This is an old material, but it is worth repeating especially for the young people who have not come across it before.
It deals with naysayers… Sometimes even the experts get ideas wrong as this article from an anonymous source would show:
• “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” ?Decca Recording Company on declining to sign the Beatles in 1962.
• “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” ?Western Union internal memo, 1876.
• “Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.” ?Dr. Dionysius Lardner, 1830.
• “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” ?Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
• “Everyone acquainted with the subject will recognize it as a conspicuous failure.” ? Henry Morton, president of the Stevens Institute of Technology, on Edison’s light bulb, 1880.
• “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty ? a fad.” ? The president of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Company, 1903.
• “Television won’t last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” ? Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946.
• “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.” ? Ken Olson, president, chairman, and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977.
• “There will never be a bigger plane built.” ? A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds 10 people.
• “How sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under the deck? I pray you, excuse me, I have not the time to listen to such nonsense.” ? Napoleon Bonaparte, when told of Robert Fulton’s steamboat, 1800’s.
• “The world potential market for copying machines is 5,000 at most” ? IBM, to the eventual founders of Xerox, saying the photocopier had no market large enough to justify production, 1959.
• “It’ll be gone by June.” ? Variety Magazine on Rock n’ Roll, 1955.
• “A rocket will never be able to leave the earth’s atmosphere.” ? The New York Times, 1936.
The innovators and the key contributors to the major changes in the world always have to butt heads with the naysayers.
Let us trickle this down to your level and mine. We have dreams and aspirations, we work hard o to make it come true. The naysayers will be there to heckle you, laugh at you, ridicule you and guess what you should do?
Pay no attention to them. If what you do or what you intend to do would allow other people to get value out of it, then go and prove them wrong. It’s okay to ignore the naysayers – be respectful, but ignore them.
I have had my share of encounters with naysayers:
• “Francis you are crazy. Just when there are more than a hundred brands of casual garments out there, then you launch a new one? That business will never take off.” That’s what my friends told me many years ago and that was when I introduced a garment brand that reached a reasonable level of fame and recognition. I never knew it cannot be done.
• “Are you sure you want him to be your partner for life? He is such a loser and he cannot even pass high school.” That was what they told ‘The Ilocana’ that got me so angry so I went to college and graduated at the top in that school just to prove them wrong. The naysayers are gone, but our relationship is even stronger today.
• “Francis we are all professional trainers here and your antics and childish exercises would not fly in actual training programs…” And now they all seem to be doing the same thing they saw me do the first time I spoke to them many years ago.
Imagine if I had listened to these naysayers…
There still are many of them today. Perhaps there are many in your life as well. I will respect their opinions, but their opinions do not define me. Finish the race and complete the task.
Napoleon Hill said this many years ago: “Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” I believe that. It worked then and it still works now.
(Attend this whole day conference titled “Live Full. Die Empty” featuring bestselling author and productivity expert Todd Henry, successful executive Vic Gregorio, Francis Kong to talk about Passion, Productivity and Purpose on Nove. 9, at Samsung Hall, SM Aura. For registration or inquiries contact April at +63928-559-1798)