Contra-Thinking as Default Mental Operating System

“Milken does not run with the herd. He is, said Joseph, “one of the greatest natural contra-thinkers I’ve ever seen. If you say, ‘It’s a nice day,’ he thinks about the fact that people think it’s a nice day, maybe it’s not nice somewhere else, maybe it’s not gonna be nice, compared to what, what do you mean, nice day? He really thinks that way. That is perfect for an investor, or a trader, to be a contra-thinker. It turns out it is perfect for a finance business, trying to figure out what’s going to happen in the future.””

“One of Gobhai’s key premises is that most great ideas are, as he says, “born bad”—by which he means that one is more likely to make one’s way to the great idea from the seemingly crazy or outrageous than from the cautious and sensible.”