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"The reasonable man bends himself to suit the world. The unreasonable man bends the world to suit himself. Without the unreasonable man, there can be no progres
by JacobAldridge 15y ago
"The reasonable man bends himself to suit the world. The unreasonable man bends the world to suit himself. Without the unreasonable man, there can be no progress."
Now, I agree with other here who claim you can be slightly narcissistic, unreasonable etc without being a psychopath. But there's something in the theory - and especially in that quote, which I love and whose source I will now try to track down - that applies to my goals in life, and probably to many startups.
Edit: George Bernard Shaw: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
- cheez 15y agoThis has nothing to do with being a psychopath. You can be stubborn and still be a lover. You can be firm and still donate your time. Psychopaths are "me, me, me". Startups are about "how can we enter into a mutually beneficial voluntary exchange?" So, no, psychopaths do not help startups at all. In fact, I'd say it would be quite rare for a diagnosed psychopath to have a successful startup.
- Mz 15y agoFrom what I have heard, serial killers are typically small business owners. It helps give them the freedom they need to do as they please. (I think that cuts both ways and can also be a force for good: Supposedly, the founding fathers of the US felt strongly that democracy was best safeguarded by having plenty of independent small business owners -- i.e. people positioned to speak their own minds publicly and not fear being fired for it.)
- cheez 15y agoI'd like to see those stats.
- Mz 15y agoI don't have any stats. It is something I have seen on TV shows (like 'Cold Case Files') where they talk about profiling -- the detailed kind, not the "fast driving ethnic male is probably a drug dealer" kind. But the kind where they run it past a forensic psychologist and get a detailed report to help them find a serial killer. They repeatedly say that serial killers tend to be small business owners, in part because they don't do well with a regular job where other folks are telling them what to do. And in two of the cases I recall, when they did find the killer, he was, in fact, a small business owner and closely fit many of their other parameters surprisingly well. I would suggest you google it if you are interested in actual stats. (If you do, sharing would be cool.) Sorry I can't do better than that. But have an upvote cuz it's a great question.
- JacobAldridge 15y agoHence "without being a psychopath". I was noting the connection between one of the article's themes and one of the more meaningful quotes I've applied in relation to my life starting up my own business.
- anthonyb 15y agoUnless, of course, they stole it from someone else.