The Power of Results

There used to be a time in my life where I did enjoy debates, the concept of being able to stake out a position, think it though and argue that it is the most logical position.

If there is one thing that University teaches you, especially in the fields of engineering and science, it is that theory and practice are 2 entirely different things. In an ideal world, theory would be the same as practice and if someone were able to accomplish exactly everything that they say they would do, then they would be no less than a god.

The only things that I am most confident about are my limitations in intellect and knowledge. And hence forth, I have largely given up on getting into lively debates with people. Unless, of course, if it is to use what I know to at least show how someone with the greatest stubborn convictions, how much more they need to understand.

If there was such a thing of "a lot of hot air about nothing" then debates would be it. I've seen TV commentators and pundits having all sorts of debates, from what should the role of the government should be to who is the hottest swimsuit model. All of this, none the less theoretical. At one point, it just seems rather pointless to even bother putting an effort into it.

Myself, like other people, will obviously have things that we might not agree with. Whether be it the way a company is run or with what people do. There will most definitely times when you will be right and everyone will be wrong (and you have the uncanny ability to be consistently right then kudos to you), or perhaps, too little people that actually care (which is probably the more general case). From experience, there isn't much of a point of screaming at the top of your lungs trying to get people to listen to you. And perhaps this is a good thing as a virtue, because I know no ends to the number of exceptionally loud and annoying people I've come across in my lifetime.

A war of words

If it's going to be a challenge of words against words, you might as well be having a pillow fight... without the pillows because that's as much impact words do have by themselves.

If there is a measure of the worthiness of a person's idea, it's all in the results they produce. It gets nothing more concrete then that. If you have a thousand people with a thousand ideas and (if you're lucky) one of them is right, it matters not how well they can convince you with the eloquence of their speech but with the results they produce.

There is a cost to being wrong

For every action there is a risk and there will especially be a cost if you are wrong. I believe that this a fairly fundamental concept that most people are generally not aware of. With the cost of failure money, resources or time, there is always a cost associated with being wrong.

For the case of the individual going about and doing their own thing, it matters not to anyone else if they try something new and screw up badly, so long as their screw ups don't incur a cost on you or me. But now that we are talking about the failures of some 3rd party on us, it comes quite evident that as a society that we don't want to be bearing the costs or responsibility of some other person's mistake.

There is even a branch of law that deals with this, otherwise known as Tort Law, where person suffering the loss by someone's (intentional or unintentional) actions is compensated by the "offender." In other words, it's a branch of law that tries to force people to take responsibility, in the most general terms. We simply don't like bearing the costs of someone else's mistakes and I would have to say that it is natural.

You're going to have to be right and resourceful

If there are 2 things that are necessary for success, then being right and resourceful are it. Because, honestly, no one in general is going to think that you are right and if they don't think you can do it, they aren't going to give you the resources to try, especially at their expense (the financial markets made that mistake and look at the mess that we got for an example)

So what have you? Pretty much nothing, but your wits and what you can get your hands on. The best of every success story usually starts off with some kids in a garage working on something that turned into the next cool thing. Apple started out that way, with computers in a wooden box. Bill Gates started out by mooching computer time in the middle of the night at his university to produce the first OS for that Altair computer. Sony started off in the shambles of Tokyo after WW2, the founders made their first version of a magnetic tape which required ferric oxide, which they managed to get by roasting oxalic ferride powder in a frying pan because ferric oxide was too scarce and expensive to obtain. Or perhaps the beginnings of Dell computer, which started out with an internet connection and assembly of computers in one own's dorm room.

If there is anything in common with the most successful companies that started, it was the resourcefulness and the brightness of their ideas that got everything started. Some of the brightest ideas can come from the most inconcievable places, far from the reaches of where any debate might venture into considering.

If you want to be successful, don't bother arguing with people. Have some ideas (hopefully right ones) and be resourceful. If you end up being right, the world will start throwing money at you.