Everybody so far is commenting on the woman who approached the CEO.
Let's not forget the CEO, who committed and risked resources on a hunch or instinct or who-knows-what.
If I had to pick one of the two to ask how they had the nerve to act and to learn from, I'd pick him. (Of course I'd prefer both and not to belittle her gumption and skills to back it up).
- What did he see to suggest risking those resources? ... To create a team of outsiders to work on the core app?
- How likely did he expect things to work out?
- How did he explain the expenditure of flying the others in to the CFO or whomever?
- Or did he make a unilateral decision without asking others?
- Did he just get lucky?
- Had he done things like this before and succeeded? Failed?
- Was he worried about making waves in his organization? Did he?
It's very common in these kind of scenarios that either a) the same criticism / suggestions have been made regularly over a long time by people inside the company which have gone ignored, or b) the company has a culture in which that information never reaches the CEO, either out of fear or because of middle management layers.
In both those cases, the CEO is actually mismanaging the company and completely undermining the motivation and loyalty of his employees.
I've seen this happen time and time again. CEO's and managers don't accept internal criticism or suggestions, don't give their people the freedom to take action themselves, but some outsider swoops in with an impressive Powerpoint presentation (or dress) and suddenly they see the light.
It's the opposite of taking risks (you can blame the outsiders if it fails), it's actually cowardice.
The questions you want answers to are valid (and I'd be curious also) but I think that most likely the answers to this are n=1 and we don't have any knowledge of others who might do the exact same thing and have a different outcome.
Not to mention the fact that whatever his answers are they are specific to his organization, what he sells and who he is surrounded by.
Once again, interesting questions but I'm not sure either way the answers matter that much. I don't think how he handled this particular case (noting though that you did want to know if he had done these things before) you can draw any clear conclusions.
Separately I wonder if the person who pitched him were not an attractive woman but say an unattractive woman or man what the results would have been and what would have happened. (That said I've had great results pitching people by email which is more or less a neutral.)
The thing that is most fascinating, is that she basically said, "I like your idea, but your execution sucks". That is the pinnacle of the most painful thing to hear, but the CEO took it in stride and made his product better.
That is the lesson I am going to take away. Ideas matter, but if execution is the thing you can change, then embrace the people that tell you your execution sucks and have ideas.
Agreed. In a way, this could mean the CEO was already aware of a need to change, but needed people caring enough to try a different approach and this woman did the right thing at the right time. Another way to put it: if she didn't walk to hime he could have gone to some independant product guy/girl the next week or month to rethink the design. [1]
When asking to work for a company, there is always the tension between the company needing one's input (in other words, their product really suck in some way) and the company willing and being able to act on the input. The OP's story flashed back the other stories of the designer that went to Google to bring some design expertise and just dropped the ball because it was an endless uphill battle.
[1] Of course, the other way round, if she's a freelance designer invited to award ceremonies and walks at CEOs pitching ideas to improve their companies, she'll eventually find work I think.
The 'three things' she suggested aren't exactly ones that inspire confidence in her abilities either. "What are three things you'd fix?" "Oh...the logo and, uh, all of it, really. And the ratings system".
When you are the CEO, you are both empowered and bound. Empowered to take risks, because the buck stops with you, but bound by the outcomes because there is nobody else to blame.
So yes he took a risk. This was one of many. If it didn't pay off, he could take others.
I think he hedged that risk by asking 'what are the top three things that you'd fix in the app' or something like that. Don't remember the exact words.
I've been kind of struggling lately with this sort of inspirational attitude. It seems like a good attitude, but it also comes with this hidden assumption: if you try hard and keep at it, there's a good chance you'll succeed. Is this actually true?
I mean I want it to be true. I'd like to live in a world where it's true. But I don't actually have any hard evidence besides the testimonials of people who have found success, and I'm not sure if it's survivorship bias or an accurate picture of how one can become successful.
My theory is that chances of success are incredibly variable, and trying hard and putting yourself out there will increase that chance, but I can't figure out a ballpark for the baseline.
Is it even possible to crunch the numbers on something like this? I feel like we'll never know.
