There's no difference between a pessimist who says, "Oh it's hopeless, so don't bother doing anything." and an optimist who says, "Don't bother doing anything, it's going to turn out fine anyways. Either way, nothing happens."
Yvon ChouinardRead
No young kid growing up dreams of someday becoming a businessman. He wants to be a fireman, a sponsored athlete or a forest ranger The Lee Iacoccas, Donald Trumps, and Jack Welchs of the business world are heroes to no one except other businessmen with similar values.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Children aspire to heroic and adventurous careers, not typically business roles.
In this quote, Yvon Chouinard highlights the disparity between childhood dreams and the adult world of business. He suggests that while children dream of exhilarating and heroic professions like firemen or athletes, the business figures admired in society often lack that same heroic appeal to the younger generation, indicating a disconnect between entrepreneurial success and childhood aspirations.
Themes
BusinessDreamsChildhoodAspirationsHeroes
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech to inspire students to follow their true passions rather than just lucrative careers.
More from Yvon Chouinard
All quotes →I think risk is important. I don't care if it's a great financial risk or a physical risk. You only get out of something what you put into it and the fact that you are willing to risk something means that you are going to get a lot more out of it.
Yvon ChouinardRead
The solution may be for a lot of the world's problems is to turn around and take a forward step. You can't just keep trying to make a flawed system work.
Yvon ChouinardRead
We're a part of nature. As we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. It's a selfish thing to want to protect nature.
Yvon ChouinardRead
Evil doesn’t have to be an overt act; it can be merely the absence of good. If you have the ability, the resources, and the opportunity to do good and you do nothing, that can be evil.
Yvon ChouinardRead
The future of Yosemite climbing lies not in Yosemite, but in using the new techniques in the great granite ranges of the world.
Yvon ChouinardRead
Similar quotes
As an entrepreneur, I've learned how crucial it is to be able to call a spade a spade and avoid falling in love with a particular strategy or product. Instead, you need to let the customer tell you what she needs - and to change her as she changes.
Sallie KrawcheckRead
When a company or an individual compromises one time, whether it's on price or principle, the next compromise is right around the corner.
Zig ZiglarRead
It turns out that is exactly what product strategy is all about—figuring out the right product is the innovator’s job, not the customer’s job.
Ben HorowitzRead
Your customers can tell you the things that are broken and how they want to be made happy. Listen to them. Make them happy. But don't rely on them to create the future road map for your product or service. That's your job.
Mark CubanRead
I wasn't running toward the theater but running away from the sporting goods store. Of course now that I'm selling spaghetti sauce (with Newman's Own), I begin to understand the romance of business.. the allure of being the biggest fish in the pond and the juice you get from beating out your competitors.
Paul NewmanRead
A lot of entrepreneurs hate big companies. But if you hate them so much, why are you trying to build a new one? The truth is, as soon as a startup has any kind of success whatsoever, it will face big company problems.
Eric RiesRead