What do crazy people have in common?
Thinking outside the box leads to the greatest innovations
Towards the end of a meeting with potential investors, one of them turned to me and said, “I like what you’re doing, but you're crazy.”
At a different point in my life, his comment would have bothered me.
At first glance, “crazy” is a way to write something off. It’s the easy path. “There is no need for me to try something new, it will never work.” The world is full of these people.
On the other hand, you know who is crazy? George Washington, Steve Jobs, and Steph Curry.
Leading a ragged militia against the greatest army in the world? That’s crazy.
Putting more technology in the palm of our hand than was on Apollo 11 during the moon landing? That’s crazy.
Shooting half-court shots on a regular basis – AND MAKING THEM? That’s crazy.
Because being crazy means looking at the world in a different way. It means pushing the status quo and breaking rules. It means change.
Illinois’ problems are not new. If there were a simple, old solution, we would have done it by now.
We’ve had pension problems, and tax issues, and corruption for decades – under Republicans and Democrats alike.
The status quo will not suddenly work. Neither will moving. Expecting something different from the same, or running away, well, some people have a term for those.
What we need instead is innovative and crazy solutions to old problems. That is what we do at the Illinois Policy Institute.
For us this looks like building public support for pension reform, so elected leaders are more responsive to their voters than to union bosses.
For us this looks like finding Republicans and Democrats to run for every legislative district in the state. For decades, nearly 50% of voters have had no reason to show up because there was only one option. That’s not a democracy. We are going to change that.
For us this looks like running a union opt-out campaign to teachers in the city of Chicago, the heart of the most aggressive public sector unions in the country, because we know there are great teachers in Chicago who care more for their kids’ successes than the power politics of the union bosses.
In the past, it looked like running a campaign against the most powerful politician in United States history, and the David versus Goliath struggle to stop the progressive tax on the ballot.
To people who want the status quo, we are crazy. For people who want to change the world, we are what’s necessary.
As I was reading about great leaders, I discovered both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson carried copies of“Don Quixote.” Both were regularly called “quixotic.” Both saw this as a badge of honor.
“Don Quixote” is a story of freedom, rather than a fight against windmills.
And it is only because Washington and Jefferson were crazy that we live in the greatest country in the history of the world.
Steve Jobs went so far as celebrating “crazy.” He said:
Because [crazy people] change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
I am proud we are surrounded by people crazy enough to think we can change Illinois. They are crazy enough to stay and to fix our problems. They are crazy enough to work to give our children a better world.
Jobs in 1997 revived Apple with these words: “And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”