2020-10-18

For those who have seen [[Peaky Blinders]], [[Tommy Shelby]] is a great example of how important a strong [[social network]] is. Throughout the show, he barely stays alive through many series of dangerous events. Whenever he has a particularly clever plan of action, it always involves a new set of people, often who have a large amount of power. His real skill isn't the action they show, it's his ability to continually expand his network to more powerful people (while also keeping many of his relationships to those people a secret). Tommy is a clear example of how important relationships are to success.
[[Elon Musk]] is a great real world example of a strong network. His engineering skill did not make him successful. His ability to build insanely talented teams did.
This is a skillset that young people who code ignore. Many programmers love the "build it and they will come" type fantasy. Or "good technology will sell itself." Unfortunately for us, both of those are wrong.
The blinding comes to those who think they can make it on their own through raw intelligence or creativity. If you take a look around, it's clear there's much more to it than that. It certainly helps, but it won't complete the puzzle.

My Linked Notes

2020-11-05
Second, I want to increase my exposure to new people and ideas. And as I wrote about on [[2020-10-18]], I've grossly underrated how important a strong network is. I've listened to too many podcasts and read too many blog posts about the serendipitous magic that can happen as the result of ideas and content shared online. Not taking advantage of the opportunity to improve my own thinking while also finding new ideas and connections is a massive regret waiting to happen.
2020-12-12
This builds on what I wrote about on [[2020-10-18]]. The real power of [[Charles Darwin]] was not in his own mind, but in the incredibly rich environment of ideas he built for himself by engaging with so many people.

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