> I'm curious what exactly that person is doing. You seem to be describing a leader but not necessarily tech/science innovator. He’s a research scientist at a

> I'm curious what exactly that person is doing. You seem to be describing a leader but not necessarily tech/science innovator. He’s a research scientist at a tech company. He resolved a central open problem in his field while in academia, then entered the industry to work on applied research. > Lack of focus applies to things that are not interesting to these people, but then they become hyper-focused and even obsessed about their own ideas. Maybe. But you saying this is part of my original point: is that actually what the quote means? What you’re saying sounds like the stereotypical conception of a genius, not necessarily the reality of high performing innovators. I feel like it’s hard for me focus on things that aren’t interesting to me, and I dive into things that interest me. But that also describes...essentially everyone I know, if I’m reasonably objective about it. If we can keep exchanging anecdata that supports or challenges that description, it’s no longer a description of the world, but rather just a description of particular people (and one without predictive impact). A description isn’t impactful if you have to keep clarifying its interpretation in order to make it work. Reasonable people can disagree about whether it’s fair to say your interpretation is what the quote is actually getting at, and in any case we could find obvious counterexamples for it.