Do you listen to others or go your own way? There's a fine line here. We don't want to be blindly following the crowd and falling prey to lunacy of the lemmings. At the same time, we wouldn't get anything done if we always reinvented the wheel. My rule of thumb here is to first think about what problem I'm tackling from first principles. How would I solve this? Then, once I have an opinion, I'll research the problem and see what others have tried in the past. Are there any giants I can stand on the shoulders of? Here's an important distinction - the giants must in fact be experts who have been there and done that. Example, when it comes to investing, I'm going to listen to Warren Buffett. Exercise and fitness, I'm definitely not going to listen to the soda slurping billionaire. I want to know where people are because they can only lead one to that spot. My barber often tries to give me financial advice, and I just smile and remind myself of the counterfactual I've already learned from Charlie Munger of Howard Marks. Once I know where the smartest of humanity has gotten before me, I can determine whether my solution is better or not, and proceed as planned. Sometimes the prevailing expert (true experts who have done it, not academics who are theorizing about it) has already paved the way, and I can simply zag. Other times the existing wisdom is wrong, and I know I can zig myself to a better outcome. I'm not afraid to admit when I'm wrong - I'm also not afraid to recognize I'm right and the world is wrong. This is how I decide. What's your strategy?