The Importance of the Unreasonable Man

Almost every person 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 minimizes the chances of being wrong. No one likes 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 ideas or advances in history have evolved from unsafe, unconventional ideas. The non-conventional idea always offers the higher 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 man adapts to the world.
The unreasonable man 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 humankind. 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 Baseball Hall of Fame. Tens of millions of little boys have played baseball since 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 few hundred of these 12,000 are enshrined in the Hall of Fame, the ultimate sign of success. This honor is reserved for greatness. These are the players that generations remember.

Unconventional, unsafe, unpopular ideas that lead to ultimate success are the concepts we remember. Christopher Columbus is a major figure in history for reasons we all know. The Royal Spanish court was inclined originally to have him interned for heresy for 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 footnote in history. Martin Luther is famous still for his organizing the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The Hugenots, another 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 society ultimately enjoyed the benefits. Safe decisions and following 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 today. That a civil war resulted was a terrible price to pay. But Lincoln knew that slavery was vile and unsustainable for a modern, moral 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 service subsidized and delivered by the United States Post Office. He faced unimaginable hurdles. Huge capital formation needs, access to commercial airports, hard fixed overheads, licensing, etc. were huge barriers to entry. The idea was panned. He started with one, very used plane.

Mr. Smith knew he had identified a niche that was completely under-served and corporations would stampede to utilize. The disruptive innovations FedEx created have severely smacked the USPO with a dose of reality. FedEx is so successful that it has emboldened competitors to enter the field (the highest 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 today remember the name Dick Fosbury. Entering the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City no one paid much attention to Mr. Fosbury’s chances. He was a high jumper that had never jumped very high. Nevertheless a competitive spirit brewed quietly 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 prior jumpers approached and attempted to leap feet first. The Fosbury Flop was born.

People laughed, sportswriters had a field day and competitors snickered, for awhile. During practices, however, keen observers began to notice that Mr. Fosbury was jumping higher, much higher. It was too late for the competition to adjust and to everyone’s astonishment, the Fosbury Flop delivered the Gold Medal to Mr. Fosbury. To this day, this is the accepted jump style used to deliver the best results in the event. This is just another example of a person 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 seemed unnecessary, even silly, at the time of invention. Bill Gate’s mother once said to him as she tried to convince him to return to Harvard, “but why would anyone need a computer in the home”? The risk takers become the reward makers when their weird, unfashionable ideas become the norm.