The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk 302: Nick Kokonas - How To See The Genius In People Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com Commonalities of sustaining excellence: Intellectual curiosity - A desire to learn.  Not for the outcome, but for the curiosity to learn more Healthy degree of paranoia - What Jim Collins would call "productive paranoia" In the pursuit of excellence "No one is giving it away for free.  It takes effort." Balance -- "I get manic at times. I'm not always well balanced."  The skill is in being able to turn it on and off... Which can happen over time "I've always been curious about how things worked..." Why it was helpful to go to Colgate University A Liberal Arts school forced Nick to study areas outside of just his major.  Made him more well-rounded He "learned how to learn" -- Forced him to wrestle with existential questions Rhetoric -- Can you understand all sides of an issue? Where does ambiguity exist? Need to learn to think critically -- How you do it is more important that you do it General advice: "Learn to communicate well.  Concisely. Learn to write and speak well. From a psychology perspective, analyze, "what are they really saying?" Why he became a derivatives trader: "I got into law school, but didn't want to go." He tested well, but desired his independence "Prestige as part of pay doesn't matter to me." To be great at anything, you must be disciplined to show up everyday -- "My money has always been at risk everyday. Some think that's crazy.  But I've always worked to have an edge." How to figure out outcomes as soon as possible The decision to leave the world of derivatives trading to open a restaurant... Why? "I took some money off the table... Then my dad died... and I thought, what am I doing?  I had no idea what I was going to do next..." Meeting Grant Achatz and the impact that had on Nick's life... "He reminded me a lot of myself.  He was thoughtful, driven, shy (this was the opposite), and he wasn't afraid of hard work." "I think I have a skill to see the genius in some people." "Grant's work is of artistic genius" Doing what you love and are passionate about: "For me the test is... When I wake up in the morning is it nagging at me to do it?"