The Crazy Ones

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ― Rob Siltanen

Steve Jobs didn’t just create a computer. He created a form of technology that was a direct extension of human imagination. Human imagination is limitless, thus Apple was not limited by technology, but only limited by human creativity.

We must understand that our brand, our product, our non-profit, our corporation, our identity, if set up properly, can only be limited by your ability to create…to imagine. That’s how you change the world. That’s how you make a plastic box with wires, chips, and tubes, revolutionize culture.

Getting confused about causation and correlation

Seth Godin’s post this morning hit the nail on the head.

Have you noticed that in most cities, every time there are lots of umbrellas, it’s raining?

From this analysis, the obvious way to make it rain is to be sure that everyone has an umbrella, preferably a black one, since that seems to be the kind that’s most visible during big storms.

The trappings of successful marketing (or successful anything for that matter) aren’t always the causes. Sometimes they are the caused. Just because Apple did something doesn’t mean that it was responsible for Apple’s success. It may be that they were successful despite some of the things they did, not because of them.

I see a lot of individuals and brands struggle with this concept. We seem to forget sometimes all that goes into success. Being open to visualize success as the result of controllable AND uncontrollable causes is key. Sometimes there are things we can proactively do to aid in success, but sometimes is it as simple as getting out of the way of what is already taking place.

Related articles

• Getting confused about causation and correlation (sethgodin.typepad.com)