The Framework of Filtering Noise

Should you take advice from anyone?

Short answer: It depends.

To put it plainly: the world is full of people eager to hand out maps to destinations they’ve never actually visited. If you want to accelerate your trajectory, learning how to audit and filter the noise around you isn't just helpful—it’s a survival mechanism.

The Nuances of Advice

I have been fortunate enough in my career to experience a lifetime’s worth of trajectory in a very short amount of time. I went from a boatyard worker to a sign writer, to a six-figure e-commerce founder, to a software acquisition exit, and finally to where I currently sit as a Chief Product and Technology Officer.

I’ve worked alongside people from award-rate sign writers all the way to billionaires in a boardroom. As you might expect, the advice varies wildly depending on who is sitting across from you.

When I was pulling late nights scaling my early e-commerce store, my sign-writing coworkers told me I needed to "slow down and enjoy being 20." Corporate executives have offered endless insights into "why I need to find work-life balance." Others have told me to stay single, get a hobby, find a partner, try X, or go see Y.

I’ve heard it all—and there is a good chance you’ve heard similar. The question isn't how to avoid hearing it, but how to navigate and filter it.

Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

I am a firm believer in a simple rule: Only take career advice from people who are sitting in a position you actively want to be in.

This doesn't mean cutting people out, belittling advice given by others, or looking down on anyone for their current status. But it does mean taking everything with a heavy grain of salt.

Did I plan to listen to my fellow sign writers when I was building my business? Why would I? Look at where their own advice had landed them.

The exact same rule applies to executives in the boardroom. I don't want to be like them—they’ve spent thirty years working for board members, whereas I want to be an equity holder.

Whenever someone hands you "critical advice," audit the giver:

1. How has this mindset applied to their own life?

2. Has it placed them where you want to go?

If the answer is no, tread with extreme caution. Often, the best play is simply applying the exact opposite of what they suggested. When complacent people tell you to ease off the gas, that is usually your signal to press the pedal to the floor.

Changing Times and Legacy Habits

Another critical filter you must apply is context: When was this advice actually relevant to the person giving it?

Everyone my age knows the classic piece of advice: "Look them in the eye and give them a firm handshake." That’s great in theory, but when an advertised role has 1,500 remote applicants, we aren't operating in the 1950s anymore.

I see this same gap in the boardroom. Even though the board above our company is collectively worth the GDP of a small nation, it doesn't mean their tactical advice is golden. They built their foundations in a completely different generation. I have genuinely had a billionaire suggest to our Chief Marketing Officer that we hire "attractive young women to work the phones" for our lead funnels.

Billionaires! Operating on four-decade-old playbooks.

Finding the Golden Nuggets

It’s easy to spot bad advice, but extracting high-grade, actionable wisdom from the right people takes deliberate skill.

Ask questions. For the love of God, ask questions.

When you get the rare opportunity to sit across from someone who is standing where you want to be, never miss the chance to learn how they engineered their position. But you must be precise.

Lazy questions yield lazy answers. Asking "How did you get to where you are?" usually results in a generic high-level speech. Instead, pinpoint the exact step you are trying to solve:

• "How do you structurally approach X problem?"

• "What specific investment did you make at this inflection point?"

• "What made you choose path Y over path Z?"

The greatest insights I still rely on today came from asking direct, purposeful questions relevant to my immediate stepping stone. 90% of genuinely successful operators are more than happy to lend insight if you show up with sharp, respectful questions.

The Advice Framework

To recap the blueprint:

1. Audit the Giver: Evaluate whether their mindset has put them in a position you actually want to occupy.

2. Account for Generational Lag: Recognize that the business world changes rapidly. What worked fifteen years ago may be completely obsolete today.

3. Ask Precise Questions: Don't ask for vague life stories. Ask targeted questions relevant to the exact hurdle sitting in front of you right now.