I’m reading Seth Godin’s book Linchpin at the moment, and in the early chapters he shares an interesting story about Richard Branson.

Godin followed Branson around for a while and came to the conclusion that pretty much anybody could do his job. He says that Branson doesn’t necessarily do anything superhuman or possess any kind of amazing powers, all he did was make simple decisions from day to day.

It’s just that Branson’s simple decisions have amazing effects.

So, we should be quite content to sit in our armchairs and say “I could do Richard Branson’s job”, right?

Probably not.

We didn’t have the same life passion for publishing that Branson had at the age of 16 when he created his student magazine and started his innovative record business.

We didn’t have to battle dyslexia as a child.

We don’t have the international network of friends, colleagues, and supporters that Branson has built.

We don’t have the influential public profile he has.

We don’t have the money he has.

We don’t have his worldly charisma.

And we’re not allowed to swing air hostesses over our shoulder and get away with it.

We’re set apart from Richard Branson in all of these specific traits that make him the successful and influential person he is today, because it’s these incredible traits that allow him to make simple decisions and have them cause an amazing effect.

It reminds me of the concept which was coined the the film The Social Network when Mark Zuckerberg famously accuses the people who claim that in fact they invented Facebook.

Zuckerberg responds with “If you were the inventors of Facebook, then you’d have invented Facebook”. It sounded a bit naff when I first heard it but it makes a whole heap more sense now.

As I’m starting to find out, it’s all well and good to have an idea, but the success lies in taking action.

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image: wstera2