Greatness v/s Reason

In his book, Zibaldone, Giacomo Leopardi describes how reason can be the enemy of greatness. The one line reason?

“Few can be great unless they are governed by illusions.”

The illusion often is (needs to be?) borderline delusional to achieve greatness. Can you actually land a man on the moon? Can you overthrow Newton's theories? You get the idea. Of course, there is a very thin line between that and arrogance.

Reason can be a dampner too. If nobody else could do it, what makes you think you can? How could everyone, including so many smart guys, not have cracked it but somehow you can? These are sometimes humility driven reasons; but they are also perfectly logical questions that can kill the illusion.

Vikram Bhat had this to say about the need for irrational optimism as a necessary condition for greatness:

“A strict rationalist might start ten companies each with only a 20% probability of success but promising a 10x return on investment. But most of us can’t put our hearts into something day after day if we think it only has a 20% chance of success...Maybe you have to rely on your brain twisting that 20% into a 70% so that you can get to work in the morning and give it your full effort.”

If illusions are necessary for greatness, then perhaps Michael Dearing wasn't too far off the mark when he suggested that people who get things done may have several of these cognitive distortions: Personal exceptionalism (you are somehow different/better); dichotomous thinking (highly opinionated and judgmental); correct overgeneralization (making snap judgments and being right most of the time); blank canvas thinking (you can do whatever you wish with your life) and Schumpeterianism (view creative destruction as natural and as your own vocation).

Of course, a blog on this topic has to include Steve Jobs! Andy Hertzfeld wrote about the “Reality Distortion Field” that Jobs was famous for creating:

“A reality distortion field. In his presence, reality is malleable. He can convince anyone of practically anything...The reality distortion field was a confounding melange of a charismatic rhetorical style, an indomitable will, and an eagerness to bend any fact to fit the purpose at hand.”

And even more surprisingly:

“Amazingly, the reality distortion field seemed to be effective even if you were acutely aware of it, although the effects would fade after Steve departed. We would often discuss potential techniques for grounding it, but after a while most of us gave up, accepting it as a force of nature.”