Knowing you gave it a shot is the important part, I suppose.
What I find weird is all that inspiration/motivation about hard work and going after your dreams is very big in MLM businesses yet ~16million people account for ~$32billion in annual sales (divided equally: $2,000/person) [1]. I don't have any specific source on startups, but the thought that working as hard as you can will make your dreams come through seems prevalent, too.
My thinking (and I'm really wanting a conversation over this because it's an interesting topic) is that not only should one work hard, but make smart moves. Using startups as an example, a person could hack away 100hrs/week on a social network for pets while another person could be putting in 20hrs/week on a monetization tool for Instagram. The former is putting in more hours, but the latter has a higher chance (if by only a tiny percent) simply because it's in a position to 1. be acquired and 2. solve the problem of Instagram not having a model. So they're both putting in work, assuming good attitude, and taking the chance as OP's point was. Yet it seems the defining factor is where all that energy is directed to.
"there's a good chance you'll succeed. Is this actually true?"
Depends on what you mean by "good chance" obviously. And "succeed".
"accurate picture of how one can become successful."
I looked at your website from your profile.
Being successful at the "creative" things you are good at would be much more difficult than some of the other less creative things you have listed.
There are (from my observation and I believe this is common knowledge) many people who have really good creative skills in music, art, acting etc and no where near enough opportunities for those people to make a good career out of it. In that case the hustle is probably even more important than the skill level (not that that's not important). But even with hustle it can be random. And there are many people hustling to get ahead. You aren't competing with people to get a job as a dental hygienist who really isn't super into their job, right? Some of your competitors are really totally over the top in their commitment to doing what you want to do. They aren't phoning it in or anything.
Like with dating or landing a job you only have to be right one time (well assuming you find "the right one").
Not like selling where you have to find a certain number of sales per time period. So you have to assess how much time and effort it takes to get a sale and extrapolate.
I don't think you're going to get the numbers you're after, and hopefully you can live with having given an honest effort if you fail. The truth is, having this kind of attitude, and doing the work that comes along with it, is necessary but generally insufficient for success. Meaning, you can get there with with work + (some Other Factors), but you absolutely won't get there without it. Which is why the stories you hear about successful people all include the "hard work paid off" bit.
Other Factors can include but are not limited to: having the right contacts, being in the right place at the right time, having a unique insight into the market, etc. Looking at a list like that might be dispiriting because the items all appear to be frustratingly correlated with random chance. And that's partly true. But what is also true, is that doing certain kinds of work often has the interesting side-effect of raising your chances for bumping into one of those other factors. Which is what you were saying above.
For example, working hard in, and paying attention to business in a given industry for a while might a) Give you insight into how something might be done better, and b) introduce you to people working in that industry who could help you out by b1) teaching you more about it, b2) directing you to others who can, b3) becoming a collaborator with you, or b4) pointing you to capital resources interested in solving relevant problems.
I mean, yeah in the end, in business you're likely to fail. Most businesses fail. Most people who have the right attitude and do the requisite work fail. But you can't get to the top of the mountain without hiking.
When you hear that an entrepreneur should not be afraid of failure, I think you are misunderstanding it. It doesn't mean that failure is unlikely, it means that failure is not a big deal.
Corollary: whatever bold move you want to try, make sure that failing is not going to be a problem, especially a financial one. Note that in this context it is assumed that embarrassing yourself is most definitely not a big deal, which is way easier to say than to act upon.
In the story linked, what was the worst thing that could happen to this lady? The CEO taking the remark the wrong way and being pissed? Or laughing at her, maybe? Who cares?
You quit your job and start a company? Depending on the kind of company, your chance of success will vary considerably. After you failed, you just get a new job/go back to your previous job and that's it. You lost a couple months of incomes, some savings, and you can laugh at your epic failure with your friends.
The dirty secret is that your friends will probably love you more after you failed, because truth being told, they are unlikely to want you to be more successful than themselves...
Of course it's true. I'm a terrible bowler, I could roll the ball in the gutter a million fucking times but if I keep TRYING to get a strike, EVENTUALLY i'll get one.
