31–40 of 110 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also didn't know, but I am curious why you find his sexuality more interesting than anything else in this story?
Being gay, I also found it particularly interesting. Akin to the Female Founders Conference, it's energizing to see successful LGBT founders.
No disrespect to Sam in any way -- he truly seems like a brilliant guy with a chorus of influential people behind him -- but I've been on a successful-person wikipedia binge as of late, and it's become very, very clear that a person's upbringing almost determines whether or not they're going to be successfull, which saddens me. I grew up to some very close-minded parents who severely limited my growth, forced me to f…
From this week's "Corner Office" in the NYT, about hiring: What I’m mainly listening for is: Does this person believe things are happening for them, for a positive reason, regardless of what actually happened? Or do they believe that things are happening to them and against them? Do they hold a grudge against events, or do they believe they were a gift? I’ll listen for whether they say things like, “I’m so glad that…
Interviewer: "Why are you looking to leave company X?"
"I'm so glad I was hired by X, because its a great company and I know what to look for now in other great companies out there"
or
"It's a toxic work environment, and my manager knows nothing"
No disrespect to Sam in any way -- he truly seems like a brilliant guy with a chorus of influential people behind him -- but I've been on a successful-person wikipedia binge as of late, and it's become very, very clear that a person's upbringing almost determines whether or not they're going to be successfull, which saddens me. I grew up to some very close-minded parents who severely limited my growth, forced me to f…
You run the risk of making this a self-fulfilling prophecy. An (economically, educationally, etc.) privileged background increases the ODDS of being successful; it is not a REQUIREMENT for success by any measure. If this is getting you down, I suggest you read some stories about people from the other end of the spectrum ending up at the same place. I don't have any links, but perhaps other people here do.
Latest example, James Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F_pxMmOG4I (looks like a nice movie)
But you may add others such as Truman Capote, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Capote#Early_life ; Dian Fossey, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dian_Fossey#Life_and_career ; Ray Charles, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles#Early_life; Charles Chaplin, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin#Biography.
“You know how when you hit a tennis ball, it bounces back up and then simultaneously you swing the racket? YC is just getting to this point,” he added. “If you think [my role] is an influential position now, just wait a couple years and see what Sam does.” No, i don't know. Actually I have no idea what this analogy was supposed to mean, but I am very optimistic about how YC can innovate itself with Sam as president.…
I think, this is just a guess, he's referring to when a person lobs the ball over the net to you and it hits the ground first before coming back up; you have to time your stroke perfectly to hit it back or risk missing the ball on the come-up. [1] So it's my belief that he's saying YC has been rising all this time, and with the right swing of the racket, they will hit it out of the park (tennis court?). Needless to s…
AFAIK, he only has one failed startup to his name, and yet he is hailed as a shrewd thinker and top startup strategist.
For those who know and respect Sam, how would you reconcile his amazing status/respect-from-top-people with his lack of concrete achievements?
I don't at all, in fact I find that kind of thinking highly insulting. Being a smart person in my experience is often highly correlated with being able to effectively communicate and discuss with others.
> “It’s remarkable when somebody is both extroverted and smart,” > “Picture a smart person,” said Graham. “You don’t imagine somebody who is really good at talking to people, you picture someone really awkward.” This statement seems really weird to me. Looking at all the people I've known in my life the smartest people, at least in in terms of academic and financial achievements, are the extroverts. Extroverted and s…
Oh I don't know where we even get that stereotype from. Oh wait, I do, because Albert Einstein was an introvert and preferred to be alone. More recent examples: Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak.
I don't really know anything about the social skills of the people you list, but I don't imagine them as being awkward.
And in my own life, the people I've met who've seemed obviously-really-damn-smart have also seemed to have better social skills than myself.
Nevertheless, I do think there is a stereotype of "smart people are awkward". I just don't think it's true, and I'm a little surprised that PG seems to believe in it. Or maybe he was just acknowledging it?
(I recently learned of Berkson's paradox[1], which I think might go some way towards explaining the stereotype. Intelligence and social skills both help people to get ahead in life, and if someone mostly hangs out with people with roughly the same amount of life success as themselves, intelligence and social skills will appear to be negatively correlated.)
“Picture a smart person,” said Graham. “You don’t imagine somebody who is really good at talking to people, you picture someone really awkward." I don't at all, in fact I find that kind of thinking highly insulting. Being a smart person in my experience is often highly correlated with being able to effectively communicate and discuss with others.
No disrespect to Sam in any way -- he truly seems like a brilliant guy with a chorus of influential people behind him -- but I've been on a successful-person wikipedia binge as of late, and it's become very, very clear that a person's upbringing almost determines whether or not they're going to be successfull, which saddens me. I grew up to some very close-minded parents who severely limited my growth, forced me to f…