從quora學英文寫作19牛津Asim Qureshi的回答 2

03-30

How do I tell if somebody is intelligent?

A few years ago I was with the almost billionaire that I have mentioned in some other Quora posts.

On a drive back after a visit to my office I mentioned one of the interns he had just met.

He said 「He』s intelligent.」

「You』re kidding me, right? You just met the guy,」 I replied.

「It』s in the eyes, Asim. I could see them sparkle when he was listening, learning. I can sense he』s hungry to know more. The intelligent person knows the power of knowledge and so hungers for it, is excited by it.」

How important is education in your household?How important is education in your household??

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How important is education in your household?

My parents were economic migrants to the UK in the 1970s.

Like most economic migrants from Asia, education was very important to them. I mean, when my dad found out that I had an offer from Oxford, he was so happy I saw him cry for the first time.

Now, at Oxford, I met my French wife who also came from a family with a very strong education ethic.

We have 3 kids, aged 9, 11, and 13.

When we first had kids I guess we were fairly Asian in our attitude to education.

But four years ago we pulled our kids from school to give homeschooling a try. And that encouraged us to challenge the system and think deeply about education.

I realised, amongst other things, I wasn』t educated - having a degree from Oxford didn』t make me educated. And that』s because being educated is a state of mind, not a certificate.

My views on education have undergone a paradigm shift.

Four years after pulling our kids from school, education is still damn important in our household, but certificates aren』t. We find attitude, grit, ethics, leadership, the ability to adapt, the ability to think critically, the ability to self-teach, far more important than any certificate.

Is Tesla overvalued?

BMW』s profit is almost as much as Tesla』s loss-making revenues.

So why on earth is Tesla』s market cap more than BMW』s?

Tesla was a first-mover into luxury and mid-priced electric cars.

But almost every car manufacturer has plans to produce electric cars across their range. Soon, Tesla will have no ace cards here.

Tesla are going to be a leader in self-driving cars.

But they won』t. They are literally years behind Google』s Waymo.

Tesla has a strong brand.

But that brand doesn』t even compare with the likes of BMW, Honda, Toyota, all of which have established distributor networks around the world. The reality is that most people haven』t even heard of Tesla.

How do entrepreneurs think as compared to non-entrepreneurs?

An employee walks into a coffee shop, orders a coffee, sits down, sips on the coffee and thinks 「this tastes good」.

An entrepreneur walks into a coffee shop, counts the number of occupied seats, estimates the revenues from customers currently in the shop, multiplies by a factor of around 25 to get the day』s revenue, multiplies by 7 and then 50 to get annual revenue, estimates the total staff costs, rent, and other costs, and comes to an estimate of the profit the coffee shop is making.

And if that estimated profit is very high, he or she at least spends a few seconds thinking about starting a better coffee shop nearby…

How did you make your life miserable?

Aged 27, I was made a VP at Morgan Stanley.

I was making more money than I could spend.

I was happily married, looking forward to my first child.

But, I was miserable.

At the time I thought that given the amazing circumstances I was in, I would never be happy, because my circumstances couldn』t get much better.

It took me some time to figure out the cause - I was in a soulless job doing something I didn』t believe in - living my life to make more and more money.

It』s only when you have enough money to buy the car you want, buy the house you want, buy pretty much everything you want without being silly, it』s then you realise how superficial it all is.

I』ve always admired people who don』t need to have made much money to realise this.

And it』s when you start looking beyond the $$$s, which many never do, which is when you can find true contentment…

How do you see the world changing between 2017 and 2037?

China becomes the worlds biggest economy, followed by US, then India. No single bully superpower means less conflict in the world.
Africa becomes a major economic growth centre of the world, Europe stagnates.
Britains economy flourishes after over a decade of pain from Brexit. It is the most dynamic economy in Europe.
Israel given up most of occupied Palestine due to international pressure stemming from continued declining support of the occupation from American Jews. The conflict is over.
Of the 20 largest companies in the world, 19 are tech.
Driverless cars ubiquitous, car ownership collapses, most car manufacturers go bust. 60% of the world』s automated cars are driven by Google (Waymo).
Mass unemployment due to automation, wealth inequality at unprecedented levels.
Google (Alphabet) is easily the largest company in the world. Apple does a BlackBerry.
40% of higher education courses have more cloud-based teaching than physical teaching.

Are desperate people more innovative?

I』m in the business of startups.

When the shit hits the fan, when the team is watching their dreams crumble in front of their eyes, when the startup is on its deathbed, the levels of innovation go up massively.

I』ve seen it happen too many times for it to be a coincidence.

The foundation of innovation is desperation.

What can I do to become more bold and confident?

I have this cousin who, aged 25, came to the UK on a holiday. He was very shy, and because of his rudimentary Indian-accented English his shyness with local Brits was off-the-scale.

He』d refuse to buy an item to avoid having a few words with the cashier.

His holiday ended, he went back home.

He then got an opportunity to work in the UK, the opportunity of a lifetime, through a family connection.

We all told him he wouldn』t last more than a few weeks working in the UK.

Soon after he landed in the UK I met him and greeted him in Urdu, as usual, and he confidently said 「Sorry, I don』t understand that language. I only speak English」 with his usual accent.

I was like what?

He was a man transformed. But only in the mind.

He refused to speak Urdu for several months. And I』d soon find out that not only did he suddenly feel at ease with locals, but he became a confidence guru. I』ve seen videos of him on Facebook dancing in public, and stuff like this…

"Fear is temporary. Regret is eternal."