Dec 09, 2021 | by Budi Tanrim
Optimism is not enough
Being an optimist is better than being a complainer.
Optimism is an essential trait for a problem solver. If Elon Musk is not optimistic about the impossible, the world won’t see Tesla and SpaceX.
But optimism itself is not enough.
In one fascinating study, the researchers looked at entrepreneurs who were optimistic and enthusiastic. Their business plan was predicted very unlikely to succeed by a nonprofit organization called the Canadian Innovation Centre. Half of them ignored the input and launched their business anyway.
Every single one of them failed.
There’s a more profound takeaway from this story. We should not fall into a marketing trap where people say, “X is the key to success.” There is no one key. There is a lot of factors that contribute to success.
Footnotes
- Thomas Åstebro, Samir Elhedhli, (2006) The Effectiveness of Simple Decision Heuristics: Forecasting Commercial Success for Early-Stage Ventures. Management Science 52(3):395-409. ↩
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