<ul><li>Tribes reduce the ability to challenge ideas or diversify your views because no one wants to lose support of the tribe.</li></ul> <ul><li>Tribes are as self-interested as people, encouraging ideas and narratives that promote their survival. But they’re exponentially more influential than any single person. So tribes are very effective at promoting views that aren’t analytical or rational, and people loyal to their tribes are very poor at realizing it.</li></ul>

TRIBES ARE EVERYWHERE #2

There’s as much to learn about your field from other fields than there is within your field. Once you see the roots shared by most fields you realize there’s a sink of information you’ve been ignoring. Communication is important. Many doctors who struggle to communicate effectively with their patients results in patients who don’t stick with treatment plans and are resistant to lifestyle change. There are millions of these dots to connect.

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY LEARNING AND COMMUNICATION

The biggest lesson from the 100 billion people who are no longer alive is that they tried everything we’re trying today. They swung from optimism to pessimism at the worst times. They battled unsuccessfully against reversion to the mean. They learned that popular things seem safe because so many people are involved, but they’re most dangerous because they’re most competitive. Same stuff that guides today, and will guide tomorrow.

EVERYTHING'S BEEN DONE BEFORE. THE SCENES CHANGE BUT THE BEHAVIORS AND OUTCOMES DON'T

Start with the assumption that everyone is innocently out of touch and you’ll be more likely to explore what’s going on through multiple points of view, instead of cramming what’s going on into the framework of your own experiences. [I]t’s the only way to get closer to figuring out why people behave like they do.

THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL LIFE

<ul><li>Learn faster than your competition.</li></ul> <ul><li>Empathize with customers more than your competition.</li></ul> <ul><li>Communicate more effectively than your competition.</li></ul> <ul><li>Be willing to fail more than your competition.</li></ul> <ul><li>Wait longer than your competition.</li></ul> Everything else – intelligence, design, insight – gets smashed to pieces by competitors who are almost certainly as smart as you.

THE ONLY TRULY SUSTAINABLE SOURCES OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE I KNOW OF ARE:

<ul><li>Countries, states, parties, companies, industries, departments, investment styles, economic philosophies, religions, families, schools, majors, credentials, Twitter communities.</li></ul> <ul><li>People are drawn to tribes because there’s comfort in knowing others understand your background and goals.</li></ul>

TRIBES ARE EVERYWHERE #1

It’s usually viewed as a conservative hedge, used by those who don’t want to take much risk. But when used appropriately it’s the opposite. Room for error lets you stick around long enough to let the odds of benefiting from a low-probability outcome fall in your favor.

ROOM FOR ERROR IS UNDERAPPRECIATED AND MISUNDERSTOODD

People <a href="http://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/were-all-out-of-touch/">believe what they’ve seen</a> happen exponentially more than what they read about has happened to other people, if they read about other people at all. We’re all biased to our own personal history. Everyone. [Y]ou both understand something that people who haven’t experienced those things never will, but you’ll also likely overestimate the prevalence of those things happening again, or happening to other people.

YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES MAKE UP MAYBE 0.00000001% OF WHAT'S HAPPENED IN THE WORLD BUT MAYBE 80% OF HOW YOU THINK THE WORLD WORKS

I have seen investors justify strategies and sales techniques they fiercely argued against at previous employers, coming around the moment their career depended on it. These are good, honest people. But self-interest is a freight train of persuasion. When you accept how powerful it is you become more skeptical of promotion, and more empathetic to those doing the promoting.