Barry Diller: Let instinct reign

"Beware of certain kinds of sophistication and cynicism."

Businessman and media industry tycoon Barry Diller:

It is important to emphasize instinct over almost everything else. And I have an ability, sometimes, and sometimes of course not, to recognize what is a good idea. If you prize that, if you prize instinct, then the most important thing you can do in the honing category is to keep those instincts clean.

How do you keep instincts clean? Mostly you guard against cynicism, and you keep a kind of naiveté, you hold naiveté as something important to keep as a cleansing agent to cynicism. Cynicism can kill any good idea.

So I don’t think this stuff is learned. I think the only thing is to unlearn the history that you go through so that your instincts remain as pure as possible. Now, of course, over time they’re going to get corroded to a certain degree here or there, but if you try and keep wiping it clean and again prize naiveté and beware of certain kinds of sophistication and cynicism, then instinct can kind of reign.

Source: The Secrets Behind Barry Diller’s Business Success

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