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“That’s not gonna work”, I hear myself saying this often. I am probably shooting down an idea more often than being interested in it. Yes, I feel it. In an atmosphere full of sales-pitch positivism around us, being the one who breaks the reality to people always gets classified as a skeptic. Skeptism in western society gets the vibe of negativity or even cynicism. This allows, the “fired up optimistic” people to breezily sweep aside skeptical doubts without having to go to the bother of checking if they are well-grounded.
Well, if you are putting people around you in that category, if you are the one who basks in optimism bias, if you believe that negativity is the real cause of almost all the world’s ills — then all I have got to say to you is “Try harder dude, skepticism is hard to come by, and be thankful that someone skeptic of your ideas is around you”.
When Michelangelo finished his masterpiece, the Statue of David, the pope asked him, “Tell me the secret to your genius, how did you create such a masterpiece?”. Michelangelo replied, “Oh it’s very easy, all I did was to remove everything that was not David”.
Yeah I am of older generation, typically associated with cynicism. But old age also means that I have seen more than others the next generation and am tired of this celebration of mediocrity all around us in the name of “encouragement”, “positivity” and whatnot. You know what? it stopped working a long time ago. The world that we live in today is inundated with such messages so much that it’s lost its meaning. It is become a de-facto response to everything. Hardly a days go by when I don’t hear the word “Great Job!” said to a kid. It doesn’t matter if he or she gets a “C” or an A+, wins or loses the match, both of them usually get the same “encouragement”. If my kids ever get a “C”, they don’t get to talk to me for a week (Luckily that has not happened yet). If I don’t tell them that “C” is not acceptable, “C” is not “Good job”, who will?
As a founder of a company, I am in an ecosystem of people where there is always someone who “made it”. If you ask them the secret to their success, chances are you are going to hear something very commonplace. The only thing common is all of those responses being all over the place. Here is what I hear most of the time:
- We kept it lean and mean
- We went all out
- Faked it till we made it
- Start with baby steps, don’t think about the scale
- We knew we were going to be big, we thought about scale first
You get the idea! The clear pattern is that there is no pattern. Conditions that work for one company may not work for another. Timing that works for one company may not work for another. Have you noticed that all “secret to success” always happens in hindsight? Well, yeah, Of course.
Here is one from me, along the lines of Michelangelo response to the pope. Just don’t do something that’s “not gonna work”. Knowledge of what “not to do” is much more helpful than the knowledge of what “to do”. In doubt? Consult a skeptic.
Ancient Hindus had some great knowledge about this kind of thing. According to them, the spiritual goals of Nirvana or Moksha were achieved not through focusing on positives but by removing everything that will hinder your way to spiritual bliss. The path of renunciation means the path of subtraction, where you have a deep knowledge of what you should not do.
There may not be a secret to success, but there are things that prevent chances of failure. If you know what they are, chances are that success will find its way. So, while we are in the quest for El Dorado, focusing on where you put your step with the same dedication as an optimistic adventurer may help you survive long enough to get there. Of course, someone would argue that so many recent successes in the technology world have happened with quirky, arrogant, “doing everything that you shouldn’t do”, founders. Yes, you can walk into a treasure without crossing mountains, it’s possible, but are you willing to take very low chances.
I want to be friends with people who would throw my ideas into the trash can right in front of me. Only people with knowledge and confidence can do that. Yeah, there could be some jerks in that category as well, but I’d still be friends with them. Why? because if the person’s cynicism is coming from years of experience., this experience may or may not tell me what to do, but it will help me evaluate things that I might have overlooked.
In his 1989 letter to shareholders, Mr. Buffett said, “Easy does it. After 25 years of buying and supervising a great variety of businesses, Charlie and I have not learned how to solve difficult business problems. What we have learned is to avoid them”
Something to think about?
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