4 ms·
In my view, Great Man Theory is a self-fulfilling prophecy with survival bias. Those who believe it are the most likely to take insane risks, and therefore most
by _xnmw 3y ago
In my view, Great Man Theory is a self-fulfilling prophecy with survival bias. Those who believe it are the most likely to take insane risks, and therefore most likely to end up at the head of some great movement, or die trying. All those great visionaries, those Napoleons, Jobs, Musks, Newtons and Galileos were also "natural maniacs" [1]. The ones who fail we simply call "insane" and history forgets them. Nevertheless success is from God (i.e. not the product of one's effort but outside of one's control, right place right time + luck). In other words, belief is a necessary but not sufficient condition.
[1] On Natural Maniacs: https://collabfund.com/blog/natural-maniacs/ https://collabfund.com/blog/natural-maniacs/
- bibanez 3y agoI agree that this is the sensible way to look at it. I oppose cults of personality on people for the same reason: even the most genial individual is human, and often not very well-balanced. Don't place made up expectations and be dissappointed, remain critical and fair (as much as you can) in judging public figures!
- Kon5ole 3y agoThe old Apple ad "think different" promotes the same perspective. People credited with notable changes throughout history are by definition "crazy" since sanity is defined by being the same as anyone else. Thinking that it's impossible to be great seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy as well. As someone once said, "whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right".
- rchaud 3y agoJobs was a '60s hippie who showed up to work at HP barefoot and un-showered. If anything, he deserves the title of 'the crazy one'. His era is very different from the one that Musk, Neumann, Kalanick and others grew up in. These were rich, connected people that wouldn't get out of bed without a multi-million dollar term sheet.