Don't follow your passion, do what contributes...
From Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (Inc.):
There are four big problems with using passions as a guide: (1) They're hard to prioritize, (2) they change, (3) a passion may reflect something you aren’t actually good at and (4) following your passion is kind of self-centered.
5 comments:
Sounds like a douche to me. The first three I can agree with. The last is putting yourself up on the alter for self sacrifice. Fuck that and fuck him.
I don't have a problem with being self centered - and to be fair I don't think Horowitz does either. What I think the problem becomes, if you focus on the reward rather than the benefit, is that you lose sight of why you're getting the reward in the first place.
It's like business - I actually think you'll end up wealthier if you focus more on serving others than by just the dollar figures (it creates a culture that employees/customers can rally around). In that vein, his entire speech is driven against those who are considering pursuing their passions that aren't economically productive (his speech was to college students).
i think too many people get caught up in the "whats good for the company will positively affect me" and don't take what they can.
Too much focus on "helping" other and not enough focus on delivering value to others. Value gets you paid. Helping gets you poor.
Yeah - I'd agree with that and that's a useful differentiation.
Post a Comment