25/05/2026
You CAN solve that problem...
__If you invest in knowing it deeply [something important you may need to consider]
I recently read a new book called "The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence," by Sebastian Mallaby. This is one book you all need to read. One of the many entrepreneurial lessons from Demis Hassabis' incredible life so far came from an important decision he made, which changed his life and probably the world.
When Demis was only 17 years old, he was so gifted as a game developer that a company offered him a salary of £1 million. That was in 1993 and probably equivalent to about £2.4m today. He had already finished his A-levels in 1992 at age 16, then worked a gap year at Bullfrog Productions, where he co-created and coded a game called "Theme Park" that sold 10 million++ copies!
He turned down the £1 million because he felt he did not yet have enough knowledge, instead studying for an undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Cambridge University. After graduation, he decided to launch an innovative game development company called Elixir Studios.
From the beginning, Demis chose education over instant wealth, built a games development company with only limited success, wound it down in 2005 and sold the IP, then returned to education, this time to pursue a PhD in cognitive neuroscience.
After being awarded his doctorate in 2009, Demis co-founded DeepMind in 2010. In 2014 he sold it to Google for an amount reported between $400m-$650m, becoming CEO of its AI operations which are now a $Tn+ dollar business.
Whilst it is not easy to ascertain how much he is paid today, I’m sure it is much, much more than he was offered as a teenager... and he holds stock in Google’s listed parent company, Alphabet, worth billions.
Most importantly, he was able to tackle a challenge for humanity that will likely lead to the discovery of countless life-transforming medical treatments and even elimination of most diseases as we know them, and that is just for a start!
What is the lesson here?
I know some will point out to me that people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs actually dropped out of university and ended up doing extraordinary things. I will not argue with that, but caution you that it can be misleading. Those guys were intense intellects who were able to continue their education on their own, even as they undertook their entrepreneurial pursuits. Most of us are not in that league!
With all humility, I want to say that I see a lot of people suggesting solutions to problems that it's clear they themselves have no real knowledge of how to go about solving. Or they have what I call “casual knowledge” picked up from an online platform. This is not sufficient for you to participate in resolving that problem.
If you see a problem and you think you have a solution for it [and it does not have to be technical; it could be economic or social] why not go back to college for 2 or 3 years, and apply yourself to solving that problem, through and after that study?
Another dear friend of mine who now leads a major international organisation took a sabbatical from his job and lost opportunities for promotion whilst he was away. He spent the time away taking academic courses to study a problem that had been troubling him.
Not long after he returned from his education-focused sabbatical, the CEO position suddenly opened up. When the interviewers heard the studies he'd done during his break, they offered him the job!
__There are temptations out there that seem to offer instant riches and shortcuts to a world of [unearned] fame and stature. Be careful with them!
Don’t look at those who APPEAR to have succeeded without education or qualifications simply because they have won this and that tender, and make the mistake of seeing yourself as a failure or somehow left behind in comparison.
As King David once aptly reminded us: I have been young, and now I’m old and I have seen many things… Fret not yourself at the success of those who prosper through ungodly methods. [Psalm 37]
Focus on doing things the right way, which often requires a long and arduous path with no glamour or applause.
Image credit: KWB - Ubuntu Hope via AI [noting AI makes mistakes]. Our young people must be prepared for the future... which is now!
