In business, maximization is often the minimization of joy.
I can’t imagine anything less interesting in business than maximizing shareholder value or trying to eek a few more bucks out of something or someone.
To take it further, maximization as a concept just isn’t interesting to me. I... See more
There is a difference between moving fast and rushing.
You can move fast and be thoughtful. When you rush, you sacrifice thoughtfulness.
Conversely, when you are thoughtful but not moving fast, you are overthinking it. Procrastination in disguise.
Don’t rush, but... See more
One of the biggest reasons it gets harder to do new things as you get older is that new things are generally undignified at first (indeed, this is an excellent heuristic for discovering them) and the older you get, the more dignified you're expected to be.
Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception of it. An example I love that is not mentioned in the book: for years, few people bought “death insurance.” Then some genius changed the name to life insurance and grew the industry by many billions of dollars. After all, life insurance sounds so much better than death insurance.
the ideas already exist
the person who surfaces them at the right moment in the right context with a freshly curated set of words and shapes earns the glory of invention