CNN Money has an excellent articles where they interview 22 people from political leaders, company executives, investors, entrepreneurs, and even a chef, asking them to share the best advice they ever got. Below is a summary of their answers:

• “Keep it Simple” – Tiger Woods
• “Show, don’t tell” – Jim Sinegal
• “Do what you love” – Mort Zuckerman
• “Empower a subordinate” – Lloyd Blankfein
• “Push beyond your comfort zone” – Mohamed El-Erian
• “Ignore conventional wisdom” – David Axelrod
• “Trust your instincts” – Tory Burch
• “Read everything” – Jim Rogers
• “Be effective, not popular” – Scott Boras
• “Use failure to motivate yourself” – Mika Brzezinski
• “Focus on performance, not power” – Colin Powell
• “Take advice from smart people” – Shai Agassi
• “Make an impression” – Sukhinder Singh Cassidy
• “Hire a coach” – Eric Schmidt
• “Set realistic goals” – Meredith Whitney
• “Listen” – Lauren Zalaznick
• “Don’t talk shop” – Julian Robertson
• “Treat it like it’s yours” – Thomas Keller
• “Underpromise and overdeliver” – Robin Li
• “Don’t pursue titles and dollars” – Miles White
• “Self-doubt is normal” – Aaron Patzer
• “Be nice to people” – Niklas Savander

My favourite three from the list are “take advice from smart people”, “Keep it Simple”, and “Show, don’t tell.” Each of these three advices I have come to experience as being true wisdom and highly effective in a diversity of situations.

To read more about these advice, the context, and where they came from, see the original article: Best advice I ever got.