special

He was truly ‘special’, to say it mildly… but actually he was a true choleric, hysteric and narcissistic person, narrow-minded, unforgiving and pungent according to many, many others. He would not let loose; he could be rude, direct, and insensitive, but most of all, he was obsessive – everything he did, and equally all others did for him, had to be perfect, nothing less. It had to be insanely great.

All this does not sound like a person whose virtues you would praise in front of a class of pupils, but that’s exactly what I am about to do in this article.

This man, who has been all over the news for the last few months, and whose autobiography I just finished reading, isn’t truly a leading example of who he was, but very much in what he achieved: he is the leading example to all those who, like him, know what can be achieved with good design. He lived what design is all about: he was designating his life, shaping his world, continuously improving what he did, and motivating others to follow his vision, all this with the intention to devise the course of action for the better (as he saw it).

The motivation that drove him came from within: he only superficially seemed to react on impulses from the outside. In fact, his judgments and actions were an impulse arising from gut feeling (intensified by his ‘special’ character) and the result of ‘internal processing’.  All he did, he did with an intense drive and ‘insane’ motivation, obviously, both way stronger than his physique; in the end, he could cope with…

I catch myself thinking, what would have happened if I had had such a drive and motivation, then I would have freaked out for real, on those occasions when I was designing products that weren’t good at all, that made no sense, which I would have never used myself, or recommended to my friends.

Why didn’t I freak out, for real? Why didn’t I run into the CEO’s office to throw the crap I had to design right on his table (as he would have done)? Why didn’t I stay insistent and persistent and stick to my belief that it would be right to develop just one design and bring that to market, just the right one, and that it would be better to invest our resources into one perfect product, instead of distributing it over many, many mediocre ones?

But ‘externally’ I did not freak out, only internally. Was I lacking the inner motivation and drive? Or was it because I’m not ‘special’ enough? I guess it’s because of both.

What fascinates me about this person is not only what he achieved with his businesses and the quality of the products he created, but also the determination driving his actions and the motivation that kept him going. He didn’t need market analysis; he followed his intrinsic motivation. He designed products in a way he would like to have and use – and with that, he fulfilled consumers’ needs much better than many others who were led and thus made products they themselves didn’t want or use…

Insane or genius (which apparently is separated by a thin margin): his story reveals that you should not settle for just achieving something – you have to master something! Whether you drive a bus, build a cupboard, are in front of a class, or lead a multi-national company, you only master what you do if you love to use the result of your work yourself, and if the motivation to do it comes from within.

As my beloved granddad once said to me: “If a fruit-grower thinks his fruit isn’t worth eating, he’s not worth anything either.” Makes me think of a world where all people are motivated and true masters in what they do – or is this too ‘special’?