The other day, I watched a recorded lecture on Google Video by University of Waterloo Economics Professor Larry Smith entitled "How the World Will Try to Stop You and Your Idea". The lecture was given to students interested in entrepreneurship with the goal of advising them on how to overcome resistance.
The points that I took away from the lecture were:
- Entrepreneurs, especially young ones, are often given mixed messages. They are encouraged to change the world but when they try to are told that they won't be successful.
- The vast majority of people are busy beyond belief. While it may seem like most are incapable of substantive thought, the fact of the matter is that they are simply too busy to do so.
- Because they are too busy, most people rarely listen closely. This means that their feedback is very superficial and shouldn't be taken seriously.
- Common criticisms are "it's been tried before" and "it won't work". It's important to counter these comments with probative questions like "when was it tried?" and "why not?". A lack of response indicates a baseless criticism. The rare factual response may provide useful information to refine the idea.
- Young entrepreneurs are often told to get more experience, earn their "spurs", wait their turn, and suffer a few failures before starting a venture. This implies that entrepreneurs should get more degrees, work in a big company for 15 years, and wait until their forties to start a company. This is nonsense, history is full of examples of young, inexperienced people changing the world.
- Instead of fighting resistance, avoid it. Don't tell anyone what you are really up to. Keep your own counsel and only tell people what they need to know. The best way to change the world is to sneak up on it.
- Ultimately, courage is needed to ignore negative feedback. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to acquire it.
Regrettably, one of the two cameras used to record the lecture had a faulty audio connection. As a result, parts of the recording are not understandable. It's a shame that the audio from the working camera wasn't dubbed into the recording to fix the problem. Regardless, the talk is still worth listening to for the audio that is understandable.
I found many of Professor Smith's comments insightful and in-line with my experiences. For example, I've spent the majority of my career in advanced development and have heard the "it won't work" and "it's been tried before" feedback almost daily. Professor Smith's talk helped me realize that I now reflexively ask the "why" and "when" follow up questions. As he indicated, the criticism is often either outdated or baseless.
I also often run into the too-busy-to-think dilemma and presently spend the majority of my time supporting long-running campaigns to gradually get people to recognize and embrace innovative opportunities. These campaigns can be a lengthy process but the alternative is rash decisions based on limited thought which I think causes more harm than good.
Although I don't like to admit it, I have allowed myself to fall victim to the "need more experience" feedback more than once - sometimes it was even self-generated after working alongside extremely talented colleagues. The result, I now have multiple degrees and 14 years experience working in a large company. The good news is that I am approaching my forties so perhaps "my time" is nearing! Humor aside, I now recognize that focus and persistence are often more important for success than experience. That said, I strongly believe in continuous self-development and am always eager to obtain new knowledge and experiences. I think it's a matter of keeping a healthy balance between humility and hubris.
In summary, I really enjoyed this lecture. Professor Smith is clearly very thoughtful about many topics and passionate about helping students - both were inspiring to watch. If you have the time, I recommend seeing it for yourself.
A few years ago, I had a similar experience with another of Professor Smith's recorded lectures on the potential of expert systems. That lecture made a significant impression on me and continues to factor into my long-term career goals. I'm presently reading Professor Smith's book on the topic, Beyond the Internet: how expert systems will truly transform business, and look forward to writing its review in a future post.
In the immortal words of Guy Kawasaki, don't let the bozos grind you down!
