We shouldn't follow the people we most admire. Instead, we should follow what they admire.
Podcast: [Patrick Collison: Earning Your Stripes [The Knowledge Project Ep. #32]](Patrick Collison: Earning Your Stripes [The Knowledge Project Ep. #32])
I first learned this from the Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō's quote: "Do Not Seek To Follow In The Footsteps Of The Wise, Seek What They Sought." And in the podcast interview, Patrick Collison said that we shouldn't follow the people we most admire but should follow what they admire. Sometimes finding out who influences the people we admire and what's upstream can be more valuable. This also reminds me of Weekly I/O33.4 about Peter Thiel on Mimetic Theory:
Peter Thiel suggested that we should be careful who we copy. If we want to follow a role model, find somebody in a different stage of life that we won't compete with. In David Perell's words, "If you're going to model a famous writer, pick a dead one such as Tolstoy or Hemingway".