Obsession Planning

Compulsion, drive, obstinacy – nothing gets done in business unless someone has some form of fixation.

'It simply has to be done. I must have it’. ‘There is no alternative – make it happen’. These are not very attractive statements: demanding, unreasonable, intrusive and obstinate. Without such obsession, most businesses would not be built. And entrepreneurs have to demand performance from others as well as themselves to deliver the vision. Some ways of demanding are more attractive than others, but the driving obsession is inescapable.

Take Rex Bionics (www.rexbionics.com), the exciting Auckland company that has just revealed its product to the world. Rex Bionics has developed Rex, a robotic exoskeleton that enables wheelchair users to stand up and move around, including going up and downstairs. If you haven’t already seen it, I do recommend that you have a look at one of the videos on our website. It’s an amazing product. Rex is the product of extraordinary commitment (obsession?) from the two founders, Richard Little and Robert Irving, who simply believed there should be a better alternative to wheelchairs. Both their mothers were in wheelchairs, and seven years ago Robert told his friend and fellow engineer Richard that he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was likely to end up in a chair. That was the trigger to a seven-year development project: four years in Richard’s garage, three years as a company funded by No 8 Ventures and others, and which now employs 26 people and aspires to become very large. It takes extraordinary commitment to work on a project for seven years and bring together all the elements needed to get the company this far: technical, funding, team-building and reaching into the disabled community.

Another company in which I have been involved that demonstrates this extraordinary commitment – or obsession – is the Martin Aircraft Company (www.martinjetpack.com). Glenn Martin spent 27 years developing his jetpack before it was revealed to the world at the giant Oshkosh Air Venture Show two years ago. He had support from No 8 Ventures and others for only the last few years of this time. Before that, he kept at the project in his garage driven by his strong sense of belief that he could pull off what nobody else had been able to do – the world’s first practical jetpack.

Entrepreneurs are people who have very strong self-belief. The ones who build great new products like this need this incredible commitment, and they need to be able to capture others into their obsession to make the dream come true.

I’ve been thinking recently about obsession. I know it’s essential. When does it cross over into being unattractive? I think the answer is two-fold.

First, obsessing about things that really don’t matter is pretty much always unattractive. Probably all of us do it from time to time, but this is the behaviour we need to get under control. At a friend’s recent 50th birthday party, her fiancé said there were two things about Jo that particularly stood out for him: one was her mantra of, ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’. The other was that people who turn down social invitations are pretty sad. I hadn’t thought about it until then but he was right. One of the attractive things about Jo is that she is such a can-do person. She doesn’t get put off by the small details but lets little irritations go. Incidentally, this was one thing I learned from studying some accounting: the doctrine of materiality – don’t worry about the things that make no material difference. By nature I always wanted everything correct, so this was a revelation to me. You simply have to let the small stuff go.

The second is a question of style. How do you stay determined and resolute and require people to do things for you without becoming unpleasant? There might be mixed opinions on whether I achieve this! The answer is that I’m sure I don’t manage it all the time. All good leaders use a mix of leadership styles. You can’t use demand and control all the time, but you probably do need to use it at times. Better to have others share your obsession about getting to the end result so that they drive themselves in the same direction as you are going. That is, a vision which binds the team can capture this essence of good obsession for you, moderated only occasionally by you displaying the less attractive trait of demanding that things be done.

In summary, welcome your obsession as long as it is for a worthy cause. Drop the small stuff – it will tire you and others out and leave you stressed and others unhappy with you. Focus on the big goal and draw others in to your vision so that you capture their obsession to all drive together for success.
Jenny Morel
www.no8ventures.co.nz