A topic that’s been on my mind lately.
All great achievers in the business world seemed to share one thing in common: they did one thing exceptionally well, and did it well for many, many decades – long enough for their excellence to truly compound.
Think Warren Buffett, Leonardo Del Vecchio, Larry Ellison.
Then I looked at my life – full of zigging and zagging so far.
I’m on my third company, each company having been in a different space. I founded companies, dabbled at investing, and now I’m back to founding. I’ve even moved around – Korea, the Bay Area, and now LA.
Sure, I’ve loved the changes and the resets, and the energy and excitement that only new changes can bring.
But I had to ask myself: what compounded along the way? Should I have stayed with one thing for decades? (Grass is always greener on the other side..)
Then I had a lightbulb moment recently, at One Way Summit (thank you again for the invite, Eugene Malobrodsky)
I was listening to Rajat Suri, co-founder of Lyft. He’s now working on multiple, seemingly unrelated projects: a community-focused chat app, his own podcasting show, and a better immigration platform.
But for him, these are all connected. Each reflects a different area of his passion. Together, they reinforce who he is and what he stands for.
That’s when it clicked for me. Maybe it’s not your job, project, or company that compounds. Maybe it’s you, the person.
Throughout the years, across multiple projects and cities, hopefully my knowledge and insights, my relationship and network, and my judgment and wisdom have compounded. Hopefully I compounded.
As long as we’re learning and improving, we’re compounding. We’re all Warren Buffett, in our own unique ways.