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You see this a lot with hedge fund guys too. They make a boatload of money doing a very specific thing (thiel : software :: griffin : securities trading) and th

You see this a lot with hedge fund guys too. They make a boatload of money doing a very specific thing (thiel : software :: griffin : securities trading) and think their ability in that thing gives them abilities in most other things. Stepping back it’s fairly obvious the opposite is true. They got so good at that thing by focusing on it. Focusing on something, by definition, means not paying attention to other things. You see where this goes…

gunapologist99 5y ago
You may want to research the subject of this thesis a tiny bit more, because Thiel is clearly not limited to one area.
- anon9384929 5y ago
  I’ve edited this to remove the snark from my initial post where I mentioned something about being much closer to the people in question than you might guess, trying to keep conversation high quality. What do you recommend I research?
  - gunapologist99 5y ago
    Just that Thiel is not a "software guy". He's a lawyer and economist, a National Master chess player, and a (multiple) startup founder (PayPal, Palintir, etc), investor (first outside investor in Facebook). And he is actually also a "hedge fund guy", but he does not seem to be a software guy of any sort. As far as I can tell from a very great distance, he is highly intelligent and has been demonstrably successful across multiple domains of expertise, and certainly smarter than your previous remark would seem to imply. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel EDIT: just saw your kind response. Perhaps just read through the above wikipedia page. He's obviously a very polarizing individual, but whether you personally like or hate his politics, it seems pretty clear that he's a pretty brilliant person -- as smart as Reid Hoffman on the other side of the aisle (whom he is good friends with.) It seems wise to be friends with (and have friendly debates with) people who disagree with you, especially if they are very smart. Iron sharpens iron. Thanks for elevating the level of discourse!
    - anon9384929 5y ago
      Alright, I grouped in PayPal with software, but point taken. That being said, it makes the simile in my original post line up even more. I also think Ken Griffin is highly intelligent, I just don’t think either of them are the political experts they seem to present themselves as. Thank you as well, appreciate the dialog.
      - gunapologist99 5y ago
        I think I understand now; just not sure what the definition of a political expert is, but I'm not sure if anyone fits the bill (or even would want to.)
    - urdumbass 5y ago
hsn915 5y ago
You're actually very wrong on this point at a very basic level. You can't be really good at something by focusing only on it. To be good at software design, you need to be good at understanding computers and people. You need to understanding programming, design, marketing, hiring, management, etc. Scott Adams developed this into a concept he named "The Talent Stack". You can easily verify it: find billionairs who got rich from X, study their profile, you will find they have a wide range of skills outside of X. For any such X you can also find many individuals with exceptional ability/knowledge about X but not much else, and they are often far less successful from people with a wide range of skills.

gunapologist99 5y ago

You may want to research the subject of this thesis a tiny bit more, because Thiel is clearly not limited to one area.

anon9384929 5y ago
I’ve edited this to remove the snark from my initial post where I mentioned something about being much closer to the people in question than you might guess, trying to keep conversation high quality. What do you recommend I research?
- gunapologist99 5y ago
  Just that Thiel is not a "software guy". He's a lawyer and economist, a National Master chess player, and a (multiple) startup founder (PayPal, Palintir, etc), investor (first outside investor in Facebook). And he is actually also a "hedge fund guy", but he does not seem to be a software guy of any sort. As far as I can tell from a very great distance, he is highly intelligent and has been demonstrably successful across multiple domains of expertise, and certainly smarter than your previous remark would seem to imply. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel EDIT: just saw your kind response. Perhaps just read through the above wikipedia page. He's obviously a very polarizing individual, but whether you personally like or hate his politics, it seems pretty clear that he's a pretty brilliant person -- as smart as Reid Hoffman on the other side of the aisle (whom he is good friends with.) It seems wise to be friends with (and have friendly debates with) people who disagree with you, especially if they are very smart. Iron sharpens iron. Thanks for elevating the level of discourse!
  - anon9384929 5y ago
    Alright, I grouped in PayPal with software, but point taken. That being said, it makes the simile in my original post line up even more. I also think Ken Griffin is highly intelligent, I just don’t think either of them are the political experts they seem to present themselves as. Thank you as well, appreciate the dialog.
    - gunapologist99 5y ago
      I think I understand now; just not sure what the definition of a political expert is, but I'm not sure if anyone fits the bill (or even would want to.)
  - urdumbass 5y ago

hsn915 5y ago

You're actually very wrong on this point at a very basic level. You can't be really good at something by focusing only on it. To be good at software design, you need to be good at understanding computers and people. You need to understanding programming, design, marketing, hiring, management, etc. Scott Adams developed this into a concept he named "The Talent Stack". You can easily verify it: find billionairs who got rich from X, study their profile, you will find they have a wide range of skills outside of X. For any such X you can also find many individuals with exceptional ability/knowledge about X but not much else, and they are often far less successful from people with a wide range of skills.