Things you learn dating Cate Hall

I think the crucial difference with Cate is that she has really, really internalized the idea that everyone is winging it, which, luckily, means that you can wing it at everything, too. Like, the people writing symphonies? They’re just flailing in symphony-like ways as best they can. People who run biotech companies? They have just as much impostor syndrome as you do. I think Cate doesn’t allow herself to think she’s not allowed to do things. She said to me once: “it’s so corny, but believing that you can do it really is centrally important.”

This mentality enables her to approach potentially intimidating enterprises with eager open-mindedness; she is always willing to ask dumb questions, think from first principles, and look for ways to improve. It also allows her to shorten the gap between thought and action significantly; she is rarely paralyzed by uncertainty, given that she accepts uncertainty as a universal phenomenon.