Dollar-per-Dollar, “Persistence” Has Paid Huge Dividends in India

There is little question that dollar-per-dollar, “persistence” has paid big dividends in India. Same for Israel, but I have written about Israel before.

Before the start of the COVID Pandemic, I gave three talks in Mumbai, India. In those talks I spoke about how I would again reform the FDA, as I helped (as co-lead of the project and as COO of the FDA) to do many years ago. 

It has been my experience that the FDA could use a major internal reform about every 30-years or so if it is “to be all that it can be.” If nothing else, both before I co-lead the last major internal reform of the FDA, to help make it much more productive in every sense, and after, I have continuously been persistent. It has handsomely paid off.

But, they say persistence always pays off. I believe that India has done more with less than any other country in the world. I am proud to say I am a big believer in India and of the difference in the world it has already made and is likely to make in future years using very little funding. And as the Indian economy grows, which I believe it will, I expect the same or greater returns-per-dollar and ones that are magnified in aggregate quantity many ten-fold.

I sure hope that for India continued persistence really does pay off. 

My personal experience, throughout the course of my long career, is that sometimes it does, and sometimes it turns out be a huge waste of time, physical energy, mental energy, passion, and money. 

How do you know the difference? You don’t. 

The only advice I can give, based on experience in both directions (great wins, some painful defeats, and some very delayed gratification; I put salve on the agony of defeat by recognizing that: I almost always learn 10x more from defeats as I do from successes. My advice: stick with a great idea so long as you continue to believe in it (whether or not anyone else does) and your mental energy and passion for it lasts. 

Time, physical energy, and money actually aren’t scarce. But, mental energy and passion are as scarce as gold. If either of these last two comes to an abrupt end, jump ship. Immediately. 

Otherwise, “stay the course.” The biggest problem here is like the story of the frog being brought to a boil on a stove. If the heat starts very low and progresses very slowly, the frog will never jump out of the pot. If it starts high and gets very, very hot in a few minutes, he notices this, and then has the good sense to jump out of the pot. If you have stuck with an idea for four decades without great progress, it is probably, at long last, time to jump. Or, it’s not! I am still riding one for which I have great passion—and for which I retain great mental energy. (Actually, both are not just healthy, but in super-mode.) 

Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison felt that so long as they were learning (there are three key purposes to life: learn; grow; and make a difference in the lives of others) more about their idea (but just don’t fly a kite in a thunderstorm; Franklin should have been killed; it was a miracle that he wasn’t), and especially why, in the real world (but not in their mind or on paper), their ideas were filled with problems or impracticalities, or were for now, beyond their modest grasp, but should soon, or at least eventually (i.e., through enormous persistence) be brought to heel, they stayed the course. 

And, if they did continue to learn, grow, and especially learn about the real nature of their idea and the difference it might make, and thereby thoughtfully modify it (insanity is trying the exact same thing over and over without receiving once the hoped-for result), they would produce something (a product or a strategy) of enormous benefits to mankind—and of fair returns to themselves—they happily pressed on. Just a bit of my own real experiences: I sure do hope that persistence does pay off. 

I have had some great successes, but some of my ventures have taken a decade (laser eye surgery) or even decades (telehealth) to take off. My decades-long work on devices and strategies for “far better managing infectious disease spread” (a scourge of mankind for hundreds of thousands of years) in the US and worldwide is just about to bear fruit, again after decades of effort. Wish me luck. 

I pray that this time, again, persistence surely does pay off in the real world. I will be very disappointed if it doesn’t, but I likely will press on for another decade or so, because the likely benefits to mankind might be huge, if I do. 

*A final word of advice: If you might be searching for a job or an advisory or full board seat, I suggest you bring to the interview tons of persistence, mental energy and unique and powerful levels of passion for the idea the company hopes to prove, develop and launch. Never, never take any of these positions unless you really, really believe in the idea, and in the huge value to mankind it might, with time, provide.