The One with Vision, Insanity and Confidence

Today, the whole world mourns the death of Steve Jobs. 

Steve Jobs was officially, the co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc and Pixar; unofficially - the guy, who inspired and developed some of the greatest technology out there.

Apple.com Homepage Today

It is amazing how today we hear so many nice words about the person, who was once deemed 'insane' and 'show-off' and 'arrogant'. Yet, somehow Jobs might have managed to iTouch many of us: he changed the way we operate computers (the computer mouse), the way we listen to music (having our entire music collection in our pocket-size iPod), the way we do our every-day job (through the smart-phones).

Was Steve Jobs unique? Fortunately, not. 

In our time, we saw many visionary entrepreneurs - William Gates, Steve Wozniak, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Richard Branson, Warren Buffet, Alan Sugar, Mark Zuckerberg, Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis, Thomas J. Watson, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, Stelios Haji-Ioannou and many others. We also have the visionary entrepreneurs, who never made it to success.

Many would say that there is thin fine line between Vision and Insanity. That all these visionary guys did not bother about higher education, albeit being 'too smart' -- or as teachers/classmates would say -- 'crazy'. And then they made it: Harvard and Princeton drop-outs, high-school graduates (like Jobs), who only had their dream and garage space to create the future.

However, in my opinion, in 21st century, it takes a little bit more than Vision to build a successful business idea. I have never judged one's Creativity as Insanity, and neither have most of the young people I know: they realise that today, Insanity is exactly what it takes.

The key component is therefore: Confidence - that little piece of believing in your own capabilities. We have all had a crazy idea at one point or another. The difference between us and Steve Jobs: we didn't believe it was going to work. Yet.

Being your worst critic is essential, but being your biggest fan is no less important. If you don't believe in your product or idea enough to market it - then customers would definitely not believe enough to buy it.

It comes as no surprise that the majority of these Visionaries come from supportive environments - be it family, workplace or school. These environments have played a crucial role in building their Confidence, made them resistant to the feeling of failure. Jobs himself was adopted when he was a baby, and therefore, loved and cherished in times when people expected the worst out of foster children.

I guess the lesson is: if you have a Vision, believe in yourself enough to try it out. If you know someone with a Vision, offer them your full support.

Chances are, each person knows another person with a Vision. Imagine the snowball effect, if we all start supporting each other.