The way I am wired is to find new paths.

If I see someone has trodden a path to be successful, good for them! It doesn't necessarily mean others who follow the same path will achieve similar success unless they know a new secret. It is why I never liked corporate jobs.

I saw similar results or better become exponentially get more difficult to achieve when more people try to do the same things. Even when we started a business, I realized we failed because we became the ”typical.” We were more successful when very different.

This is why I am amused by smaller businesses that seek legitimacy by trying to look like larger businesses. The brand is not always the product. Perception doesn't always mean success.

We discovered that success comes from meeting the true needs of customers, not just wants.

We built a seemingly successful services business on 3rd party support but I learned from Joe Fuller (Founder of Monitor Consulting/Monitor Group) who had been on the same path before, that there is ultimately Zero Equity in services. Monitor changed from consulting to products.

I realized that you can learn from failure or changes in strategy to avert failure much more than you learn from seeming success. The seemingly prosperous rarely tell you of their struggles especially if they are in the perception game. I learned to figure out those games easily.

In 2013, after I met Fuller at Harvard, I decided to make this change that Monitor had done but realized painfully that you can't suddenly switch from services to product. The services people had built a hierarchy that had to be either changed or replaced. Adversity made it easy.

I also learned something about myself. I realized that becoming a parent changed my priorities drastically. I left a product management course at @ga two weeks to the end because I couldn't miss my son’s first birthday. I would have prioritized differently 20 years before.

I realized that becoming a parent was the new path. Every other thing is now secondary. I needed time for my kids, so I left the company in good hands. A different path others would not also have chosen. Surprisingly, it has led me to even more discoveries. I will keep sharing.

Life’s infection points lead to either prosperity or mediocrity, sometimes even doom. Many people fail to know when they are at an infection point in business and in life. You must plot new curves at every inflection point or you plateau then drop off. Dropping off is terminal.