When Bill Gates and Paul Allen saw a cover story in Popular Electronics about the new Altair 8800, they were excited about the prospects of personal computing, but they also believed they could improve the Altair by writing an interpreter in ‘Basic’.   When Allen convinced the manufacturer to have him move to Albuquerque and work on the Altair, and suggested Gates follow, a rational response might have been: I’m kind of focused on my studies here at Harvard right now.  Let’s wait a few years, and then I’ll be ready to start.  Luckily, Bill Gates was irrational, choosing to seize the moment, drop out of Harvard, move to Albuquerque, and completely disrupt his life. Success is irrational.

There is no shortage of people who claim to have identified a lucky opportunity. Many of us have said, “I knew that industry, company, or opportunity would explode”. Yet we never acted or took full advantage of our self-proclaimed genius, but instead, sat on the sidelines and followed a more rational path.  Today, success requires more than simply knowing an opportunity is there, it requires attacking it with ferocious intensity and a fanatical discipline to make the absolute most of the lucky break.   Bill Gates sustained his fanatical discipline for over two decades, turning the opportunity of his circumstances into unparalleled success.

Naysayers love to point out all of your problems, “your life is not balanced properly” or “you work too hard.”  These are the same people who sit on sidelines of life choosing not to participate and then comment on how lucky you are when you succeed.    The naysayers claim Empire is over the top, unbalanced, and irrational.  We thank them for recognizing that this moment in life is a lucky opportunity and we intend to generate the highest return on luck (ROL) imaginable.

Dirk Gorman,

Capable Leadership LLC,

The Jim Collins article below is an excellent read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/business/luck-is-just-the-spark-for-business-giants.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1