That's different from just rolling the ball down the lane. If I don't change something up and learn from my mistakes and learn how to angle the ball and learn how much force to give it then i'll keep rolling the ball in the gutter, sure i can shrug to my friends and tell them I "tried" but i'd know deep down that I didn't... Don't fall into the fallacy of staying in your comfort zone and trying just for the sake of trying.. You'll never grow. You have to be willing to challenge yourself and do things just a little different next time to really become better and finally get that strike.
And when all is said and done you'll probably be a pretty good bowler..
It is, it has been done, statistically when it comes to financial success America is fast becoming one of the countries where its most unlikely to go from rags to riches.
Its not a lie, its big data crunching the numbers that are out there, and those numbers say if you are poor you are most likely going to end poor, or perhaps dirt poor.
I hate this self empowerment bullshit. Do people have any idea what this sounds like to people with actual, real problems? Your life can't be solved by positive thinking and being impulsive. In fact, I can make a very good case that that kind of attitude will create far more problems than it solves. Hell, I'm sure I could come up with _two_ anecdotes, which is already twice the evidence given by this blog post.
Yeah, same here. I mean, it's absurd to think that we have any control whatsoever over our fate. We clearly don't have agency or free will when you get right down to it. We are just particles in motion, deterministically following a path that was laid down by forces outside of our control, far before we were even born.
It would be the height of hubris to think that we can wrest control of our lives from the unseen, unknowable, mysterious forces of fate, and use conscious choice to drive ourselves towards any sort of "goal" or anything.
Just typing this, I realize how stupid I've been all these years, thinking that all this "hard work" and "sacrifice" and "effort" and "action" could actually lead to anything. Thanks for the enlightenment, I'm going to go take a bath with my toaster now...
They've done studies that show if you force yourself to smile, even if you're in a bad mood, it'll make you happier. Even if it's forced, it still helps.
This same idea can be applied to self-empowerment and it works for people. Just because it's cheesy doesn't mean it doesn't work. I mean, even knowing you're taking a placebo can still lead to positive outcomes.
Erm. OK. So what do you want to do? Sit and whine about your real world problems? Cause I have done that tons and tons of times; it is useless as shit. The "self empowerment bullshit" is simple: figure out what you can do to solve your real world problem. Say for example getting fit. Then go solve it. If you can't, STFU and go on with your life.
P.S: You come off as patronizing as fuck to point that someone getting a job is not an actual real world problem.
To me the most interesting aspect of this story isn't the inspirational "don't be afraid to try" message. That's a sentiment most people have heard, and I don't think this story puts a particularly new spin on it.
The interesting bit, I think, is how the protagonist challenged the traditional relationship between employer and job seeker. Instead of pandering by praising Uber's design, she had the guts - possibly because of whiskey :) - to offer thoughtful criticism of the product.
As someone who recently finished a tough job search, I found this concept very liberating. Following the traditional process - researching a company's best features, trying to say the right things in interviews, waiting for callbacks - can feel discouraging. It can be like a bad round of speed dating.
Finding a creative, respectful way to point out a company's flaws is an innovative approach that, when done appropriately, can shift the ball back into the candidate's court.
Great story. That's really the right way to get a new job, tell the CEO of a company exactly how you can help her/his company. And smart of the Uber CEO to listen to her.
That said it really helps if you're already hanging around at a party with a CEO of a big, in the news, growing startup and thus have insider access to tell him exactly what you think after a few drinks.
> That said it really helps if you're already hanging around at a party with a CEO of a big, in the news, growing startup and thus have insider access to tell him exactly what you think after a few drinks.
Sigh.
I know Travis personally. I met him years ago, before Uber was even a twinkle in his eye, and he was running his last company, Red Swoosh.
There's no "insider" here. I graduated high school, turned 18, and moved to the Valley in 1999. I stayed there for the next 10 years. My parents are not technical and I'm from a small town in Indiana.
