> It seemed to work for Apple. One of the greatest features of our universe is that the rules break down as you reach the extreme ends of any standard distribu

> It seemed to work for Apple. One of the greatest features of our universe is that the rules break down as you reach the extreme ends of any standard distribution. The most survivable weeds in my backyard are clovers and dandelions. However, there is a huge vine growing in the corner of my fence, the thing is like an oak tree. No other vines have grown up anywhere else, and even my attempts to encourage vines to grow along the side of my porch has failed. If I were to focus on the impressive vine and ignore the clovers and dandelions I'd jump to the conclusion that vines are the most successful weeds in my backyard. While in reality I have no idea why the vine grew, but if I take it out of the equation I can better focus on what is making the clovers and dandelions grow. Steve Jobs, Apple, Bill Gates, Microsoft, The Beetles, Rolling Stones and countless other extremes do not make good case studies for how to do things simply because their extreme success cannot be compared to anything else. They are all like the vine in my backyard; a special case with an unknown history. The best thing to do isn't to look at the most successful companies or people, in fact, you would be better served taking the top 10% out of the equation and instead focus on what made the top 75-90% successful.