How far will you go to achieve a goal?
ISAW a placard on a pole somewhere quoting that Luis Suarez’s family regard him as a really good guy with a violent temper — they’re at least half right. Is he a cannibal or did he just lose his balance — falling teeth-first into another player, as he claimed? I suspect neither. Does the same wiring in his brain that accounts for his extraordinary football prowess also account for his propensity to bite? Is it all just the same energy, the same DNA, sometimes short-circuited, misapplied? At the highest levels of human endeavour do we not test the limits of control?
Is it okay? Hell no! You sink your teeth into another human being and you must be let out, sent outside where the dogs and cats play — the only two animals that bite more than we do. We’re all born with similar mixtures, I believe what’s different is not what we’ve got but what we do with it. We’re not defined by the urges we have, we’re defined by the urges we resist.
Suarez’s wiring, in a desperate surge of uncontrolled energy, instructed his body to use any means necessary to gain advantage over an opponent. The urge to attack with his teeth overwhelmed him. Surely, surely he knew he’d be found out? There were millions of TV viewers around the world watching, in high definition — but he couldn’t help himself. He’s a psycho, he should not play soccer again.
Sport lays bare the differences in temperament. Is the apparent ease and grace of an Ernie Els swing natural or controlled? Is the apparently wild slash of a swing that produces the miracle ball curve of Bubba Watson just the release of natural, unbridled energy?
How we control our urges or sub- mit to our desires starts dividing us into different streams fairly early on in life, even in business.
Broadly speaking, on a riskreturn spectrum, people are crudely divided into cautious and aggressive, in business — conservative accountants, high-stakes traders.
All of these choices have payoff profiles that manifest in business as much as they do in all other aspects of everyday life. Every choice has a consequence and we are making choices by the millisecond.
Are you a corporate employee or an entrepreneur, assuming you could be either? In the corporate environment, no matter how smart or innovative your ideas are, in order to rule you must first submit. It’s a fair deal. If you put on the corporate colours, serve them well and wear them with pride, the corporate will wrap its big arms around you and ensure you an economically secure life. The upper echelons will go well beyond that to prosper, to become wealthy, but you must pledge allegiance to the flag.
To the entrepreneur, the spoils. To the entrepreneur, the spills. A surfer seeing a place for Go-Pro cameras becomes a billionaire, a dormitory social network gives birth to a phenomenon.
Can you have the best of both worlds? Increasingly it seems you can, but it is rare and we don’t read about the failures. Like lottery tickets, it is the big wins, no matter the odds, that attract the next bet.
Will you bet your savings on your idea? Will you risk your family’s financial security to potentially make millions? Is that just crazy? Where do you fit in? What are your boundaries? Where would you settle? Would you bite to score a goal, or would you rather just play every week?