“Judging from history…one's colleagues often make the difference between doing great work and not.” - Paul Graham
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A man found an eagle’s egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.
All his life, the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.
Years past and the eagle grew very old. One day, he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in a graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.
The old eagle looked up in awe. “Who’s that” he asked?
“That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” said his neighbor. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth - we’re chickens.” So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.
Anthony De Mello, Awareness
The right peers help you see your essence and help you soar. The wrong ones create invisible cages.
Be an amazing peer to others. Seek out the best colleagues for yourself.
It’s the most valuable thing I’ve ever done in my career.
The right peers see your essence and help you soar.
The wrong ones create invisible cages.
If you are ambitious, judging from history, it is nearly impossible to do great work without great peers. Regardless of your starting point, it is essential you find great peers.
The Cost and Value of Your Peers
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Paul Graham on the Value of Community
Case Study: Overnights in Lake Tahoe | Chris Sacca
Case Study: Andrew and Rajiv - How to run a Great Forum
Key Learnings from Past Inflections
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