Embrace your tails

April 25, 2024

Your greatest achievements likely sprout from the unconventional corners of your life!  Something special and unique, almost by definition, can only come from the rich mix of your unique ingredients, experience, skills talents and natural gifts. Out of the tail of the distribution.

At Google, I've met ultramarathoners (like Benjamin Bell , Samuel Solieman), helicopter pilots with incredible survival stories, first-generation university graduates, people who escaped dictatorships, and people who challenge norms in many small and large ways. What inspires me most is their courage embrace their uniqueness and think and act beyond the norm. Even something that might seem like a disadvantage could be your advantage.

When we strive to be in the top 5% of anything, we're on a path that's inherently unusual. Your actions will inevitably diverge from the majority. And if you’re unusual, that might be you’re unusual in more ways than one:  as Morgan Housel wrote “the kind of person that wants to colonise Mars might not think their lawyers ‘signing off’ is an important part of the process”

How you can embrace your "tails" in the professional world:

• Find what's valuable and double down: know what’s unique and positive about you and take a bet on it!

• Challenge the status quo: Humbly ask "why" and seek better solutions, even if they're unconventional.

• Cultivate curiosity: Explore new ideas, industries, and perspectives outside your comfort zone. Talk to people you might not choose as friends (yet)

• Find new teams and colleagues: Seek out communities and mentors who encourage your unique interests and ambitions.

• Don’t try and become someone else. If you try and mimick some hero, at best you’ll be a copy of them, and deprive the world of the one you could be.

• Don't fear failure: Innovation involves risk. Embrace mistakes as learning opportunities. We often overestiante "the worst" and don't recognise the cost of doing nothing.

• Support other unconventional people: be tolerant, inclusive, and empathetic - support and embrace other’s tails.