You Don't Have to be Weird
I don’t think we need to emulate the weird behaviors of famous people to be successful. For instance, I heard recently Mark Zuckerberg wears the same thing every day because it’s one less choice to make: one less distraction from his complete focus on Facebook.
That’s weird. And, to be fair, most of us are weird.
If a microscope were placed on my life, you’d probably be shocked at the weird things I do. I won’t post them here to save us all the embarrassment. I won’t pretend these weird activities somehow make me a better entrepreneur either. Certainly, they make me unique, and I suppose that’s worth something. However, I’d be shocked to see someone copy these idiosyncrasies in an attempt to achieve success. Let me save you the trouble: it won’t work.
It’s often forgotten why people are successful. Mark Zuckerberg is successful because he created something that revolutionized how we interact with each other. His weird clothing choices have nothing to do with it.
Here’s what I think: wearing the same bland t-shirt and hoodie everyday won’t help you make better decisions or provide you better focus. I don't care how many successful people do it. I just don't think it will make a difference. And for the people out there who think being weird is a prerequisite to being a founder, CEO, or entrepreneur (as other articles on here have claimed)—it’s not.
Why emulate the odd behaviors of successful people? The world only needs one Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. Your professional focus should be on developing your own potential. Cliche though it may seem, you should set the example you want others to follow.
And, if that’s not inspirational enough, feel free to post this original I came up with to your Facebook or LinkedIn:
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- How Not to Make Bad Decisions with Data
- How Working in Data Helped Me
- Decision Making Shouldn't be this Complex
- What I've learned since starting a business this year
- Why Excel is more important now than ever before
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I'm an internationally recognized analytics professional and data visualization expert, author, and speaker. I'm owner of Cambia Factor, a data consulting agency and the author of Advanced Excel Essentials. I've consulted with and provided training for NATO, the Pentagon, and Financial Times among others, My work has been cited by and quoted in Associated Press, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Dice News, and American Express OPEN Forum. I've held the prestigious Excel MVP award from Microsoft since 2013.
I challenge companies to rethink how they use their data. Data isn't the answer, but the answer is in your data.
CEO, ALPS Leadership | CEO Leadership Performance Catalyst | Executive Leadership Coach | Author |Thought Leader | Speaker |
8 年Let's not confuse being unconventional with being weird. Conventional thinking always leads to conventional results. Conventional results are by definition - mediocre. People tend to label those who dare to question things that are obvious to others as weird. I'll take weird over the status quo any day of the week!
I help CEOs, Business Owners, and Senior Executives attain the kind of success they only thought other people achieved.
8 年I'm not so sure I agree. Several of the CEOs I coach are happy to be "weird" and credit their success with that attribute. Others steer away from being "weird", strive to "do the right thing" and aren't very successful. If weird means spooky and creepy, then yes I would say that's probably not a good thing. If weird means not following the norm, being authentic and questioning the conventional and ordinary , then I would say go for it.
out off order for the a time needed to recover.
10 年but it helps