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Google Cofounder Larry Page: “I recommend reading things”
When asked in the clip below how he learned to run Google, Larry responds:
“I read a lot of books.”
He jokes:
“[When renaming Alphabet] I read like three books on naming—which is more than anyone else had read. So I decided I was the expert… and actually that was useful. I recommend reading things.”
I think this is a really important mindset that is often overlooked. One of the richest ways to learn something is reading things written by people who deeply understand their subject matter.
Even Elon Musk was able to teach himself about the fundamentals of rocket design and astrodynamics by reading books. He is often quoted on this topic:
“I read books and talked to people. I mean that's kind of how one learns anything. There's lots of great books out there and lots of smart people.”
Monday’s Startup Archive post cited the following quote from Naval Ravikant: “building a startup is an infinite set of problems that are being thrown at you.”
Next time you’re facing one of those problems, I’d recommend finding the best book or blog post you can on the topic and reading it. You don’t need an MBA to be an expert in marketing, sales, user research, strategy, management, product, etc. Most schools are really just thin wrappers on books.