I think EAs spend a lot of time thinking about things. They think about things because EAs want to be smart, and smart people spend lots of time thinking. That’s why EAs make enourmous google docs, substacks, tweet a lot, go on forums and become researchers.
But they probably spend more time thinking about a thing than doing a thing. The problem is once you spend a lot of time thinking about a thing, you inevitably convince yourself that that thing is (1) important and (2) your domain expertise. I call this The Salience Fallacy. And now that you’re a domain expert, surely you’re ready to give advice on this to other people?
Now, I think thinking about a thing a lot is an important part of understanding it, but it misses something very important: lived experience. As Thinkers, EAs lack this in spades IMO.
Why does this matter? Well, sometimes someone will come to me and say “Mr EA said that I shouldn’t do [insert thing I’m passionate about] because of XYZ reason.” And I will ask, “Has Mr EA ever been successful in [insert passion]?”. The answer is commonly “No”. I then suggest downweighting the value of this feedback (probably by 20 − 50%, all other things being equal).
Let’s make this more concrete:
Example #1 - Career Advice EA gives you career advice on your career.
Before taking their advice seriously, consider whether they themselves have had career success before they gave this advice.
I.e. have they experienced what it takes to be successful in a career when that career isn’t giving career advice?
Example #2 - Marketing/Entrepreneurship Advice EA gives you career advice on Marketing or creating a company.
Before taking their advice seriously, consider whether they themselves have been successful in literally selling anything. I don’t mean building a large twitter following either. I mean, have they used Marketing/Communications to get people to hand over money to them?
Be skeptical of EAs giving advice on things they’ve never actually been successful in themselves
I think EAs spend a lot of time thinking about things. They think about things because EAs want to be smart, and smart people spend lots of time thinking. That’s why EAs make enourmous google docs, substacks, tweet a lot, go on forums and become researchers.
But they probably spend more time thinking about a thing than doing a thing. The problem is once you spend a lot of time thinking about a thing, you inevitably convince yourself that that thing is (1) important and (2) your domain expertise. I call this The Salience Fallacy. And now that you’re a domain expert, surely you’re ready to give advice on this to other people?
Now, I think thinking about a thing a lot is an important part of understanding it, but it misses something very important: lived experience. As Thinkers, EAs lack this in spades IMO.
Why does this matter? Well, sometimes someone will come to me and say “Mr EA said that I shouldn’t do [insert thing I’m passionate about] because of XYZ reason.” And I will ask, “Has Mr EA ever been successful in [insert passion]?”. The answer is commonly “No”. I then suggest downweighting the value of this feedback (probably by 20 − 50%, all other things being equal).
Let’s make this more concrete:
Example #1 - Career Advice
EA gives you career advice on your career.
Before taking their advice seriously, consider whether they themselves have had career success before they gave this advice.
I.e. have they experienced what it takes to be successful in a career when that career isn’t giving career advice?
Example #2 - Marketing/Entrepreneurship Advice
EA gives you career advice on Marketing or creating a company.
Before taking their advice seriously, consider whether they themselves have been successful in literally selling anything. I don’t mean building a large twitter following either. I mean, have they used Marketing/Communications to get people to hand over money to them?
The list goes on but you get the gist. I think this post is tangentially related to one I wrote a couple weeks back on Why I worry about about EA leadership, explained through two completely made-up LinkedIn profiles. Part of the reason we need more of Profile 2 is because I think EA needs more Doers, which is on the most extreme end of the Fuck Around And Find Out career path.