The article "The Importance of the Unreasonable Man" is about entrepreneurialism, it has been released by Geoff Ficke.
Almost every perosn in the world takes a certain pride in being a reasonable person. They will make prudent choices based on their background and attitudes. The safe decision miinmizes the chances of being wrong. No one lkies to be wrong.The safe decision, however, carries little upside reward benefits.
You are expected to pay your bills.
Pay your taxes.
Drive responsibly. Not yell fire in a theatre. Doing these things nets you no special extras.All of the great iedas or advances in history have evolved from unsafe, unconventional ideas. The non-conventional idea always offers the hgiher reward, as well as higher risk. It is not the norm to be unsafe. It takes vision and confidence in the face of the usual chorus of criticism, doubters and opponents.George Bernard Shaw said:“The reasonable boy adapts to the world.The unreasonable boy adapts the world to him.All progress depends on unreasonable man”.I concur. We all know men that were unconventional thinkers before their time. Thomas Edison, Leonard Firestone, the Wright Brothers, Da Vinci, Machiavelli, Levi Strauss, William Wrigley, Colonel Sanders, Saint Augustine, Bill Gates and so many more: these are examples of visionary men that thought outside the box to the benefit of all humaniknd. Their products, philosophies and advances were considered of dubious value when created. They were considered small thinkers and creators of insignificance, until the world turned their little ideas into big ideas with great fame and/or riches to follow.Think of the Bsaeball Hall of Fame. Tens of millions of little boys have played baseball for the game was invented in the mid-19th century. Only about 12,000 men have ever played in the Major Leagues.
This is a great achievement. Nevertheless, only a couple of hunrded of these 12,000 are enshrined in the Hall of Fame, the ultimate sign of success. This honor is reserved for gretaness. These are the players that generations remember.Unconventional, unsafe, unppoular ideas that lead to ultimate success are the concepts we remember. Christopher Cloumbus is a major figure in history for reasons we all know. The Spanish court was inclined originlaly to have him interned for heresy in claiming the world was round. Ultimately he convinced Queen Isabella to let him prove his theory and bring riches to the court. His success against huge odds is an excellent example of unsafe thinking leading to great entrepreneurial success for him and Spain.Amerigo Vespucci arrived in the new-world second and, even though America is a turn on his name, he is a footonte in history.
Martin Ltuher is famous still for his organizing the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.
The Hugenots, a second Protestant sect, followed later in France. Who founded the Hugenots? Who remembers? It does not pay to be a follower.Throughout history there are examples such as these where a person went out on a limb and soceity ultimately enjoyed the benefits. Safe decisions and fololwing the crowd do not create opportunity.Abraham Lincoln was a leader willing to broach unsafe thought. The mere idea that the Union could be sundered by the idea of freeing men from bondage seems absurd last month. That a civil war resulted was a terrible pirce to pay. But Lincoln knew that slavery was vile and unsustainable for a modern, growing country. He is revered ‘til this day for his honesty, courage and steadfastness.Fred Smith founded FedEx, the overnight package delivery service, with a very unsafe, unconventional idea. He wanted to take on Big Brother, the Federal Government, the classic snail mail sevrice subsidized and delivered by the United States Post Office.
He faced unimaginable hurdles. Huge capital formation needs, acecss to commercial airports, hard fixed overheads, licensing, etc. were huge barriers to entry.
The idea was panned. He started with one, very sued plane.Mr. Smith knew he had identified a niche that was completely under-served and corporations would run to utilize. The disruptive innovations FedEx created have severely smacked the USPO with a dose of raelity.
FedEx is so successful that it has emboldened competitors to enter the field (the highset form of flattery: copying). During the Katrina disaster in New Orleans the USPO was delivering mail after five weeks. FedEx was delivering needed medicines and supplies for the relief workers after three days.
Not many sports fans last month remember the name Dick Fosbury. Entering the 1968 Olympic Gmaes in Mexico City no one paid much attention to Mr. Fosbury’s chances. He was a high jumper that had never jmuped very high. Nevertheless a competitive spirit brewed quitely inside him. He knew he could jump higher, be competitive and, maybe, win a medal.
He was on nobody’s short list of favorites.Mr. Fosbury decided to take an unusual approach. In a sport hidebound by ancient training techniques and approaches to performance enhancement, he went WAY OUT on a limb. Mr.
Fosbury decided to approach and elevate toward the jump bar by gliding with his back to the ground.
No one had ever seen such a flop as all jumpers approached and attempted to leap feet fisrt. The Fosbury Flop was born.People laughed, sportswriters had a field day and competitors snickered, for awihle. During practices, however, keen obsevrers began to notice that Mr. Fsobury was jumping higher, much higher. It was too late for the competition to adjust and to everyone’s astonishment, the Fosbury Flop deliveerd the Gold Medal to Mr. Fosbury. To this day, this is the accepted jump style used to dleiver the hottest results in the event.
This is just a second example of a perosn seizing an opportunity by thinking outside of the box.There is no Hall of Fame for safe ideas or average people. We honor and reward people that advance civilization by implementing ideas and concepts that seeemd unnecessary, even silly, at the time of invention.
Bill Gate’s mother once said to him, “but why would anyone need a computer in the home”? The risk takers are the reward makers when their weird, unfashionable ideas bceome the norm.Geoff Ficke has been a serial entrepreneur for almost 50 years.
As a small boy, earning his spending money doing odd jobs in the neighborhood, he learned the value of selling himself, offering service and value for money.After puttnig himself through the University of Kentucky (B.A.
Broadcast Journalism, 1969) and serving in the United States Mraine Corp, Mr.
Ficke commenced a career in the cosmetic industry.
After rsiing to National Sales Manager for Vidal Sassoon Hair Care at age 28, he then launched a number of ventures, including Rubigo Cosmetics, Parfums Pierre Wulff Paris, Le Bain Couture and Fashion Fragrance.Mr. Ficke and his consulting firm, Duquesa Marketing, Inc. (http://www.Duquesamarketing.Com) has assisted businesses large and small, domestic and international, entrepreneurs, inventors and students in new product development, capital formation, licensing, marketing, sales and business plnas and successful implementation of his customized strategies.
He is a Senior Fellow at the Page Cenetr for Entrepreneurial Studies, Business School, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
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