This book has been on the bestseller list for some time, but I didn't pick it up until recently. I was initially put off by the clickbait title, assuming it was just filled with clichés. It wasn't until I saw a friend post about it on social media that I decided to give it a try.
The book is well-written, using a fresh perspective to analyze everyday occurrences. The author uses the first principle to examine things, defining different terms, creating a model, and drawing similarities between real-world things and the model. This abstraction allows us to take a step back and understand the underlying logic.
Many examples in the book resonated with me. The stories about right or wrong in different contexts are insightful. It illustrates how perspectives can vary depending on whether you're looking at things from a justice, economic, or personal viewpoint. For instance, a person who's been robbed could blame the thief, the government for not ensuring safety, or himself for not securing his belongings. This idea that if everyone claimed responsibility for their surroundings, there might be fewer conflicts, struck a chord with me.
The Chinese saying 行行出狀元 suggests that diligence can lead to success in any industry, but the author challenges this notion. He discusses different types of distribution such as normal and power law distribution, pointing out that industries are diverse and can't be likened to different tracks. Depending on the industry, the potential for risk and growth varies. For instance, success in the internet industry, which follows power law distribution, has a low probability. But once achieved, it results in market dominance. It all boils down to probability distribution.
As a business strategy advisor, the author ranks the importance of different factors that determine business success: trend, strategy, governance, and management, in that order. He emphasizes that when making decisions, it's important to break them down into factors and not overlook the larger factor by focusing too much on the smaller ones, which have little relevance to success.
Overall, this book is an easy read. It avoids complex mathematical formulas and jargon, sticking to relevant examples and simple language.