We can try to build something…

Lex Fridman asked OpenAI’s Sam Altman: “Stepping outside of OpenAI, …how do you look at world where Google is playing, where Apple and Meta are playing?”

Sam’s response:

“We can’t control what other people are going to do. We can try to build something, talk about it, and influence others, and provide value and good systems for the world. But [Google, Meta & Apple] are going to do what they’re going to do.”

This reminds me of a consistent Bezos quote:

“There are many ways to center a business. You can be competitor focused, you can be product focused, you can be technology focused, you can be business model focused, and there are more. But in my view, obsessive customer focus is by far the most protective of day one vitality.”

It’s also a constant refrain in therapy and AA for that matter. Focus on what you can control rather than what you cannot control. “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference, living one day at a time.” Sam and Jeff B are/were very much focusing on the “courage to change the things I can” and “the serenity to accep thte things I cannot change.”

I’ve wholeheartedly agreed with this principle since my Amazon days in ‘07-’12. Custom-obsessed, not competition obsessed.

Link to the Lex Fridman interview here: https://lexfridman.com/sam-altman/

#frameworks #customerobsession #focus