This document summarizes key learnings from books, articles, and podcasts that Yoann Lopez engaged with in 2021. It shares quotes from various authors on topics like working hard even when unrecognized, focusing on affection over anger to change minds, and how taking creative risks without overplanning for every possibility. The quotes provide wisdom on dealing with critics, the nature of success, and an effective approach to creative problem solving advocated by Mel Brooks.

1. Key Learnings 2021
Yoann Lopez

2. • These are quotes from book / articles / podcasts / etc. I
read or listened to in 2021
• Sometimes I forgot the author unfortunately. 😞
• My goal is to read them from time to time in order to
absorb their wisdom

3. If you're not being listened to, stop talking. I learned
this
fi
rst while training my dog. Being ignored
doesn't help anyone.
Strong argumentative skills beat weak argumentative
skills, but it's only a debate if the other person cares.
- Spencer Wright

4. You have to work hard in
the dark to shine in the
light.
- Kobe Bryant

5. Haters are a good problem to
have. Nobody hates the good
ones. They hate the great ones.
- Kobe Bryant

6. Who controls the past controls
the future. Who controls the
present controls the past.
- George Orwell

7. Never attribute to malice
that which can be
adequately explained by
stupidity.
- Hanlon's Razor

8. The more complex or valuable is whatever
you’re trying to sell, the more important it is for
you to build a world around that idea, where
other people can walk in, explore, and hang
out - without you having to be there with them
the whole time. You need to build a world so
rich and captivating that others will want to
spend time in it, even if you’re not there.
- Alex Danco

9. Never react to an evil in
such a way as to augment
it
- Simone Weil

10. Know the rules like a pro so
you can break them like an
artist
- Pablo Picasso

11. Dans l'aventure, rien ne
doit être laissé à l'imprévu
mais tout est imprévisible.
- Paul-Émile Victor

12. the best products don’t always
win, but the products that win
become the best products.
- Unknown

13. The way to change others'
minds is with affection, and
not anger.
- Dalai Lama XIV

14. Risk is what's left when you
think you've thought of
everything.
– Carl Richards

15. Happiness is the difference
between what you have,
and your de
fi
nition of
enough.
- More to That blog

16. Mel Brooks had an interesting way of getting what he wanted
creatively.
When studios gave him notes - for example, they ordered him
to
fi
re Gene Wilder on The Producers and remove the farting
scene from Blazing Saddles - he didn't
fi
ght them about it.
He just said yes...and then never did it.
In most cases, they'd forget.
As he explains:
"Don't
fi
ght them. Don't waste your time struggling with them
and trying to make sense to them. They'll never understand.”
- Mel Brooks