Steve Jobs really pulled a reality distortion field to poach Tim Cook from Compaq (in 1998, it was worth $30B+ to Apple’s $3B).
All of Cook’s friends and advisors told him not to join almost-bankrupt Apple.
Cook says it took Jobs one meeting to convince him:
“I had gotten a call several times from the search people that [Jobs] had employed, and I kept saying no.
I was happy at Compaq — or thought I was — and they were persistent.
So, I finally thought, ‘you know, I’m going to go out and take the meeting. Steve created the whole industry that I’m in. I’d love the meeting.’ […]
All of a sudden, he’s talking about his strategy and his vision and what he was doing.
He was going 100% into consumer when everybody else in the industry had decided you couldn’t make any money in consumer. They were headed to servers and storage and the enterprise. […]
I always thought following the herd was a bad idea.
He showed me a bit of the design to get me interested [of what later would be called the iMac].
The way that he talked and the chemistry. I could tell I could work with him.
I looked at the problems Apple had and I thought ‘you know, I can make a contribution here’ and working with [Jobs would be] the privilege of a lifetime.
All of a sudden I thought, ‘I’m doing it. I’m going for it.’
You hear this voice in your ear that says, ‘Go west, young man, go west.’
[The move to Apple] didn’t make sense. And yet my gut said ‘go for it’ and I listened to my gut.
There was literally no one around me that was advising me to do it.”
In March 1998, Cook joined Apple as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations on a $400k base salary (and a $500k signing bonus).
He was 37. Incredible gut call.
***
Full episode here from 2014: https://t.co/l0Y9v6Cp0H
Consider a Boeing 787 Dreamliner operating a long-haul route such as New York–Nairobi. A fully fueled aircraft can carry approximately 126,000 litres of jet fuel. At an estimated KSh 200 per litre, fuel alone can cost around KSh 25 million for a single journey.
Now imagine the flight carries 200 passengers, each paying an average fare of KSh 100,000. That generates roughly KSh 20 million in ticket revenue. Before accounting for crew salaries, maintenance, airport fees, aircraft leasing costs, insurance, catering, and other operational expenses, the airline may already be operating at a deficit on that route.
However, the airline's value extends beyond its direct profitability. If those 200 passengers each spend approximately KSh 500,000 during their stay in Kenya, they inject about KSh 100 million into the local economy. That spending supports hotels, tour operators, transport providers, restaurants, retailers, and countless small businesses while also generating tax revenue for the government.
In this sense, even when an airline struggles to make profits on certain routes, it remains a critical driver of tourism, trade, investment, and economic growth. Its contribution to the national economy often reaches far beyond the revenue reflected in its own financial statements.
For long-haul routes such as New York–Nairobi, there is also no practical alternative. Air travel remains the only efficient means of moving large numbers of people across continents in a way that supports modern tourism and international business.
An email from Coach Sommer I revisit often:
Hi Tim,
Patience. Far too soon to expect strength improvements. Strength improvements [for a movement like this] take a minimum of 6 weeks. Any perceived improvements prior to that are simply the result of improved synaptic facilitation. In plain English, the central nervous system simply became more efficient at that particular movement with practice. This is, however, not to be confused with actual strength gains.
Dealing with the temporary frustration of not making progress is an integral part of the path towards excellence. In fact, it is essential and something that every single elite athlete has had to learn to deal with. If the pursuit of excellence was easy, everyone would do it.
In fact, this impatience in dealing with frustration is the primary reason that most people fail to achieve their goals. Unreasonable expectations timewise, resulting in unnecessary frustration, due to a perceived feeling of failure. Achieving the extraordinary is not a linear process.
The secret is to show up, do the work, and go home.
A blue collar work ethic married to indomitable will. It is literally that simple. Nothing interferes. Nothing can sway you from your purpose. Once the decision is made, simply refuse to budge. Refuse to compromise.
And accept that quality long-term results require quality long-term focus. No emotion. No drama. No beating yourself up over small bumps in the road. Learn to enjoy and appreciate the process. This is especially important because you are going to spend far more time on the actual journey than with those all too brief moments of triumph at the end.
Certainly celebrate the moments of triumph when they occur. More importantly, learn from defeats when they happen. In fact, if you are not encountering defeat on a fairly regular basis, you are not trying hard enough. And absolutely refuse to accept less than your best.
Throw out a timeline. It will take what it takes.
If the commitment is to a long-term goal and not to a series of smaller intermediate goals, then only one decision needs to be made and adhered to. Clear, simple, straightforward. Much easier to maintain than having to make small decision after small decision to stay the course when dealing with each step along the way. This provides far too many opportunities to inadvertently drift from your chosen goal. The single decision is one of the most powerful tools in the toolbox.