I did not get a college degree and I did not go to a prestigious university. I knew no one when I moved there. Eventually, years later, as the startup community coalesced and we all recovered from the pit of despair that was 2001-2002 in the Valley, people started having parties.
I went to socialize. I met many of the "heavy hitters" you see today. And I built a successful tech company with many of them as customers.
Yeah, the articles love to talk about Stanford grads and whatnot. Maybe they had it easier than me. I don't know. What I do know is I came out there with nothing but guts and a car (that literally exploded on me a year later) and...most importantly...no belief that I couldn't succeed or that I wouldn't make it.
It does take guts to pack your shit and sleep on the floor for a while, but eventually it does pay off. I'm running my second successful tech company now, this time in Austin, where again I know most of the folks in the startup community. Not because I'm some sort of "insider", but just because I went out there and met everyone, and I asked them for advice.
There's nothing stopping you, or anyone else reading this, from doing the same. Can't afford a ticket to the Valley, or don't want to deal with immigration laws? Find a booming startup metropolis somewhere else and get to know the people there. Startups are global now and it's a beautiful thing. But don't buy into the negative media hype.
I've done similar things sometimes (not playing at that level but, similar in the end) and what I felt was a big discomfort and a really huge passion for something.
You want to defend your values.
These two together creates a willingness to change the status quo and make something better can move mountains. At the same time I can say this seconds you are terribly fragile.
Not even courage is needed. That's why it's so difficult to explain, it's something you feel inside and need to get out.
Is this lack of willpower or the lack of challenging the status quo innate or learned? Is it possible to go from somebody who doesn't to somebody who does? All the great doers that I have ever met don't follow the same routines. They don't have a magic formula that will work for you. The echo chamber of self-help books works for some people because it gives them the kick they need. For others they 'feel' better but they don't actually change their behaviour. What seems to work is to understand yourself and to understand when you are productive or creative. Then, encourage this time and cultivate it so that it becomes a regular part of your routine.
Amazing how societies all have this same period, whether it's college or 3 years in the woods. The rules are weirdly the same - "there's a time for everything, and it's college" translates to a random tribe in Africa almost literally.
Great story. Uber sounds like a wonderful place to work at. To those commenting that this is a BS self-empowerment article, I disagree. The founder probably knew that these design issues were a problem.
A competent designer gave a criticism and a solution. She was offered a job if she could fix the issues. Seems like a story of hard work by a good designer and team who displayed a dedication to their craft. Show up, work hard, and don't be afraid to pitch your ideas you believe in.
I think it is about the decisiveness of a founder. It's not about asking her to come at 9. It's about having a team ready by Monday and flying people from out of town.
Although, I appreciate that the designer took his offer seriously. More importantly, it's the guts of a founder in this case that made it happen.
Nice. I think the CEO already knew his app sucked, so she didn't have to convince him of that, but obviously she convinced him she was the best person to fix it, and that's great.
These stories are everywhere, is like the one about the guy who bought a porsche for spare change because the seller was the owner's ex-wife and wanted to piss her ex off.
You do know that was a coincidence right? or even a miracle given how well things ended up. Has the uber guy been a little pissed or in a bad mood the results could have been drastically different, and yet your blog-worthy suggestion is to take a leap of faith and see if it works.
Who cares, we are telling unexperienced, unprepared and even untalented kids to quit school and launch a "startup", whatever that means now.
The point is to take the risk. Sometimes you'll find the person in the bad mood, but sometimes, just sometimes, it works, and when it does, it works great. And you don't need to share w/ the world the 5 other people you tried it on who weren't feeling serendipitous that day.
It is not important how unlikely are the odds. What's important is to be prepared when the chance does present itself and that requires talent and years of training.
So I think you misread the narrative, it's not about striking gold.
<blockquote>The statement of the Shimura-Taniyama-Weil conjecture must have sounded crazy to its creators. . . . the idea that this was true. . . must have sounded totally outrageous at the time. This was a leap of faith, in the form of a question that [Taniyama] posed at the International Symposium on Algebraic Number Theory held in Tokyo in September 1955.
I've always wondered: what did it take for him to come to <em>believe</em> that this wasn't crazy, but real? To have the courage to say it publicly?
