I once heard a business owner tell a consultant that he preferred not to offer training to his employees. “What if I train them and then they leave?!” he said. I never forgot the consultant’s reply: “Worse still…what if you don’t train them and they stay?”
What a great perspective on investing in sharpening skills for ourselves and others. Investing in people seldom creates anything other than goodwill, gratitude, and (go figure) upgraded skills.
Hanlon’s razor asserts that we should not attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence or other means.
Most conspiracy theories are implausible, and turn out not to be an effective cover-up by an elaborate network of mustache-twirling psychopaths bent on world domination. Most people who cut in line or are rude and offensive are not malicious and singling you out. Neglect, self-absorption, and misunderstanding are more likely culprits.
Of course malevolent and cruel people exist, but Hanlon’s razor reminds us not to take things personally. It’s almost never personal anyways.
Scott Adams (Dilbert creator) probably isn’t the world’s best illustrator, and he certainly isn’t the best comic. But combining or “stacking” these two skills gave him a unique mix of attributes.
The moment someone can ask “what’s the going rate for…?” you find yourself engaged in a race to the bottom (the kind of race you don’t want to win). As an employee, consultant, business owner, or product maker, you can escape the lowest-price-wins race, and ship the best version of your product (or yourself) if you forget about being the best, and focus on being the only.
There’s no one on earth like you.
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© 2026 by Steve Acho
