No guts, no glory

I saw Avatar this weekend and in typical good story form, the character had to overcome impossible odds to achieve a goal that was bigger than himself. Donald Miller would say this is also what makes a good and meaningful life. It takes guts to face impossible odds. There are risks and you may be ridiculed for your resolve and belief, but when you stand firm and see it through the rewards can be great.

I wonder if this is also what makes an interesting and impactful company. Apple, for example, has the guts to stand by their vision, their "higher calling". They don't follow, they lead. They don't worry about comparing themselves to anyone else, they have a vision of how things should be and they push to make it happen no matter what "they" think.

Apple just released the iPad, which no one asked for and which falls short of other products in so many ways. It plays movies yet does not support 1080 resolution, it is not pocketable, memory is not expandable, it has no camera so no video chat, no flash support, you can't replace the battery or anything for that matter, there is no stylus so it's not an artist's pad, it can only run one application at a time. Yet it's simple, relatively cheap, fast, and can run for 10 hours untethered. Apple knew what they wanted. They avoided the mistake of trying to make everyone happy. They did not try to play catch-up with other slate products or even netbooks. They defined their own market, targeted their own audience, and went for it. There is no guarantee it will succeed but taking a risk is the only way to make a real difference.

It takes guts to stand up and be different. It takes guts to stick to your vision even when others don't believe. There are more risks doing things this way, but there are also much richer rewards.

Some companies try to keep up with the crowd, others know where they want to go and blaze their own trail.

Which company would you rather work for?

Which life would you rather live?