We'll never know. Unfortunately, not long after his great discovery, in November 1958, Taniyama committed suicide. He was only thirty-one. To add to the tragedy, shortly afterward the woman whom he was planning to marry also took her life, leaving the following note:
<blockquote>We promised each other that no matter where we went, we would never be separated. Now that he is gone, I must go too in order to join him.</blockquote>
. . . In his thoughtful essay about Tayniyama, Shimura made this striking comment:
<blockquote>Though he was by no means a sloppy type, he was gifted with the special capability of making many mistakes, mostly in the right direction. I envied him for this, and tried in vain to imitate him, but found it quite difficult to make good mistakes. (94) </blockquote></blockquote>
[+] [-] spodek|12 years ago|reply
Let's not forget the CEO, who committed and risked resources on a hunch or instinct or who-knows-what.
If I had to pick one of the two to ask how they had the nerve to act and to learn from, I'd pick him. (Of course I'd prefer both and not to belittle her gumption and skills to back it up).
- What did he see to suggest risking those resources? ... To create a team of outsiders to work on the core app?
- How likely did he expect things to work out?
- How did he explain the expenditure of flying the others in to the CFO or whomever?
- Or did he make a unilateral decision without asking others?
- Did he just get lucky?
- Had he done things like this before and succeeded? Failed?
- Was he worried about making waves in his organization? Did he?
Plenty more questions pop up...
[+] [-] bowlofpetunias|12 years ago|reply
It's very common in these kind of scenarios that either a) the same criticism / suggestions have been made regularly over a long time by people inside the company which have gone ignored, or b) the company has a culture in which that information never reaches the CEO, either out of fear or because of middle management layers.
In both those cases, the CEO is actually mismanaging the company and completely undermining the motivation and loyalty of his employees.
I've seen this happen time and time again. CEO's and managers don't accept internal criticism or suggestions, don't give their people the freedom to take action themselves, but some outsider swoops in with an impressive Powerpoint presentation (or dress) and suddenly they see the light.
It's the opposite of taking risks (you can blame the outsiders if it fails), it's actually cowardice.
[+] [-] larrys|12 years ago|reply
Not to mention the fact that whatever his answers are they are specific to his organization, what he sells and who he is surrounded by.
Once again, interesting questions but I'm not sure either way the answers matter that much. I don't think how he handled this particular case (noting though that you did want to know if he had done these things before) you can draw any clear conclusions.
Separately I wonder if the person who pitched him were not an attractive woman but say an unattractive woman or man what the results would have been and what would have happened. (That said I've had great results pitching people by email which is more or less a neutral.)
[+] [-] jcampbell1|12 years ago|reply
That is the lesson I am going to take away. Ideas matter, but if execution is the thing you can change, then embrace the people that tell you your execution sucks and have ideas.
[+] [-] namank|12 years ago|reply
As a founder, I am always looking for that combination in my users.
The bonus was offering herself as the solution. I'll venture that his decision was made even before she finished the sentence.
[+] [-] hrktb|12 years ago|reply
When asking to work for a company, there is always the tension between the company needing one's input (in other words, their product really suck in some way) and the company willing and being able to act on the input. The OP's story flashed back the other stories of the designer that went to Google to bring some design expertise and just dropped the ball because it was an endless uphill battle.
[1] Of course, the other way round, if she's a freelance designer invited to award ceremonies and walks at CEOs pitching ideas to improve their companies, she'll eventually find work I think.
[+] [-] batiudrami|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomasien|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mathattack|12 years ago|reply
So yes he took a risk. This was one of many. If it didn't pay off, he could take others.
[+] [-] deepGem|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] md224|12 years ago|reply
I mean I want it to be true. I'd like to live in a world where it's true. But I don't actually have any hard evidence besides the testimonials of people who have found success, and I'm not sure if it's survivorship bias or an accurate picture of how one can become successful.
My theory is that chances of success are incredibly variable, and trying hard and putting yourself out there will increase that chance, but I can't figure out a ballpark for the baseline.
