Standing on the shoulders of giants

I found this link on a friend’s Facebook post. It’s by no means a complete list, but it’s interesting to see made this person’s list of top entrepreneurs of the last decade. I found it especially interesting to read through the various quotes. It seems as if some of these people just naturally “gets” some things that many others struggle to understand.

For example: Bill Gates acknowledging the value of taking lessons from failure. So many leaders today focus way to much on the positive. Many organisations are constrained by cultures that avoid failure at all costs because leaders are intolerant of it.

Or Andrew Carnegie’s wisdom about surrounding yourself with people more clever than you. I’d broaden that to say, surround yourself not only with people cleverer than you, but also with people who think very differently than you do. Too many leaders surround themselves with yes-men, leading to myopic organisations.

I’d be interested to know who you’d add to this list and why?