The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Competitive advantage
So you have to figure out what your own aptitudes are. If you play games where other people have the aptitudes and you don’t, you’re going to lose. And that’s as close to certain as any prediction you can make. You have to figure out where you’ve got an edge. And you’ve got to play within your own circle of competence.
Charlie Munger Poor Charlie’s Almanack · 2005

Quotes

“One of the things that happens in organizations as well as with people is that they settle into ways of looking at the world and become satisfied with things and the world changes and keeps evolving and new potential arises but these people who are settled in don’t see it. That’s what gives start-up companies their greatest advantage.”

Steve Jobs · Smithsonian Oral and Video Histories: Steve Jobs, 1995 · Primary source

“There’s a simple rule: fish where the fish are.”

Charlie Munger · Daily Journal Corporation Annual Meeting, 2020 · Primary source

“I find it quite useful to think of a free market economy—partly free market economy—as sort of the equivalent of an ecosystem. Just as animals flourish in niches, people who specialize in some narrow niche can do very well.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“In business we often find that the winning system goes almost ridiculously far in maximizing and/or minimizing one or a few variables—like the discount warehourses of Costco.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“I don’t play in a game where the other people are wise and I’m stupid. I look for a place where I’m wise and they’re stupid.”

Charlie Munger · Daily Journal Corporation Annual Meeting, 2020 · Primary source

Related Tags

Startups 1 Organisational inertia 1 Adaptability 6 Opportunity recognition 2 Specialisation 5 Market niches 1 Economic ecosystems 1 Division of labour 1 Cost leadership 1 Operational focus 2 Business model 1 Costco 1 Circle of competence 3 Aptitude 2 Self-knowledge 8 Decision-making 30 Opportunity selection 2 Judgement 29 Market positioning 1 Resource allocation 5 Focus 8