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Sebastian

Accumulation of Advantage

Harriet Zuckerman, a sociologist, was investigating the roots of scientists who do top-class work leading to breakthroughs and discoveries.

After researching and digging in, the answer she came to was that the scientists who did the most groundbreaking work were not necessarily smarter or harder working, but rather built up an "accumulation of advantages."

By getting slightly ahead earlier in their careers, they'd get more opportunities to make interesting connections, present at events and conferences, get onto interesting research projects, connect with luminaries, find mentors, receive funding and grants, etc.

Any one of those, in isolation, wouldn't make the difference. But over 20 years, the gradual accumulation of advantages put them into places where they had the skills, connections, mental models, resources, credibility, etc, etc, to be working on the right problems with the right people and the right resources/tools at their disposal. And so they'd do breakthrough work.

If you buy the hypothesis, it suggests that it's not any one major point that leads to breakthroughs -- it's about gradually accumulating important, relatively small advantages, and watching them stack up and work as multipliers for you.

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I'm a strategist. Interested in biz, mkt, science, history, psychology, rationality, hiking, diving, photography.
Paulo
  • Paulo
  • A year ago
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Any link for further reading?

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Sebastian
  • Sebastian
  • A year ago
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Sadly no, it was a find on Wikipedia. I'd be interested in reading more too.

I'm a strategist. Interested in biz, mkt, science, history, psychology, rationality, hiking, diving, photography.
Paulo
  • Paulo
  • A year ago
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On her, found just a paper on how to interview high level people (she also has a book). Probably useful tips to reaching high level people through email too.

http://regionalworkbench.org/sequence_09-07/files/Interviews/Zuckerman%20Interviwing%20Ultra-Elite.pdf

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Josh Tolle
  • Josh Tolle
  • A year ago
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This is exactly the type of advantage Malcolm Gladwell wrote about in Outliers.  He used NHL players instead of academics, but the mechanics were the same: there were a disproportionate number of professional hockey players who had birthdays within the same month, and it turned out that the month happened to be the one just prior to the opening of kids hockey leagues in Canada.  This caused the children to wait almost a year before entering the leagues, and thereby also gave them the advantage of being larger and generally more coordinated than the rest of the kids on the teams, which led to them being better players, which led to all-star games (i.e., more time on the ice), which led to them getting even better, etc.  It's really an interesting the-chicken-or-the-egg type of conundrum.
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Taylor
  • Taylor
  • A year ago
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This one really resonated with me Sebastian. I've found this to be true in my personal life even with very limited life experience. 

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Sebastian
  • Sebastian
  • A year ago
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Share some examples? You've certainly done some interesting stuff Taylor.

(And where's the ice photo from? Awesome)

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Taylor
  • Taylor
  • A year ago
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If you're going to call me out Sebastian...

In the past year and a half I've gone from an aspiring "wantrepreneur" to being in a unique and privileged apprenticeship position where I'm able to work for and around other motivated, intelligent entrepreneurs above my level. I still have a long road ahead of me, but the progress I have made is, in retrospect, much faster than I expected. 

There wasn't any one incident that lead to that. It was the aggregation and accumulation of relatively dull tasks that led to the acquisition of useful skills. Building niche sites taught me SEO and WordPress basics which was enough to get me a job at a small marketing agency in the U.S. That let me work on bigger projects and learn about project management, content marketing, managing clients, and copywriting. That experience led me to the position I'm in now.

The biggest thing that I take away from this post and something that I've been thinking of lately is the ability to see value in seemingly mundane and boring tasks. I've spent a lot of the last month researching and writing about a specific industrial product that I'm not inherently passionate about. That's allowed me to improve my research, copywriting, process writing, and productivity skills. All of which I think are small advantages that I can build on.

However, the day to day reality of that doesn't look very sexy. It means I get up, put on some mashups and jam out a few thousand words about the product. It keeps me motivated though because I can see the value in doing that. I'm accumulating advantages that are going to put me in a position to breakthrough work.

Photo is from Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina. 

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Sebastian
  • Sebastian
  • A year ago
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Very cool. Drop a line if I can help with something sometime.

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Taylor
  • Taylor
  • A year ago
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Cheers Sebastian. Same to you.

This is me here and now. The real question is what do I intend to do about it? About you?
Roy
  • Roy
  • A year ago
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I find this post very freaky.  I knew that the academic world is slow to change and new ideas are hard to come by.  And that they are prone to make a peer crash and burn when his/her ideas are too... shocking.  Just to realize after that person's death that he/she was right...

But linking advancement of ideas to the fact that one was there early shrugged the back of the old ones earlier and for a longer time... then licked his ring for long enough to get published and recognized and all.. while there's may be some one some where with a great idea to cure cancer or something like that but since that person is either not part of the "intelligentsia" or came later to the party, his/her thoughts will remain in the dark?

This is plainly freaky.  

We call ourselves civilized but our behavior has not changed one iota.  There is the alpha gorilla and then there is the others...  And one must follow the alpha's orders, way of thinking and beliefs on the world or else!

No wonder why we are so slow in evolution (even thought we think we're going fast).

Dad. Traveller. IT lifer.
Mike Stankavich
  • Mike Stankavich
  • A year ago
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Isn't this the principle behind the 1% improvement concept from Million Dollar Consulting?  http://sebastianmarshall.com/1-improvement-per-day The same principle is true in finance.  Earning incrementally more and/or spending incrementally less accumulates and makes a large difference over time, which leads to having cash to invest in quick win deals, savings on interest,etc.

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Cowboy Science

I've been thinking about this for a while. I fancy myself a scientist, which means I use the Scientific Method to figure things out. So I make a hypothesis, and try like crazy to falsify it, and at the end maybe there's some interesting not-yet-falsified ideas.

I train myself in all sorts of science, I keep real genuine article scientists as friends and compatriots. But y'know, I probably wouldn't be called a Scientist by the vast majority of people in this day and age.

So I started thinking. What is someone who does science who doesn't have impressive scientific credentials? And I came to - a Cowboy Scientist.

Cowboy Science is trying to figure out how things for practical reasons or for curiosity, not for academic or institutional prestige.

A rancher who tries to figure out what the best mix of water and grazing and movement for his cattle by takes notes, making a guess at what'll work, and testing that guess - he's doing science. But no one would call him a Scientist with a capital S.

"Help! I’ve found that I have no passion!"

I've been following your blog for quite sometime now and your recent post struck a chord with me. I've found that I have no passion. Instead, I have a passion for the passionate, in the abstract. When I'm working near people who love what they do, can see their grand vision and have a pathway to the future it inspires me. From a chef to a programmer, if I meet a passionate person, I immediately want to be them.

I've made numerous blogs covering different topics. I've started a variety of different groups at university. I've even switched hobbies from martial arts to programming to yoyos. Nothing seems to stick. It seems I need a mentor of sorts to make sure I stay on track otherwise, some voice in my head is "ooh! try this! no no no! try this!"

My main question is, how to continue? How do you know when you should cut your losses or when you're just being a pansy? Help me focus Sebastian!

I know where you're at and I've got a number of thoughts.

First and foremost, did you see Miguel Hernandez's replied? I wrote "Passion Emerges From Action, Not Contemplation," I asked for Miguel's take because he's a sharp guy.

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