How do billionaires decide which business opportunities to pursue?

Short answer: Richard C. Wilson says a familiar industry rule can be worth testing. Larry Connor's maintenance teams handled 24 tickets per technician a day, compared with four to seven at a typical multifamily property.

At an event presentation, Richard C. Wilson shares patterns he says he has seen in billionaire books and interviews.

Richard C. Wilson on second order effects

Richard C. Wilson says to consider second, seventh, and eighth order effects, such as what might follow if AI replaces some white collar jobs. He says people can then position themselves for what comes next. (at 0:00)

Larry Connor on outsider hires

Richard C. Wilson recounts Larry Connor's approach to apartment buildings: hiring outsiders who handled 24 maintenance tickets a day per technician, compared with the typical four to seven. He says Connor attributed the difference to breaking industry assumptions. (at 0:57)

Kevin McGovern on business patterns

Richard C. Wilson quotes Kevin McGovern describing business as pattern matching: do much more of what works, try to fix what doesn't, then drop it if it still fails. (at 2:47)

Focus and bottlenecks

Richard C. Wilson says the PayPal group focused energy on the bottleneck and kept one priority at a time. He also quotes Warren Buffett advising people with 20 priorities to cross out 19. (at 5:36)

Richard C. Wilson on sunk costs

Richard C. Wilson describes sunk cost immunity as moving on when a project isn't working, even after spending time or money on it. He says many billionaires can do this without getting tied to an emotional connection to the project. (at 7:52)

"cross out 19 and focus on the one top priority."