If frequency with which you cite an education credential does not decrease over the course of your life, you’re not accomplishing very much.

Talk to people no one else is talking to. Who would have thought that giving a speech at a funeral at age 12 would introduce me to a man who would introduce me to my first business contact who would introduce me to several other important people in my life. That's luck. That's randomness.

One theme that fascinates me is cognitive enhancement. It seems only a matter of time until we live in a world where steroids for the brain are readily available to all. And once we come to grips with that reality, I suspect the debate over the ethics will be much more heated than the debate over steroids in baseball or any other sport, where the use is limited to a select group of freakish athletes.

I'm just the smallest dot in a big map of human history.

I’m skeptical of passive learning. If you don’t write down what you’re hearing and learning, what the odds you remember it?

Expose yourself to as much as possible. Attend conferences no one else is attending. Read books no one else is reading. Talk to people no one else is talking to.

I to the We means that both the individual's effort and the power of the network matter, and they work in tandem. Someone with no skill won't get very far, no matter how strong the network. Similarly, someone with lots of skill but a weak network won't realize his or her fullest potential. So, you need both.