Is it even possible to crunch the numbers on something like this? I feel like we'll never know.
Knowing you gave it a shot is the important part, I suppose.
[+] [-] DanielRibeiro|12 years ago|reply
And he ends with "you gotta be willing to fail ... if you are afraid of failing, you won't get very far"
Which seems to be a surprisingly common theme among successful people:
Mark Suster has a famous mantra: "You don't ask, you don't get"[2]
Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote, told a story of how he got Steve Balmer advise him once[3]
[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkTf0LmDqKI
[2] http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2013/05/15/the-one-word-t...
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqm9NXug6WE
[+] [-] neovi|12 years ago|reply
What I find weird is all that inspiration/motivation about hard work and going after your dreams is very big in MLM businesses yet ~16million people account for ~$32billion in annual sales (divided equally: $2,000/person) [1]. I don't have any specific source on startups, but the thought that working as hard as you can will make your dreams come through seems prevalent, too.
My thinking (and I'm really wanting a conversation over this because it's an interesting topic) is that not only should one work hard, but make smart moves. Using startups as an example, a person could hack away 100hrs/week on a social network for pets while another person could be putting in 20hrs/week on a monetization tool for Instagram. The former is putting in more hours, but the latter has a higher chance (if by only a tiny percent) simply because it's in a position to 1. be acquired and 2. solve the problem of Instagram not having a model. So they're both putting in work, assuming good attitude, and taking the chance as OP's point was. Yet it seems the defining factor is where all that energy is directed to.
[1] http://www.dsa.org/research/industry-statistics/
[+] [-] WalterBright|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] larrys|12 years ago|reply
Depends on what you mean by "good chance" obviously. And "succeed".
"accurate picture of how one can become successful."
I looked at your website from your profile.
Being successful at the "creative" things you are good at would be much more difficult than some of the other less creative things you have listed.
There are (from my observation and I believe this is common knowledge) many people who have really good creative skills in music, art, acting etc and no where near enough opportunities for those people to make a good career out of it. In that case the hustle is probably even more important than the skill level (not that that's not important). But even with hustle it can be random. And there are many people hustling to get ahead. You aren't competing with people to get a job as a dental hygienist who really isn't super into their job, right? Some of your competitors are really totally over the top in their commitment to doing what you want to do. They aren't phoning it in or anything.
Like with dating or landing a job you only have to be right one time (well assuming you find "the right one").
Not like selling where you have to find a certain number of sales per time period. So you have to assess how much time and effort it takes to get a sale and extrapolate.
[+] [-] saturdayplace|12 years ago|reply
Other Factors can include but are not limited to: having the right contacts, being in the right place at the right time, having a unique insight into the market, etc. Looking at a list like that might be dispiriting because the items all appear to be frustratingly correlated with random chance. And that's partly true. But what is also true, is that doing certain kinds of work often has the interesting side-effect of raising your chances for bumping into one of those other factors. Which is what you were saying above.
For example, working hard in, and paying attention to business in a given industry for a while might a) Give you insight into how something might be done better, and b) introduce you to people working in that industry who could help you out by b1) teaching you more about it, b2) directing you to others who can, b3) becoming a collaborator with you, or b4) pointing you to capital resources interested in solving relevant problems.
I mean, yeah in the end, in business you're likely to fail. Most businesses fail. Most people who have the right attitude and do the requisite work fail. But you can't get to the top of the mountain without hiking.
[+] [-] Xixi|12 years ago|reply
Corollary: whatever bold move you want to try, make sure that failing is not going to be a problem, especially a financial one. Note that in this context it is assumed that embarrassing yourself is most definitely not a big deal, which is way easier to say than to act upon.
In the story linked, what was the worst thing that could happen to this lady? The CEO taking the remark the wrong way and being pissed? Or laughing at her, maybe? Who cares?
You quit your job and start a company? Depending on the kind of company, your chance of success will vary considerably. After you failed, you just get a new job/go back to your previous job and that's it. You lost a couple months of incomes, some savings, and you can laugh at your epic failure with your friends.
