I recently attended the 2008 Internet Summit in close by Chapel Hill, NC. The line-up for the event was somewhat impressive for the Southeast- bringing in Gian Fulgoni Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, comScore, Tim Schiegel CEO of ShareThis & Mike Doernberg CEO of Reverb Nation.

One of the speakers that really struck a chord, and delivered such a compelling speech was Bob Young.  Bob originally co-founded Red Hat and then moved on to build one of the most successful self publishing companies in the world.

One of the best attributes I think Bob Young posses is the ability to be REAL.  What I mean by real is that there is no false facade when he speaks… heck, he doesn’t even really get dressed up to speak in front hundreds of professionals!  and with that, he speaks humbly and gives great sound advice. Here is some bullet points I learned:

-Bob Young explains, “I am lazy. I must have a coping mechanism to get out of bed. So I figured I would  only do the things I love.” Define and concentrate in on your coping mechanisms. Never waste time doing things you don’t want to do.

-There is not one way to do things. Yeah, there are tips and pointers that are always good to follow, but there are different road maps to any one destination.

-Mistakes will happen. Even when you think you have everything figured out, you are probably going to miss the boat on something.