Most advice is right for the person giving it

Rohan Mahtani argues that most advice fits the person giving it: smart people can offer opposite but sensible prescriptions because each rule solved a problem tied to their wiring and circumstances. He uses concrete contrasts - Steve Jobs’ counsel to “follow your passion” versus Mark Cuban’s emphasis on following effort, “say yes to everything” versus “say no to almost everything,” and tech teams choosing microservices or monoliths - to show how context determines what works. Simple, “boring” answers often matter (e.g., weight loss boils down to eating less, despite fancier debates or new drugs), and charisma misleads: research shows confident delivery makes statements seem credible even when wrong.

Practical takeaways focus on testing and self-knowledge. Before adopting advice, identify the problem it solved for the giver and whether those conditions match your situation; know your natural preferences and limits; run small experiments to gather personal data (Mahtani’s own LinkedIn content experiment is an example). Cultivate skepticism toward absolute certainty and mentally discount charisma. Use AI not as an oracle but as a sparring partner to argue the opposite and surface missing assumptions - a strategy supported by recent studies showing chatbots readily generate persuasive cases for either side.