"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose."
— Bill Gates
Success Is A Lousy Teacher It
Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.
About this quote
This line appears in Chapter 3 of The Road Ahead (1995). Gates used it to explain a psychological trap that afflicts high-performing individuals and organizations: success creates false confidence, suppresses the questioning of assumptions, and makes people less vigilant against emerging threats. He cited Microsoft's own history as evidence, noting that the company had nearly missed the significance of the internet.
Source
The Road Ahead, Chapter 3 (1995)