The dirty secret is that your friends will probably love you more after you failed, because truth being told, they are unlikely to want you to be more successful than themselves...
[+] [-] sodafountan|12 years ago|reply
That's different from just rolling the ball down the lane. If I don't change something up and learn from my mistakes and learn how to angle the ball and learn how much force to give it then i'll keep rolling the ball in the gutter, sure i can shrug to my friends and tell them I "tried" but i'd know deep down that I didn't... Don't fall into the fallacy of staying in your comfort zone and trying just for the sake of trying.. You'll never grow. You have to be willing to challenge yourself and do things just a little different next time to really become better and finally get that strike.
And when all is said and done you'll probably be a pretty good bowler..
then you can blog about it.
[+] [-] hayksaakian|12 years ago|reply
You could think about it as creating your own luck.
The only problem is that at the end of the day it's still luck.
[+] [-] Thatguise|12 years ago|reply
Its not a lie, its big data crunching the numbers that are out there, and those numbers say if you are poor you are most likely going to end poor, or perhaps dirt poor.
[+] [-] pkulak|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mindcrime|12 years ago|reply
Yeah, same here. I mean, it's absurd to think that we have any control whatsoever over our fate. We clearly don't have agency or free will when you get right down to it. We are just particles in motion, deterministically following a path that was laid down by forces outside of our control, far before we were even born.
It would be the height of hubris to think that we can wrest control of our lives from the unseen, unknowable, mysterious forces of fate, and use conscious choice to drive ourselves towards any sort of "goal" or anything.
Just typing this, I realize how stupid I've been all these years, thinking that all this "hard work" and "sacrifice" and "effort" and "action" could actually lead to anything. Thanks for the enlightenment, I'm going to go take a bath with my toaster now...
[+] [-] jonathanjaeger|12 years ago|reply
This same idea can be applied to self-empowerment and it works for people. Just because it's cheesy doesn't mean it doesn't work. I mean, even knowing you're taking a placebo can still lead to positive outcomes.
[+] [-] eshvk|12 years ago|reply
P.S: You come off as patronizing as fuck to point that someone getting a job is not an actual real world problem.
[+] [-] mathattack|12 years ago|reply
Yes, you have to ask. And do. And put in tons of hard work.
[+] [-] hawkharris|12 years ago|reply
The interesting bit, I think, is how the protagonist challenged the traditional relationship between employer and job seeker. Instead of pandering by praising Uber's design, she had the guts - possibly because of whiskey :) - to offer thoughtful criticism of the product.
As someone who recently finished a tough job search, I found this concept very liberating. Following the traditional process - researching a company's best features, trying to say the right things in interviews, waiting for callbacks - can feel discouraging. It can be like a bad round of speed dating.
Finding a creative, respectful way to point out a company's flaws is an innovative approach that, when done appropriately, can shift the ball back into the candidate's court.
[+] [-] ritchiea|12 years ago|reply
That said it really helps if you're already hanging around at a party with a CEO of a big, in the news, growing startup and thus have insider access to tell him exactly what you think after a few drinks.
[+] [-] ericabiz|12 years ago|reply
Sigh.
I know Travis personally. I met him years ago, before Uber was even a twinkle in his eye, and he was running his last company, Red Swoosh.
There's no "insider" here. I graduated high school, turned 18, and moved to the Valley in 1999. I stayed there for the next 10 years. My parents are not technical and I'm from a small town in Indiana.
I did not get a college degree and I did not go to a prestigious university. I knew no one when I moved there. Eventually, years later, as the startup community coalesced and we all recovered from the pit of despair that was 2001-2002 in the Valley, people started having parties.
I went to socialize. I met many of the "heavy hitters" you see today. And I built a successful tech company with many of them as customers.
Yeah, the articles love to talk about Stanford grads and whatnot. Maybe they had it easier than me. I don't know. What I do know is I came out there with nothing but guts and a car (that literally exploded on me a year later) and...most importantly...no belief that I couldn't succeed or that I wouldn't make it.
