The Observer Effect: An Interview with Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen and his firm a16z are familiar to Beach Reads readers. This time around we feature an interview in which the renowned tech investor talks about time management and continuous learning, while touching on his essay, It's Time to Build. This excerpt, on why many people have a difficult time changing their opinion, is striking: "Most of the people you're around most of the time hate being told that they're wrong, right? They absolutely hate it. It's really an interesting question as to why that's the case. The best explanation I'm able to come up with is: people treat their ideas like they're their children. I have an idea the same way that I have a child and if you call my idea stupid, it's like calling my child stupid. And then the conversation just stops. I've really been trying hard to spend less time actually arguing with anybody. Because people really don't want to change their mind. And so I'm trying to just literally never argue with people." Giving up on debating because it's tough to change someone's mind is a bit defeatist, but Andreessen does concede that those with strong, loosely held opinions tend to be successful in various fields, such as (or including) investing.