In Chris Anderson’s book The Long Tail (detailed review here), he raised to my attention this stellar quote from Paul Graham on the efficiencies of following market trends in business. This lesson from Google I think can be applied to any industry and any business. It’s easy to move with currents than try to swim against them:

“The Web naturally has a certain grain, and Google is aligned with it. That’s why their success seems so effortless. They’re sailing with the wind, instead of sitting becalmed praying for a business model, like the print media, or trying to tack upwind by suing their customers, like Microsoft and the record labels. Google doesn’t try to force things to happen their way. They try to figure out what’s going to happen, and arrange to be standing there when it does. “(p70)