Actual shortcuts often appear to be detours
The crowd doesn't understand this. They're always looking for a shortcut that looks like a shortcut.
If you're merely following them, you probably won't get anywhere interesting. It's the detours that pay off.
[PS speaking of shortcuts that look like detours, congratulations to Tom Peters, godfather of the business book industry, our George Washington, Simón Bolívar and Ada Lovelace rolled into one, for winning the coveted Jack Covert award. When Tom launched In Search of Excellence, his plan wasn't to invent an industry. It just turned out that way.]