If the wind is strong enough, then even a fat pig that is not suited to flying at all, can take off and fly in the sky.

This is true about startups. And this is true about people.

In a boom environment, even bad ideas and bad executors get funded and funded heavily and begin to fly. Similarly, in a fast growing company, even mediocre employees grow their scope and position quickly.

This is also known as 'riding the wave'.

If we are flying, it may not be because we are an elegant bird that knows how to manoeuvre the skies. It may very well be because we are in the middle of a hurricane.

So, we need to constantly ask ourselves if we can fly only in the environment we are currently in (the hurricane) or if we can do it in several other (less windy) environments. If the answer is the former, our focus should be on turning it into the latter.

On the flip side, if we aren't flying, it may be because we are a fat pig that has no clue how to fly. But, it may also be because we are an elegant bird caught in very thin air.

Here too, we need to constantly ask ourselves what situation we are in and either focus on finding a place with thicker air or in turning from a fat pig to an elegant bird.