• WOWOW: True Fans Want True Charisma

    edited by Alexander Becker

    True fans, true charisma, and true assholes, what's the difference anyway -- and the trouble with Steve Jobs.

    Kevin Kelly does it again, and it is amazingly, beautifully simple: You need 1000 true fans --

    A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author -- in other words, anyone producing works of art -- needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

    A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

    Ok? Here is the secret, from the angle of Bob Sutton's (no) asshole perspective --

    All accounts about Jobs make clear that he is not all asshole all the time -- that he uses nastiness strategically at times or sometimes simply loses his temper. As I show in the chapter on the virtues of assholes, if you want to be an effective asshole, you can't be all asshole all the time.

    ... it is interesting how often his anger seems to focus on two issues: aesthetics and ease of human use. Examples include his temper tantrum about the color that the vans were painted at NEXT, a story an engineer told me about how unhappy Jobs was with the color of the bolts inside a computer (he wanted the technicians and geeks who opened it up to be impressed with the beauty), and a story -- which is pure rumor -- that he fired someone from the Apple store because he didn't like the color and quality of the bags that she ordered.

    (...)

    I worry that, by glorifying Jobs, we are making the world safe for asshole infested organizations and fueling the belief that assholes make more effective leaders.

    The Fortune article: The trouble with Steve Jobs: Asshole, genius, or both?

    Jobs likes to make his own rules, whether the topic is computers, stock options, or even pancreatic cancer. The same traits that make him a great CEO drive him to put his company, and his investors, at risk.

    Finally, Steve Jobs speaks out himself --

    We had a big debate inside the company whether we could do that or not. And that was one where I had to adjudicate it and just say, We're going to do it. Let's try.

    This is exactly the point.

    What are you called when you're an asshole but no CEO? You're charismatic. When you're the CEO, it's all about charisma and unpopular decisions. As a leader, you're admired for making decisions, admired even for making unpopular decisions, admired as a martyr -- and ultimately, secretly, you're admired as an asshole -- because after all, it's your job, you have to do it.

    Just make sure that you act because you have to act like you have to act, that is, as long as you're being an asshole out of passion, charisma, or even chutzpah, your true fans will remain true fans and become even more fanatic. When it is fear that makes you act like an asshole, well, this is what you get: No fans, no charisma, no chutzpah, no passion, and certainly no reward.

    The more unique the vision, the more elaborate the idea, the farther ahead of the pack, the more charisma you need to just do it and to convince everybody else that you are right and that it works anyway. Again, the more charismatic, the more you polarize your peers.

    The trick is to appear as a total asshole not all the time and not no everybody at once but to try to appear civilized half the time or to half the people. This way, your reputation remains stable.

    One more thing: If you had a dream, would you want anyone -- except yourself -- to interfere, influence, or even taint the outcome of what you know would be the most beautiful thing in your life? Wouldn't you fight with everything you've got?

    I thought so.

    Chances are, that the asshole trait (or is it a gene?) makes any dream a little -- if not much -- more realistic.

    Have a great weekend and at least try not to abuse your peers too much. On the other hand, what are you waiting for? Make your dream come true already!

    Your true fans will take care of themselves.

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  • WOWOW: The Scissors Edition [Links of the Week]

    edited by Alexander Becker

    Please, quickly, we're almost there. Have a look at the last ones for this year. Just a glance and you're done.

    • The Secret to Winning at Rock, Paper, Scissors --

      Research shows that stone, also called rock, is the most popular of the three possible moves in the game. That means that your opponent is likely to choose paper, because they will expect to you to start the game with stone. By going with scissors, you achieve an early victory.

    • How to Set Up a Portable Personal Nerve Center --

      You can get the best of both worlds by setting up a web-based Personal Nerve Center (PNC) and making it ubiquitous and redundant so it's available from anywhere, even offline.

    • Charisma versus Innovation --

      I wonder if there is a trend in blog reading that we like nicely packaged, un-challenging, charming blogs, just like the tabloid celebrity culture we are all familiar with.

      Not for everybody.

    • Why Self Actualization Requires Exercise --

      Maslow's advice is more applicable today than it ever has been. Maintaining our physical health is absolutely necessary to keep our journey towards self-actualization on a firm foundation. Make the investment in your physical health, and you will continually receive dividends throughout the other facets of your life.

    • Intelligence Redefined: Are You A Gifted Person?

      In the process of lauding top scorers and scholarship winners we may be crowding out those who actually have advanced and complex patterns of development but just don't fit the system's definition of 'top students'.

      Just make sure to have the one to asses be someone who is either absolutely intelligent (doesn't exist) or one who has completely overcome ego (wouldn't assess other's intelligence)...

    • Hack Yourself --

      You can be happy. You can live the life you want to live. You can become the person you want to be. This is what I've figured out so far.

      Hacking yourself? The following comes up every year or so, but still --

    • Drugs to Build up That Mental Muscle --

      Despite the potential side effects, academics, classical musicians, corporate executives, students and even professional poker players have embraced the drugs to clarify their minds, improve their concentration or control their emotions.

    That's it. It's over. Time flies. See you soon.

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