A Paradoxical Similarity Between An Artist And An Entrepreneur. Alexander Lyadov
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A Paradoxical Similarity Between An Artist And An Entrepreneur
When communicating with actual entrepreneurs, I am always struck by the paradoxical combination of two seemingly incompatible traits. On the one hand, they have a sharpened attentiveness and a greedy interest in new information, even if it is camouflaged by skepticism. On the other hand, they unconditionally and totally trust themselves, that is, their interpretation of the world, as if they had a pitch pipe in their stomach that allows them to evaluate the sound of the standard pitch. They are not misled by the aplomb of authority, nor do they care about the popularity of a new social fad. However, if they detect truth in someone else's words, they instantly change their cast-iron position to the opposite, as if they have no ego at all.
Surprisingly, entrepreneurs have a lot in common with artists. Despite superficial differences, they are driven by a force that they value above all else in life. Its names will differ depending on what discourse we use — philosophical, religious, mystical, or scientific. But in any case, both the founder and the artist, by their behaviour, confirm the existence of something much greater than themselves. This phenomenon is difficult to talk about and cannot be taken in hand, but for some people, its call drowns out everything. In their perception, the harmony of what can potentially be is so beautiful that it is absolutely impossible not to realise it in life. Interestingly, such a 'modus operandi' significantly increases their degrees of freedom, as many artificial dilemmas are naturally resolved. However, it is fair to say that the path of a true entrepreneur or artist is not an easy one by any stretch of the imagination.
Rick Rubin, one of the most famous and productive music producers, put it well: "When you make something and you have an idea of what it is, and then other people engage with it and may have different ideas of what it is and they like it for a different reason than you did or dislike it for a different reason than a reason you like it. We can't control any of those things. The only part of it that we can control is how we relate to the thing that we make. And any external information that undermines the clarity of that connection is probably bad for the art. All I ever tried to make were something I like and something I thought was missing as a fan that I wanted and nobody was making it. So I would make it. It was always in the service of: "I love this thing, I want something like this, no one else is making one, I have to make one."
