No ambition means no speed; no brains means no distance.

What does it mean when someone is slow, lacks a sense of urgency, and can’t grasp the fact that everything has a time window? It means they have no ambition.

What does it mean when someone’s always looking to cut deals, to trade fifty dollars for someone else’s hundred? It means they’ve got no brains.

People without ambition won’t run fast; people without brains won’t run far.

Flip that around: someone who has both ambition and brains—that’s what defines talent.

Want to grow yourself? Keep it simple: do everything you can to recruit those ambitious, sharp people and get them on your team.

Zhuge Liang drilled his troops while Liu Bei, sticking to his old weaving trade, hastily stitched a straw hat to keep the sun off his friend’s face.

Liang didn’t even look at it before tossing it on the ground. “My lord,” he said, “do you still have aspirations? If you do, how can you waste time on this?”

Liu Bei, shamelessly, kept flattering him: “You’re right, Liang. You’re absolutely right.”

See that? That’s the mindset of someone who actually makes money. That’s why Liu Bei was always moving upward, getting better and better.

If you want to move forward, you’ve got to win over the talent on your own team—even if it means chasing them down. Posting on Weibo about buying fried rice in the middle of winter and then calling it ‘self-inspiration’? Don’t even bother. Actually going out there and cooking the rice yourself would be fine too.

What do we call that? That’s called knowing how to sweet-talk your way around.

People who know how to flatter only do it with horses from their own stable—because every one of those is your racing horse, and when it wins big, the profits go to you, the owner.

Flattering your own horses? That’s for profit. Flattering someone else’s horses? That’s to poach their talent.

So here’s a question for you: what did you gain by patting down some other stable’s owner? Nothing but empty air?