- You can’t tell who’s rich in Silicon Valley: They might be wearing a hoodie. Some might be wearing suits. Paul Graham talks about what cities whisper. New York says you should be rich. Silicon Valley says you should be powerful.
- You don’t have to travel anymore to make your riches: If you press the keys on your laptop in the right order over time, you can make millions on the internet. Or at least make a living.
- But it still might be worth traveling to another city: Environment design is powerful for shaping your own behavior. The biggest part of your environment? Probably the people you’re around. Yes the whole “you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”.
- What you look like has some effect on how you feel: And it certainly affects how other people perceive you. What you wear is not necessarily who you are. But it’s a part of it. If you’re completely unaffected by your own appearance, more power to you—it’s probably a good mindset to have. For the rest of us, look good feel good. (I’d guess Steve Jobs felt like his turtleneck looked pretty good.)
“You must start from first principles. Every ecosystem has a default culture. (In Silicon Valley, our baked-in cultural elements range from casual dress to employee owners to long hours.) Don’t just blindly adopt it. You may be adopting an organizing principle you don’t understand. For example, Intel created a casual-dress standard to promote meritocracy.” — Ben Horowitz, What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture