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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.

BM
Blake Masters

Venture capitalist; co-author of Zero to One; 2022 U.S. Senate candidate in Arizona

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
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.

Mark Granza, IM—1776 interview, recorded via Zoom, 8 December 2021, 17 December 2021 source ↗

Others on this question

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Wendy Kopp Founder of Teach For America; chief executive of Teach For All
We focus on people and on cultivating local leadership: Wendy Kopp
Recorded Sachitra Gurung, Kathmandu Post, 28 July 2019 source ↗
Stephen Sondheim Composer and lyricist for the musical theatre
I'm a lazy writer. My idea of heaven is not writing. On the other hand, I'm obviously compulsive about it.
Recorded N/A, N/A, Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies (2001 ed): Art. Stephen Sondheim p. 408, 2001 source ↗
Hillary Clinton Former U.S. Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee
I know that I can be perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional. But I had to learn as a young woman to control my emotions. And that's a hard path to walk. Because you need to protect yourself, you ...
Recorded Humans of New York, Humans of New York, Time, 8 September 2016 source ↗
David Vélez Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank
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.
Recorded Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, interview, Fortune, 9 October 2023 source ↗

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Wendy Kopp, Theodore Roosevelt, Wynton Marsalis, Yaa Gyasi, Hillary Clinton, Stephen Sondheim

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