I think actually the marketing community is approaching a crisis: There are just too many messages competing for too little attention. That is the fundamental problem.

We spend a lot of time and effort trying to figure out who's going to be a good NFL quarterback, and we do a very bad job of it. We don't really know. And we also spend a lot of time trying to figure out who will be a good teacher, and we're really bad at that too. We don't know if someone is going to be a good teacher when they start teaching. So what should we do in those situations in which predictions are useless?

Asian culture has a profoundly different relationship to work. It rewards people who are persistent.

Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard.

I recently talked to an eighteen-year-old - a huge FIFA fan - and realized that he spends more time playing the FIFA video game than he does watching actual FIFA games.

It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success. It’s the rich who get the biggest tax breaks. It’s the best students who get the best teaching and most attention. And it’s the biggest nine- and ten-year-olds who get the most coaching and practice. Success is the result of what sociologists like to call “accumulative advantage.

...If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires. (151)