We Are All Weird

I think Seth Godin is spot on with the title of his new book. We are all weird. We all have our own unique set of habits, insecurities, beliefs – a combined set that is one without any duplicates. And this is thanks to the fact that all these are influenced by the people we meet and connect with – our parents, close friends, mentors, spouses etc.

This is pretty incredible given there are more than 6 billion of us. All originals. And all weird, in our own sweet way.

I think it takes a lot of time to accept this fact – it was for me, atleast. As a close friend remarked yesterday, it’s been over 5 years since I left home. And these 5 years have been an incredible experience – applying principles learnt at home, assimilating from the ‘real’ world and meeting and spending time with many fantastic people. The best way I’ve understood this over time is by thinking of those I consider my own ‘Board of Directors’ –  these are some great folks who I go to for mentorship and advice. It’s amazing how different and diverse they are in their approaches. A couple of examples come to mind – while one doesn’t believe in the importance of birthdays, another would swear by them and similarly, while one swears by the importance of motivational/self-help books, another doesn’t believe in self help books at all.

Over time, I’ve learnt to appreciate their differences as I realize it is that diversity that contributes to my learning and understanding of the fact that we are all weird. And it is this diversity that has gradually led me to accept myself as I am (It’s still an ongoing process). Over time, I’ve learnt to understand and appreciate the differences between principles and approaches because I realize that while their approaches may be different, it’s their principles that I respect – incredible levels of integrity, commitment to family and relationships and a spirit of lifelong learning.

The reason I say this is because, like many many others, I felt that tinge of sadness when I read about Steve Jobs’ death. And I found myself reflecting on this whole concept of principles and approaches in relation to him.

I had just recently read ‘The Second Coming of Steve Jobs’ by Alan Deutschman – a book that gave brilliant insight into the man. His was the typical story of a young man caught in the media’s eye and struggling with what it meant for him and what to do about it. The book details tales of his often fearsome personality and it made me wonder if I would have wanted to work with him IF I had a chance.

And, after reading the book, I remember thinking there would be no way I would have done so. He seemed like quite a crazy personality.

That knee-jerk reaction came back to me as I was thinking of Principles and Approaches the other day. And I realized that what I was reacting to was his ‘Approach’ i.e. his often unpredictable personality. And it was when I reflected on his principles – of excellence, of continuous improvement, of a relentless search for perfection, of minimalism – that I realized that my thinking needed a different perspective.

(Of course, there are a lot of big assumptions here in this hypothetical situation. But, well, what are we without our imagination? ;))

He once said – ‘My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better.’ 


I think that said it all.

Thanks Steve, for being weird. And changing the world, for the better. You will be missed.