Thoughts on Conviction

January 16, 2012

Daniel Ek is an intense fellow: a six-cups-of-coffee guy who eight years ago was setting his sights on what seemed an insurmountable challenge. Ek wanted to save the music industry, and he thought his upstart streaming service, Spotify, could offer something more alluring to fans than piracy while ensuring that artists and record companies got paid. “We bet our personal fortunes, and sometimes we bet the entire company,” said Ek, the cover star of our debut 30 Under 30 issue. “We led with our conviction rather than [being] rational, because

rational said it was impossible.” It worked: Spotify today is a $47 billion (market cap) company. As for Ek, his personal fortune has ballooned alongside the value of his company, to $4 billion. Music to his ears.

SOURCES: DE LIBERO ARBITRIO, BY AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO; ESSAYS OF ELIA, BY CHARLES LAMB; STRAY BIRDS, BY RABINDRANATH TAGORE; HORTON HATCHES THE EGG, BY DR. SEUSS; “THE SECOND COMING,” BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS; THE COURAGE TO CREATE, BY ROLLO MAY; THE DILEMMAS OF AN UPRIGHT MAN, BY J.L. HEILBRON; HOWARDS END, BY E.M. FORSTER; HUMAN, ALL TOO HUMAN, BY FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE.