When you reduce yourself to a mere tool, elimination is inevitable.

Those people you look down on—maybe you think they have poor character, or that they're just opportunists—often get one thing right.

What is that thing? They deeply embed themselves into the web of interests and relationships between people.

They nail this, so despite your disdain for them, they end up faring better and longer than you. It might even make you feel like the heavens are blind.

What's most important for building a successful venture? It's unity—how many people you can gather around you. The more effectively you can bind talented people together into a team through shared interests, the greater your collective power becomes.

Being excellent is just a tool; it's not the goal itself.

The real goal is to deeply embed yourself within networks of mutual interest—that's the essence of "it takes a village to raise a child."

Why would people help elevate you? Only for one reason: elevating you must also benefit them. Your existence needs to bring value to others if you want their support. Only when various forces are willing to back you up can you achieve something significant; otherwise, you're just operating with a student mindset.

The hallmark of that student mindset is believing there's a single correct answer, that being number one matters most, and that being number one automatically makes you right.

In the end, it's always about human dynamics—it's never merely a game of whether 1+1 equals 2.