The Impossible Task ...

The Impossible Task of Pleasing Everyone

Looking at almost all the posts, opinions, and Jack’s genuine willingness to listen, I realized something. No matter how much Jack tries to satisfy some managers, others will always come along who aren’t happy. Then those dissatisfied players flood the forum, and Jack tries to do his best to please them as well. And so it turns into a snowball effect, where the game eventually ends up pleasing no one.

I stopped playing the game after reaching the maximum level. Back then it was level 20 after 1 year and 8 months I had finally made it there. And then everything changed. A new feature arrived: managers could develop their own engines. I was outraged. How could the game change like that? Now that I had finally reached the top, there was another challenge waiting for me? No way. Out of pure stubbornness, I decided to quit the game.

Today I come back and the game has evolved even further: level 40, W2W, chassis suppliers. And I see my 2023 self reflected in many of the people complaining out of sheer convenience. Those who point out real improvements, like VIP features and the issue of drivers and staff being weakened 3X aren’t part of that group. Some things do need to be fixed, but that’s part of the natural process of a game evolving.

So I came across a fable that I think applies not only to Jack, but to all of you as well.

The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey

A man and his son were traveling along the road with their donkey.

First, the father rode the donkey while the boy walked beside him.
People who passed by said, “What a cruel father, riding while the poor boy has to walk!”

Hearing this, the father got off and let the boy ride the donkey.

Soon other people saw them and said, “What a rude boy, riding while his father has to walk!”

So the boy got down and both of them rode the donkey together.

Before long, more people began to complain: “That poor donkey! How can they both ride on it like that?”

Not wanting to be criticized, the father and son both got off and walked beside the donkey.

But people laughed and said, “Look at those fools! They have a donkey and still walk!”

Trying to satisfy everyone, the father and son finally decided to carry the donkey themselves.
People laughed even louder at the ridiculous sight.

Moral:
If you try to please everyone, you will end up pleasing no one.

"Walk the path your heart believes in.
Give it your soul, your courage, your truth.
Listen to the whisper of your gut,
and let the noise of others fade like wind."

Those who truly understand will understand.

Several of the richest and most successful entrepreneurs openly express the same principle as the fable in this forum post: you cannot satisfy everyone, so you must follow a clear vision even if people criticize you. Here are concrete examples.

1. Jeff Bezos
Founder of Amazon.
Bezos repeatedly said that innovation requires accepting criticism and misunderstanding.
“If you can’t tolerate critics, don’t do anything new or interesting.”
He also said companies must be: “willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time.”
When Amazon started: Many analysts said selling books online would fail. Amazon lost money for years. Critics said the company was reckless. Bezos ignored the pressure and kept investing long-term in things like: cloud computing (AWS), Kindle, global logistics. Today Amazon is one of the largest companies in the world.

This perfectly matches the “man, boy and donkey” idea: if Bezos had followed every criticism, Amazon would never have existed.

2. Elon Musk
CEO of Tesla, Inc. and SpaceX.
Musk faced massive criticism for years: electric cars were “impossible to scale”, reusable rockets were “too expensive”, Tesla would go bankrupt. He often summarizes his philosophy as: If something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are against you. Instead of trying to satisfy critics, he continued pursuing: reusable rockets, mass-market electric cars, private spaceflight. Today:SpaceX dominates commercial launches, Tesla became the world’s most valuable car company.

3. Bill Gates
Founder of Microsoft.
In the 1980s–1990s many companies thought the personal computer market would remain small. Gates ignored the skepticism and pushed the idea that: “A computer on every desk and in every home.” Many experts said that vision was unrealistic. He kept building software for PCs anyway which ultimately made Microsoft the dominant operating-system company.

4. Steve Jobs
Co-founder of Apple Inc..
Jobs was famous for not listening to market research when he believed strongly in a product. 
Examples: iPhone without physical keyboard (critics said impossible), removing floppy drive from the iMac, removing headphone jack. Many people complained each time, but those decisions shaped the modern smartphone and computer industry.

The Pattern Among Billionaire Innovators
Across many of the richest entrepreneurs, the same principle appears:

Principle Meaning
Strong vision They decide where they want to go
Ignore some criticism Not every opinion should change strategy
Long-term thinking They tolerate short-term complaints
Innovation requires misunderstanding New ideas always look wrong at first

This aligns almost perfectly with the moral of the fable in that forum post:
Trying to satisfy everyone leads to failure; leadership requires choosing a direction and accepting criticism.