Manik Gupta
Surround Yourself with A+ People
Inspired by Manik Gupta episode
Manik Gupta's career advice for PMs applies to parenting: stick with the people who make you better, and play the long game.
Manik Gupta says hire people better than you because A+ people attract more A+ people. Which sounds great until you realize the parenting version is: your kid's friend group is basically their future résumé, and you have zero control over who shows up at the playground.
You can't exactly interview the four-year-old who eats sand. There's no reference check for the kid who taught yours to say "butt" seventeen times in a row. And yet somehow you're supposed to "intentionally choose their peer group" like you're curating a startup team, when really you're just praying the reasonable-looking mom at the park isn't raising a tiny chaos agent.
The worst part? A+ kids absolutely do attract more A+ kids. They have playdates at each other's houses with organized activities and age-appropriate snacks. Meanwhile, you're stuck with the kid whose idea of sharing is throwing toys at people's heads, and now that's your whole social circle.
