“For me, in some ways, I have a clearer view of the future than I have of this chair I’m sitting on. It’s a perfect place. There are no compromises. Everything is beautiful. My job is to reconcile those two worlds — knowing all the while that the future isn’t some target, some destination, WE ARE HERE. Because if you’re thinking the right way, by the time you get there, you’ll want to be somewhere else. Somewhere even better.” – Danny Hillis, Inventor
Leadership is loneliness.
Seeing a clear glimpse of the future, and the needed sacrifice to stay true to the vision, can lead to rough waters. Our wives have daily needs. Envisioning my tomorrow is intoxicating — sustaining the present is simply not enough, and frankly, can be dull.
There is a reason why Wall Street advertises itself as “adventures in capitalism.”
David Ogilvy, the great ad man, who is famous for bringing home two attache case full of work every night, said that he always admired how his creative counterpart, Bill Bernbach, never stayed in the office after five, never took work home, and never worked at weekends. “You see, David, I love my family.”
Balance. Affection. Quantity. Sanity. Hydrate. I need to carry an index card in my pocket which bear these words. The journey stretches farther than we normally think.
We need them.
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