Newsletter 94: timeless advice you have to ignore
Conventional wisdom exists to guide us when making important decisions. Therefore, it is natural to expect that ideas that have withstood the test of time are safe bets. Some call them timeless ideas.
Timeless ideas, in turn, are followed blindly by most people. That stems from the Lindy effect, which proposes that the longevity of an activity is proportionate to its life expectancy. The longer something survives, the more confident we are that it will continue to exist. Take books, for example. We can safely assume that some of the most successful classic books, like the Bible, War and Peace, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Meditations, etc., will continue to be popular in the future.
Yet, I am not sure if all conventional wisdom is the answer to most of our problems. Outsourcing decisions that would most likely impact your life trajectory can be dangerous. The more I think about it, the more I realize that much of the advice I have received has little relevance today. Having said that, I do not deny that much of the wisdom passed from our parents and society was relevant in a specific era. But is it still relevant today?
Whenever I visit my hometown, I am reminded of the Lindy effect. The more time I spend with my family, the more conventional wisdom I receive. So I decided to dive into that and list a few examples. Examples of the discrepancies of the advice we tend to receive VS my observations and experiences.
Find a mentor
Conventional wisdom: finding a mentor is integral to growing your career.
My experience: Most business books teach us the importance of getting a mentor. Find a person who lives the life you dream of living, then persuade them to guide you.
In theory, that sounds great, but it rarely works. Most worthy people live busy lives. Their career trajectory is incredible, but that comes with a price. You can never gain something if you don't sacrifice something of equal value. The more you achieve, the more demanding your job will be. In turn, that strains your work/life balance, forcing you to invest every waking moment outside work into your friends and family.
Imagine going to a successful stranger and asking her to be your mentor. In my experience, most people will ignore you. No one has time to waste on people they have not heard of. Even if somehow your wanna-be mentor agrees to help, you won’t be meeting frequently enough to gain the insights you are genuinely seeking.
Alternative: But that does not mean you cannot learn from other people. You need to think about the concept of finding a mentor differently. In my experience, the people who helped me grow the most were the leaders who managed me directly.
That’s why the choice of where you’ll work or who will invest in your business is so important. First, you will spend an incredible amount of time with those people. Then, over time you will start mirroring their communication, writing style, and decision-making. Choosing the right leader is a decision that can have an asymmetric upside. I have been fortunate to work with some exceptional people. The growth that happens when you pick the right leader is just incredible.
Specialize
Conventional wisdom: Job specialization makes more sense than being a jack of all trades. Specializing helps you narrow your interests into a specific career path. In turn, society rewards specialists better than generalists.
My experience: When we become teenagers, everyone and their mother start telling us how important it is to specialize. Specializations like being a doctor or a lawyer are glorified because of their critical role in society. But there is little regard for how we feel about taking on such roles. As a result, most kids grow up feeling insecure and confused under all that pressure. At the same time, my generalist’s journey has been nothing short of rewarding. It helped me explore various fields, industries, and even a few countries. The broader my experience got, the more valuable I became. Whereas specialists outperformed me in their area, I could see the big picture. The interconnectivity of how different teams operate becomes crystal clear. It felt like a puzzle was being completed in front of my eyes. The broader context offered a perspective only a founder can have.
Alternative: My advice is to add some randomness to your walk. Over time you will start uncovering different things about your personality. Mainly what you are good at. At that point, begin decreasing the randomness. The long-term rewards of having a generalist journey (perspective, speed of decision-making, growth, and learning) outweigh what specializing offers (pay, title, and acceptance by society). So keep on hustling and learning while embracing randomness at times.
Get a stable job
Conventional wisdom: Stable jobs at large companies often have extra benefits and perks that are cost-prohibitive for small businesses. So get a stable job straight out of university.
My experience: Whenever I catch up with friends who hold corporate jobs, we inevitably touch on the topic of careers.
The lows of running a startup tend to stand out a lot more in such conversations. People with stable, corporate jobs rarely experience the many uncertainties and near-death moments that are inevitable when working at a startup. In turn, that often leads to the question - why work at a startup if it’s that hard?
That’s a tricky question. After all, startups have a high probability of failure. Your job description will be anything but straightforward. You won’t make a lot of money. It’s a stressful environment even when things are going well. The list goes on and on. So I naturally spent a lot of time reflecting on all that. In a startup, you will often get access to jobs you are most likely unqualified for. Whether the startup grows fast or struggles to find product-market fit, one thing is consistent - it’s messy. That leads to opportunities to take on projects where no one would have hired you under normal circumstances. That’s how I became a Head of Marketing at a funded startup straight out of uni, followed by a position as a GM when I was 27 at another new venture. My learning rate was incredible. The more I thought as a founder, the more opportunities I got, which forced me to learn and grow. The wheel kept spinning until I reached a COO position at a startup with a pretty strong founding team.
Training yourself to think like a founder can be a lever in your career. Assuming you work for a good leader, you will be promoted, empowered, and given accountability way out of proportion to your experience. That’s especially pronounced in startups because everything moves fast, and there are countless burning fires. Under such circumstances, you will have many more opportunities to work on hard problems. If you prove capable of solving those problems, you will be rewarded with more responsibilities and growth.
Alternative: In a nutshell, figure out ways to put yourself in a position to maximize your growth and learning. Quite often, stable and large companies offer excellent compensation at the cost of personal growth. However, I think growth and learning carry more weight than money, at least early in your career.
Save money
Conventional wisdom: Prepare for rainy days and save as much as possible; the earlier you start, the better.
My experience: There is a lot of merit to saving money. It’s a lot better to learn to save rather than spend recklessly. After all, money can solve all your money problems. In addition, it can remove unnecessary risks for your family and friends. But early in your career, when you are just starting, I wonder if an obsession with savings pays the best dividends.
Most of my childhood friends and family members tend to preach a simple playbook. Graduate uni, get married, and buy real estate. Throughout that process, people go through great lengths to save money. They sacrifice traveling, learning, and experimenting with investing (in assets other than real estate).
Alternatives: I believe there are several ways to get more out of your money, even when you do not have that much.
Invest in your education — the best decision of my life was to move to Denmark for studies when I was 18 years old. On the one hand, my family struggled to financially support me. But on the other, the personal growth that I experienced was remarkable. That experience taught me to always prioritize investing in my education. Since then, I have made a point to enroll at least once a year in great courses/programs, irrespective of the costs.
Invest in activities that compound — Keep your burn low, and invest money and time in activities that can compound over time. Compounding is a powerful concept that does not apply only to investing. Relationships compound too. I think that’s one of the reasons why people are still getting married. If you are fortunate enough to meet the right person, the time spent together will improve the relationship as you accumulate knowledge and understanding about each other.
The second significant activity that can compound is investing. When building your portfolio, consider which investment opportunities have the potential to compound over time. In my experience, passive investment through robo-advisors and index funds offers fewer learning opportunities. A healthy mix of assets (e.g., crypto, individual stocks, bonds, index funds, real estate, etc.) backed by solid convictions is much better. Diversification will come with many valuable learnings. Rinse and repeat and it will lead to a healthy portfolio in the long run. The earlier you start, the better. That’s true even if you do not have a lot of capital. People learn best when they have skin in the game, no matter how small. Today we have access to plenty of platforms that have democratized investing at a low cost. It’s never too early to start exploring.
Conclusion
I do not think that all timeless advice is irrelevant. Plenty of advice continues to make a ton of sense, and I do my best to comply with it. Think of simple things like eating your veggies. Reading classic books. Or grandma's advice on treating yourself when feeling ill. The point of this essay is not to ignore completely conventional wisdom. But to make you question advice that may significantly impact your long-term life trajectory. If an action is irreversible, you should slow down and think deeply about what makes the most sense.
“As a rule of thumb, when there may be asymmetry in the outcome, it is probably best to insource the decision.
When an important strategic decision arises, ask yourself if you’ve inherited defaults from people around you. Owning your future requires active questioning of “timeless” advice and coming to your own conclusions.”
John Luttig
What do you think are other examples of conventional wisdom or timeless advice you do not agree with? Advice that has lost relevance today?