What I Wish Someone Had Told Me - Sam Altman

## Metadata
- Author: **Sam Altman**
- Full Title: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://blog.samaltman.com/what-i-wish-someone-had-told-me
## Highlights
- Optimism, obsession, self-belief, raw horsepower and personal connections are how things get started. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xtvyjxe8sjqm8yyn8nfaj1))
- Cohesive teams, the right combination of calmness and urgency, and unreasonable commitment are how things get finished. Long-term orientation is in short supply; try not to worry about what people think in the short term, which will get easier over time. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xtwseh1tyh1qjtmkbd7x6m))
- It is easier for a team to do a hard thing that really matters than to do an easy thing that doesn’t really matter; audacious ideas motivate people. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xtzjbe5a2yt431zp893esw))
- Incentives are superpowers; set them carefully. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xv1c0ee28v0dr4pj12hsvc))
- Concentrate your resources on a small number of high-conviction bets; this is easy to say but evidently hard to do. You can delete more stuff than you think. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xv2be73tb9stme191gppfg))
- Communicate clearly and concisely. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xv8kkp1xa39hv7rbb6kdak))
- Fight bullshit and bureaucracy every time you see it and get other people to fight it too. Do not let the org chart get in the way of people working productively together. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xv9bxjxxtyprt08850rvmz))
- Outcomes are what count; don’t let good process excuse bad results. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xv9epxtshy90e3qnqx5a88))
- Spend more time recruiting. Take risks on high-potential people with a fast rate of improvement. Look for evidence of getting stuff done in addition to intelligence. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xv9qf3rncxfgd0wxk23vbn))
- Superstars are even more valuable than they seem, but you have to evaluate people on their net impact on the performance of the organization. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xvccj90s1wswrcw2d28jq6))
- Fast iteration can make up for a lot; it’s usually ok to be wrong if you iterate quickly. Plans should be measured in decades, execution should be measured in weeks. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xvczd5tksp92frc4nq5h78))
- Don’t fight the business equivalent of the laws of physics. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xvddf0kay35y50wgtkzppb))
- Inspiration is perishable and life goes by fast. Inaction is a particularly insidious type of risk. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xvdsfweqnqtdzts4qedww4))
- Scale often has surprising emergent properties. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xvdxfc76bx9qyjcm8ddc4s))
- Compounding exponentials are magic. In particular, you really want to build a business that gets a compounding advantage with scale. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xve73bqqaep27e32pvqwwx))
- Working with great people is one of the best parts of life. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j5xvesj7756er7krr9zz4mhs))