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Lean into something stupid
BY RICHIE NORTON ’13
What if the smartest
people in the
world understand
something
that the rest of us don’t?
(They do.) What if they
know that in order to achieve
success, they will sometimes
have to do things that others
may initially perceive as
stupid? The fact of the matter
is that the smartest people
in the world don’t run from
stupid, they lean into it (in a
smart way).
Take, for example, the
wisdom of Steve Forbes and
one of his favorite quotes,
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
Or the humor of Albert
Einstein, “The difference
between genius and stupidity
is: Genius has its limits.” Or
the experience of Biz Stone,
co-founder of Twitter, “A lot
of people thought it sounded
stupid. … Even some of our
engineers weren’t interested.”
The list of examples can
go on forever, demonstrating
that life-changing ideas
are often tragically mislabeled
as stupid.
What if the key to success,
creativity and fulfillment in
your life lies in the potential
of those stupid ideas? To
start your so-called “stupid”
ideas and live without regret,
start with the following
three steps:
1. Crush fear, end pride,
overcome procrastination
and be authentic in the way
you approach life.
2. Don’t use lack of time,
education, experience or
money as an excuse for putting
off dreams.
3. Leverage existing
resources to overcome the
gaps between where you are
and where you want to be.
No more excuses. Start
something “stupid,” the
smartest thing you can do.
Stupid is the new smart —
the common denominator
for success, creativity and
innovation in business and
life.
Richie Norton ’13 is a
social entrepreneur, real estate
consultant and CEO of Global
Consulting Circle.
“The Power of
Starting Something
Stupid”
Author: Richie Norton ’13
Description: Paperback,
186 pages
Publisher: Shadow
Mountain (March 5, 2013)
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48 spring 2013