To remember something you have to interact with it. The best way? Physically interact with it. Memory and motor systems collaborate to stamp information into your brain. Dr Alan Castel of UCLA, memory & aging expert. On the Huberman Lab podcast out now.
Kids of today will never know how great Egypt from 2006-10 was, when they had Mohamed Hosni, Mohamed Zidan & the great Mohamed Aboutrika-he used to run like he's limping, slanted to one side!
I'll never forget Confederations Cup 2009!
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
🇭🇷 🐐 From a scared little boy who used football as an escape during a war.
To arguably the greatest midfielder to ever grace the football pitch. And for many of us, it's not a argument.
Mes chers compatriotes,
Après une profonde réflexion, mûrie dans le silence, la responsabilité et le sens de l’État, j’ai décidé de démissionner de mes fonctions de Président de l’Assemblée nationale du Sénégal.
Cette décision procède d’un choix personnel, guidé avant tout par ma conception des institutions, de la responsabilité publique et de l’intérêt supérieur de la Nation.
Depuis mon élection à la tête de l’Assemblée nationale, j’ai consacré toute mon énergie, avec l’ensemble des députés et l’administration parlementaire, au renforcement de notre institution, à la consolidation des principes de transparence, de contrôle et de modernisation, ainsi qu’au rayonnement du Parlement sénégalais sur les scènes nationale et internationale.
Je rends grâce à Dieu pour l’immense honneur qui m’a été accordé de servir le Sénégal à l’une des plus hautes charges de notre République.
J’exprime ma profonde gratitude aux députés de la majorité comme de l’opposition, au Bureau de l’Assemblée nationale, à l’administration parlementaire, aux membres de mon cabinet ainsi qu’au peuple sénégalais pour la confiance, le respect et l’esprit de collaboration dont j’ai bénéficié tout au long de cette mission.
Je tiens également à adresser mes remerciements les plus sincères aux militants, responsables et sympathisants du parti PASTEF, sur la liste duquel j’ai été investi. Leur engagement constant, leur fidélité aux idéaux de transformation et leur confiance ont constitué pour moi une source permanente de force, d’exigence et de responsabilité.
Au moment où je quitte cette haute fonction, je demeure profondément convaincu que la stabilité de nos institutions, le respect du dialogue républicain, la préservation de la paix civile, de la cohésion nationale et de l’intérêt supérieur du Sénégal doivent demeurer, en toutes circonstances, notre boussole commune.
Je poursuivrai, avec le même engagement et la même fidélité au peuple sénégalais, mon action au service de notre démocratie, de notre République et de notre ambition collective pour le Sénégal.
Dans les responsabilités publiques comme dans les épreuves de la vie nationale, il est des moments où l’intérêt du pays commande de privilégier la hauteur, le discernement et le sens du devoir. C’est dans cet esprit, et dans cet esprit seulement, que j’ai pris cette décision.
Que Dieu protège le Sénégal, bénisse notre peuple et nous guide vers davantage de paix, de justice, d’unité et de prospérité.
El Malick NDIAYE
Ancien Président de l’Assemblée National du Sénégal
There's a physicist at Stanford named Safi Bahcall who modeled this exact principle and the math is wild.
He calls it "phase transitions in human networks." When you're stationary, your probability of a lucky event is limited to your existing surface area: the people you already know, the places you already go, the ideas you've already been exposed to. Your opportunity window is fixed.
When you move, your collision rate with new nodes in a network increases nonlinearly. Double your movement (new conversations, new cities, new projects) and your probability of a serendipitous encounter doesn't double. It roughly quadruples. Because each new node connects you to their entire network, not just to them.
Richard Wiseman ran a 10-year study at the University of Hertfordshire tracking self-described "lucky" and "unlucky" people. The single biggest differentiator wasn't IQ, education, or family money. Lucky people scored significantly higher on one trait: openness to experience. They talked to strangers more, varied their routines more, and said yes to invitations at nearly twice the rate.
The "unlucky" group followed the same routes, ate at the same restaurants, and talked to the same 5 people. Their networks were closed loops. No new inputs, no new collisions.
Luck isn't random. Luck is surface area. And surface area is a function of movement.
The lobster emoji is doing more work than most people realize. Lobsters grow by shedding their shell when it gets too tight. The growth requires a period of total vulnerability. No protection, no armor, soft body exposed to the ocean.
That's the cost of movement nobody posts about. You have to be uncomfortable first. The new shell only hardens after you've already moved.