On Bad advice

On Bad advice

Written by
Gautam Bakshi
Date published
Introduction

This is some serious bad advice out there. The problem is, it is not intention and comes from a good place.

This makes it actually much worst because we often trust people based on their intent. We do not trust people who we know will try to harm us, and one thing I’ve often heard when I ask why people trust someone, is “I feel safe”.

That feel safe feeling has at least 2 problems:

  1. Feeling of safe doesn’t mean the advice is good. People will good intentions can give you bad advice and inadvertently harm you.
  2. Feelings can be gamed and marketing team can use this to get you feel safe then make decision that maybe not in your best interest.

I used to like linkedin but lately I see some very very bad advice. I see people who I personally know have crashed startups who believed in them, simply erase those bad track records from their profile and act as if they are giving great advice. Part of me wants to reach out to the people they advise to make them aware of how much they are actually taking by trusting the wrong people, but I do not feel it will solve the root problem and maybe this will be a learning leason for them.

The true is most advice is bad. Because most people are busy and do not have the time to contextualize it for you or understand your specific situation. If I work out like Arnold Schwarzenegger will I get exact results he did? Probably not but if he specifically spent time and contextualized it around my life and needs, it's very possible.II believe the scientific method can help her if we take an approach where we are experimenting a way to do this is fairly simple, take a problem you want to understand deeply, and observe the results/outcomes then:

  1. Write down your observations in detail
  2. Put together a theory that explains it. Your theory must be falsabily
  3. See if your theory matches the observations.
  4. Put together a series of experiments to see if your theory holds in those experiments.
  5. If your theory fails then simply come up with a new theory and try again.

The power of this model lies in failures not in success. If you take a idea and prove it’s success, then it’s wrong you lose.

Let’s go through a practical example of someone starting a startup in climate tech.

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