“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” – Elbert Hubbard
Here at the Unreasonable Institute, we are pretty happy to have the sort of open communication where we can handle and where we welcome critical feedback. You’ll routinely hear Unreasonable Institute President Daniel Epstein say “Here’s my idea. Now destroy it.” Still, as open as we want to be to criticism, one thing all of us have to consciously overcome is doubt. Wow, we hate doubt.
As startup founders, you’re bound to face crippling doubt from both people who have no idea what they’re talking about and people who are experts. You’re putting yourself out there with an incredible idea, and no one is funding you. Possibly no one is even listening to you. It’s incredibly frustrating and it’s pretty difficult to “adapt the world to yourself” when you feel like you can’t bend the world to your will. So if you’re facing scathing skepticism, just keep these 3 stories in mind:
1) A German Greek Grammar teacher named Joseph Degenhart told the father of one his 7th grade students “It doesn’t matter what he does, he will never amount to anything.” That student was Albert Einstein.
2) A Management Professor at Yale told Fred Smith, a business student who wrote a paper proposing an overnight delivery service, “The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible.” Smith went on to start Fedex.
3) In 1962, The Decca Recording Company turned away a band looking to put together an album, saying “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” That band was The Beatles.
If someone tells you what you’re doing will never work…well, it just might be one of the most incorrect statements in history.
