The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career

by Reid Hoffman

She asked people who knew him well and people who didn’t know him well.

I called and emailed lots of different people with the same questions.”

would never have come to the decision that she did if she hadn’t synthesized the information from her multiple sources.

Had she not gathered intelligence on Tim Draper, she might have concluded that working so closely with a total stranger was too big of a risk.

Once you have gathered information, the next step is to analyze the validity, helpfulness, and relevance of what each person has said.

As you pull information and advice from various sources, think about how the person’s personal goals, ambitions, and experience might have colored their position.

Synthesis is the important final step.

Synthesizing what you learn involves reconciling contradictory advice and information (which is inevitable if you’re pulling multiple streams from diverse people), ignoring information you believe is completely off base, and weighing each person’s information differently.

It’s harder to identify the right people to talk to on different issues, ask these people questions that invite maximally useful answers, and synthesize points into something meaningful.

IWe means your network can help you decide on a direction and then help you move quickly, but only you can drive the process forward.

Map out whom you trust on different topics.

Sort your connections into domain experts, people who know you well, and people who may not have specific expertise but are just smart in general.

Post one article each week to an email list, blog, Twitter followers, or your LinkedIn connections or Facebook friends.

one with a person a few rungs ahead of you in your industry; one with an old friend you haven’t seen in a while; and one with a person from an adjacent industry whose career you admire.

Become a go-to person for other people in your network on certain topics.

Make known to your connections your interests and skills by writing blog posts and emails, or setting up discussion groups.

Think carefully about where you choose to live and work. Then commit to improving whatever community you do live in.

Do something that’s in line with your values and aspirations and that preferably leverages your unique soft and hard assets—in other words, make use of your competitive advantages.

Invest in yourself, invest in your network, and invest in society.

we believe implementing the strategies discussed in these pages will give you an edge.

think of them as guidelines, not rules of nature.

One of the key messages we hope you’ve taken away from this book is that you are changing, the people around you are changing, and the broader world is changing—so it’s inevitable the playbook will evolve and adapt.