It does take guts to pack your shit and sleep on the floor for a while, but eventually it does pay off. I'm running my second successful tech company now, this time in Austin, where again I know most of the folks in the startup community. Not because I'm some sort of "insider", but just because I went out there and met everyone, and I asked them for advice.
There's nothing stopping you, or anyone else reading this, from doing the same. Can't afford a ticket to the Valley, or don't want to deal with immigration laws? Find a booming startup metropolis somewhere else and get to know the people there. Startups are global now and it's a beautiful thing. But don't buy into the negative media hype.
[+] [-] imd23|12 years ago|reply
I've done similar things sometimes (not playing at that level but, similar in the end) and what I felt was a big discomfort and a really huge passion for something.
You want to defend your values.
These two together creates a willingness to change the status quo and make something better can move mountains. At the same time I can say this seconds you are terribly fragile.
Not even courage is needed. That's why it's so difficult to explain, it's something you feel inside and need to get out.
[+] [-] charlieirish|12 years ago|reply
Is this lack of willpower or the lack of challenging the status quo innate or learned? Is it possible to go from somebody who doesn't to somebody who does? All the great doers that I have ever met don't follow the same routines. They don't have a magic formula that will work for you. The echo chamber of self-help books works for some people because it gives them the kick they need. For others they 'feel' better but they don't actually change their behaviour. What seems to work is to understand yourself and to understand when you are productive or creative. Then, encourage this time and cultivate it so that it becomes a regular part of your routine.
[1] http://www.startupclarity.com/blog/people-dont/
[+] [-] medell|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] applecore|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomasien|12 years ago|reply
Amazing how societies all have this same period, whether it's college or 3 years in the woods. The rules are weirdly the same - "there's a time for everything, and it's college" translates to a random tribe in Africa almost literally.
[+] [-] greendata|12 years ago|reply
A competent designer gave a criticism and a solution. She was offered a job if she could fix the issues. Seems like a story of hard work by a good designer and team who displayed a dedication to their craft. Show up, work hard, and don't be afraid to pitch your ideas you believe in.
[+] [-] dm8|12 years ago|reply
Although, I appreciate that the designer took his offer seriously. More importantly, it's the guts of a founder in this case that made it happen.
[+] [-] tacoman|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stephenaturner|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mipapage|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] useraccount|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sandeshkumar|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Thatguise|12 years ago|reply
You do know that was a coincidence right? or even a miracle given how well things ended up. Has the uber guy been a little pissed or in a bad mood the results could have been drastically different, and yet your blog-worthy suggestion is to take a leap of faith and see if it works.
Who cares, we are telling unexperienced, unprepared and even untalented kids to quit school and launch a "startup", whatever that means now.
[+] [-] davidu|12 years ago|reply
The point is to take the risk. Sometimes you'll find the person in the bad mood, but sometimes, just sometimes, it works, and when it does, it works great. And you don't need to share w/ the world the 5 other people you tried it on who weren't feeling serendipitous that day.
History is told by the victors, after all.
[+] [-] XEKEP|12 years ago|reply
So I think you misread the narrative, it's not about striking gold.
[+] [-] axaxs|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jseliger|12 years ago|reply
I've always wondered: what did it take for him to come to <em>believe</em> that this wasn't crazy, but real? To have the courage to say it publicly?
We'll never know. Unfortunately, not long after his great discovery, in November 1958, Taniyama committed suicide. He was only thirty-one. To add to the tragedy, shortly afterward the woman whom he was planning to marry also took her life, leaving the following note:
<blockquote>We promised each other that no matter where we went, we would never be separated. Now that he is gone, I must go too in order to join him.</blockquote>
. . . In his thoughtful essay about Tayniyama, Shimura made this striking comment:
<blockquote>Though he was by no means a sloppy type, he was gifted with the special capability of making many mistakes, mostly in the right direction. I envied him for this, and tried in vain to imitate him, but found it quite difficult to make good mistakes. (94) </blockquote></blockquote>
—Edward Frenkel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Love-Math-Heart-Hidden-Reality/dp/0465... and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality</em></a>, which is recommended.
What mistakes have you made lately?