mind, an inability to chart a course. Whichever way the wind blows. Whichever way... See more
Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. When there's a big disappointment, we don't know if that's the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure. Life is like that. We don't know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don't know.
"Many people have a hard time making decisions because they don't know what is important.
When you have a clear mission and you are completely sure what is important to you, most decisions become easy. Once you're fully committed, you don't need rules for how to spend your time. It's obvious which decision to make. It's clear what to prioritize.
The document delves into the importance of conviction in business ownership, detailing the role of explicit and implicit convictions in investing decisions and the concept of Quality in company assessment.