I find I have a lot to learn from people who are not book-fed. I strongly recommend interacting with experienced people versus people who have been to big universities, if and where the two sets are exclusive.
I was visiting one of my clients, an elderly gentleman who's borne the brunt of many a sun's heat in the field. He was telling me how markets have become difficult over time and now, there is no place for complacency.
Among all other things, one of his sentences stayed with me. He said, " In order to succeed, you must either be the first one to do something, or be the best in what you do, or be different than the rest"
Now, I have heard and read about first mover advantage, differentiation, competitive advantage and all of that... but to hear the crux of all that in a single sentence, by a man who has not gone to a university to read about all this, took me a little by surprise.
Success cannot come by knowing the formula from books. One must forget about the formula and work with a single point focus on achieving either or more of the above.
