V1.6: Monomaniacs On A Mission

Q: What do Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Marc Beniof and the late Steve Jobs all have in common besides obscene affluence? A:  They were all “monomaniacs on a mission” to change the world with their technology.

Famed “social ecologist” Peter Drucker once wrote, “Wherever you find something getting done, you find a monomaniac with a mission.” And in a nutshell he encapsulates the key to success: FOCUS.  Not just a simple attention to detail supporting a target value proposition, but an all consuming, wholly ego-driven, single-minded, purpose-built drive to do something their way and change the world in the process.

Throughout history this has been proven with both positive and negative impact:

• Plato is credited with laying the foundation for western philosophy and science.  His writings from the fifth century BC are embedded into most everything we currently hold as bedrock for our way of life.
• Genghis Khan, emperor of the Mongol empire, the largest contiguous empire in history, basically slaughtered his way across Asia under the banner of unification.
• Mahandas Gandhi employed non-violent, civil disobedience and became the perpetual inspiration for non-violence, civil rights and freedom.
• Aldolf Hitler supremacist and racially motivated policies resulted in the systematic murder of eleven million people, an estimated 6 million of which were Jewish.

While I absolutely do not condone what was done by Hitler or Kahn and fully admire the lasting impressions of Plato and Gandhi, I do recognize the impact these monomaniacs with a mission had on history.

Compare these historic figures biographies with those of the modern technology business titans listed above and what do you get?  The recipe for success…  Just ensure you are a monomaniac for good instead of evil in this new age of conscious collaboration.  Treat your marketing brand, product strategy, got-to-market and lead-to-cash demand generation all with the same maniacal focus of those who were historically successful and you too can achieve great results.