Thursday, March 19, 2015

The world's best companies are built by fanatics...

In a 2012 interview with Charlie Rose, Bill Gates said:
Bill Gates: I think the world's best companies are built by fanatics. And when you're in your 20's and 30's, being fanatical comes...at least it came pretty natural to me....I wanted to let everybody have cool software. And so I didn't feel bad that that's what I was doing. 
... 
Charlie Rose: Help me understand what it takes to build a Microsoft, or to build an Apple, or to build a Facebook...in terms of what it is that you and Mark and Steve had? 
Bill Gates: Well, in each of those cases, you had people who were quite fanatical about... 
Charlie Rose: Now what does fanatical mean? 
Bill Gates: Work day and night. Sort of don't worry about the possibility of failure. Every setback is just something to work a little bit harder at doing. And you really know what you're trying to achieve. And you're going to hire the best people. And you're going to change your strategy until you can get that to happen.
I once asked, “What is the essence of the type of person you are looking for?” The answer: “We are looking for fanatics.” We live in an age when people want a quick fix, a shortcut to exceptional results. But there is no such easy path. There is only an intense, long-term, sustained effort. And the only way to build that kind of enterprise is to be fanatic. Such obsessed people do not become the most popular people, as they often intimidate others, but when fanatics come together with other fanatics, the multiplicative effect is unstoppable.