Funny, as I read this post I thought, "Not hacker news." Then I read all the comments (42 as of this writing) and still thought, "Not hacker news."
Then I realized, "Perfect hacker news." Let me explain...
I try to approach my business just as the Mexicans in the story did. Not to make money, not to change the world, not to build cool stuff (well maybe just a little), but to genuinely help people. For a business person, this thinking is difficult and counter-intuitive.
Why do I do this? Because of my first mentor (and co-founder).
He was relentless in everything he did. I learned to stay up all night, keep calling on customers, and stay with tasks until we got somewhere with them. I remember many nights with thousands of invoices spread across the carpet, watching the graveyard shift run their machines, or scanning reports on-line, looking for clues. He wouldn't quit and the reason was always the same, "These people need help and we can help them. So we do. Don't worry about how hard it is or how much time we spend, it'll all work out in the end."
Sometimes I think that this is the attitude very successful people must have. It's too easy to give up when it's for ourselves, but much harder when we know that someone else needs us to get the thing done.
The Mexicans in the story reminded me of my mentor. A great lesson for anyone in business (or not). Thank you, OP.
Who am I going to listen to, the man who taught me more than I ever could ever imagine (and is now retired and giving away his millions) or some stranger who thinks he knows better?
I often share thoughts like this in the OP's spirit of "pass it on" so that it may benefit someone else.
Take it or leave it. But doubting it, commenting on what it "seems", or downvoting it only makes you look like a fool.
[Sorry for the negative tone, but this is a perfect example of the one thing about hn that really bugs me: people talking when they should be listening.]
Of course you're free to listen to whomever you like; I wish you would take my comment more as an alternative viewpoint than as an insult. I do appreciate the sentiment of your story, that people should help others, but personally I think the attitude "it'll all work out in the end" ruins more lives than it saves.
"it'll all work out" is an effective tool to deal with irrational or counterproductive anxiety (irrational== fear of flying, fear of social settings, etc., counterproductive==survival situations, situations with no other reasonable extrication than through, i.e. you need to swim to safety, you're stuck in a cave, you have a huge presentation to do tomorrow). It's entirely a bad idea to use in lieu of rational decisionmaking (i.e. "Ill enter into this horrible business deal, itll all work out!").
If you have generally negligible amounts of anxiety in life, the attitude is probably useless. For those of us that have tons, the judicious usage of this attitude is definitely a lifesaver.
Who am I going to listen to, the man who taught me more than I ever could ever imagine (and is now retired and giving away his millions) or some stranger who thinks he knows better?
If he is stranger and you don't know him, how did you know that your mentor is wiser then? See, you have already made two mistakes: The first, by not accepting an alternative opinion; and second, by thinking that what you know (or you got from your mentor) is doomed to be the best.
We can't explore all possibilities because of our limited time, so people use simple heuristics to get by. Prior experience/information always trumps no experience/information.
Prior experience/information always trumps no experience/information.
In fact, it does not. Your sample of experience may not be representative. This is complicated by various cognitive biases, including confirmation bias as mentioned downthread.
UPDATE: Let me give an example relating to the original post.
Two people, persons A and B, see a hitchhiker on the side of the road. Person A knows nothing about hitchhikers. Person B has seen several sensational news stories about rapist|murderer hitchhikers. In this case, person A will have to rely on their more general knowledge/opinion of people, and will, in my opinion, be more likely to give the hitchhiker a fair chance.
It is possibly confirmation bias. But it is one I embrace: it lets me continue to dream, take risks and help people out. A little self-delusion is a small price to pay for all that.
That made me smile :) That being said, I agree with your sentiment. And in the end, even if it doesn't work out, you never waste time by doing the right thing. I'd rather end up broke and do "the right thing" than to make money with a business I don't believe is making the world a better place. Moreover it seems doing the right thing is more likely to make you money which is kind of nice :)
Seth Godin prescribes this behavior as well, and acts on it if his eBook distributions are any evidence. Giving things away for free in a genuine way is a great way to make money if you are clever about it. There is nothing wrong with mutually-assured improvement.
Think of it as a self-organizing social p2p protocol. Do the right thing. If you feel it's ruining your life, you should probably go hang out with a different crowd.
A wonderful story that restores my faith in humanity, just a little bit (and reminds me why coming to HN may be worthwhile, despite the nasty bickering it devolves into at times -- it still remains a good filter for finding worthwhile reading material).
It is easy to be generous when life is easy, the true test of a person's heart lies in their actions during times of personal adversity.
It is easy to lose hope, more so during hardship, when it is needed most. This story is one of those faint glimmers that may help someone make one choice versus another and start a chain of paying it forward. So, yes, thanks for sharing it OP.
This is beautiful. Too often I see business as a purely soul-less set of transactions predicated on the exchange of money where both parties need each other, but keep each other at arm's length.
Thank you for this story. I shared your sentiment when I saw this story pop up on hn but I've been struggling to find the right mindset for marketing my next project.
Your mentor's philosophy is exactly what I needed to hear.
Then I realized, "Perfect hacker news." Let me explain...
I try to approach my business just as the Mexicans in the story did. Not to make money, not to change the world, not to build cool stuff (well maybe just a little), but to genuinely help people. For a business person, this thinking is difficult and counter-intuitive.
Why do I do this? Because of my first mentor (and co-founder).
He was relentless in everything he did. I learned to stay up all night, keep calling on customers, and stay with tasks until we got somewhere with them. I remember many nights with thousands of invoices spread across the carpet, watching the graveyard shift run their machines, or scanning reports on-line, looking for clues. He wouldn't quit and the reason was always the same, "These people need help and we can help them. So we do. Don't worry about how hard it is or how much time we spend, it'll all work out in the end."
Sometimes I think that this is the attitude very successful people must have. It's too easy to give up when it's for ourselves, but much harder when we know that someone else needs us to get the thing done.
The Mexicans in the story reminded me of my mentor. A great lesson for anyone in business (or not). Thank you, OP.