Know When to Cut Losses and Move On

Exactly:

But here is something else about Jobs and the Cube that speaks not of failure but why he was a successful leader. Once it was clear that his Cube was a brick, he was quick to cut his losses and move on.
via Wired

“Strong opinions, loosely held” is both a principle and practice that I believe in more strongly now than I ever have, especially given the pace at which technology changes (and my own professional “career” as a consequence).

This is also a must-have philosophy, practice, and mindset for the early-stage entrepreneur and startup founder as one must be able to pivot their own assumptions and beliefs in order to build a working business.

This is much easier said than done.

Perhaps a more simple way of stating this paradigm is what all of us have been told, many-times over in our lives, especially from our parents:

Stay flexible.

Being “flexible” doesn’t mean that you’re compromising on your core, fundamental beliefs; it means that you’re self-aware enough to know that you might actually be wrong and that the ability to change one’s mind (without beating oneself up or taking someone else down) is not a sign of weakness but of strength.

One should look for disagreement, not run away from it, even and especially if you find yourself disagreeing with oneself.