There's this common belief among innovators and thought leaders that if other people do the same thing they did, they can achieve the same results. That's true to some extent - if you read and write newsletters for fifteen years like I did, you'll attain a similar base of knowledge. But in other important ways it's not. Here's George Couros: "like every other person who starts on Twitter, I had had a network with the same amount of people that everyone else starts with; zero. A network takes time, persistence, and effort, to develop." This is true, but another principle of networks is that if you put in the same effort Couros did ten years ago, you will not get the same result. You will get a much smaller result. Networks favour the first mover. You would have to go back in time to do the same thing Couros did. The only way around this is to find something that's just starting now, and run with it for a decade. What if it's the wrong thing? Well, tough luck. The best you can do is to cast your net really wide and work a lot harder than Couros did.
Today: 6 Total: 90 [Direct link] [Share]
View full size
