"Attrition is a group statistic. It doesn't apply to me"

10 years ago I sat down with my brother. He was about to attend a high attrition special forces course.  The vast majority of candidates drop out.

Aren't you concerned about the failure rate?

I still think about his answer: 

"Attrition is a group statistic. It doesn't apply to me."

He explained that statistics are created for groups, not for individuals. As an individual, it's not relevant to you. He went on to pass the course on a broken ankle. 

That makes me think about some startup founders. Their companies should have died, since most die. They should have given up, since most give up. But, somehow they willed their company to exist. 

Startup failure is a group statistic, it doesn't apply to you. 


Subscribe to updates here.