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The question

What belief do you hold that most people around you would reject or find surprising?

Originally asked

Peter Thiel, to job candidates, Zero to One, chapter 1, 2014

Peter Thiel, Zero to One, chapter 1, where it is introduced as his job-interview question. Thiel supplies his own standard: a good answer takes the form "most people believe x, but the truth is the opposite of x."

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

David Vélez

Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Pix is probably the most successful payment infrastructure run by a government in history. I think Pix has been what has allowed a country like Brazil to leapfrog developed economies like the U.S. and in Europe, and has positioned Brazil today probably five years ahead of the U.S. I don't think anybody understands that, and probably in the U.S. they didn't really expect that.

Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, interview, Fortune, 9 October 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Vince Gill Musician, singer and songwriter
I don't know why that is. To me, they’re making much more... interesting records. They’re saying more things I’d prefer to hear, lyrically and song-wise, and that’s compelling.
Recorded Country Universe, Country Universe, 6 June 2015 source ↗
Yaa Gyasi Novelist
I think one of the best things that art can do is to shine a light on dark places, and to hold something up and say: 'This hasn't gone unnoticed. We see this, and we're going to say something about it.'
Recorded Marta Bausells, Vice, 20 February 2017 source ↗
Blake Masters Venture capitalist; co-author of Zero to One; 2022 U.S. Senate candidate in Arizona
Well, I'd say that I'm actually optimistic about the future of our country. That's not a sentiment most people share today. Especially on the Right, it's increasingly common to feel pessimistic about America. You know, to be 'blackpilled', as they say online. And it's understandable – I too see all the chaos and destruction this Regime is inflicting on our country and the American people. But I really do believe that we can get the pendulum to swing back our way, that we can win this fight and rebuild America. That's why I'm running for office.
Recorded Mark Granza, IM—1776 interview, recorded via Zoom, 8 December 2021, 17 December 2021 source ↗
Theodore Roosevelt 26th President of the United States, 1901–1909; Governor of New York 1899–1900; Assistant Secretary of the Navy 1897–1898
I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.
Recorded Mental Floss, 10 March 2023 source ↗

More from David Vélez

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Question What is the worst job you have ever had? Craft & work
Los diferentes trabajos en los que he estado, después de mi graduación, han sido de 100 y 120 horas a la semana, especialmente empezando con Nubank. Básicamente vivía en el lugar de trabajo. Empezamos la compañía en una casa de dos pisos. Mi cofundador vivía en el segundo piso. Yo básicamente dormía en el primer piso, o pasaba muchas noches en el primer piso. No salimos de esa casa por seis o 12 meses porque trabajábamos como locos.
Recorded Vicky Dávila, interview, Semana, 1 October 2022 source ↗
Question What makes you want to keep learning? Attention & the world
I wish I knew more about Clojure, which is the programming language we use most at Nubank. If I did, I could better understand some of the more complex problems we're trying to solve, and I think I could ask better questions when we're setting priorities. I'd like to be able to communicate at that level with the technical side of our team, and I think they would appreciate it, too.
Recorded questionnaire, Sequoia Capital, 15 August 2018 source ↗
Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief
Vicky, qué pregunta más difícil (risas). Voy a hablarle de los casos que nos han inspirado, como Charles Feeney, cofundador de los Duty Free Shop en los aeropuertos. Él hizo eso en los años ochenta. Se volvió uno de los hombres más ricos del mundo cuando vendió su compañía e inmediatamente se dedicó a la filantropía y gastó todo su dinero en metas sociales.
Recorded Vicky Dávila, interview, Semana, 1 October 2022 source ↗

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Susan Wojcicki, Peter Thiel, Theodore Roosevelt, Wendy Kopp, Blake Masters, Yaa Gyasi

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