The two biggest stories of the week are Bubba Watson capturing the green jacket at the US Open, and Facebook buying Instagram for $1 billion.
What do these two seemingly disparate happenings have in common?
Both accomplishments were engineered by guys with no formal training in their respective field.
Watson - as was noted several times during Sunday's telecast - has never had a lesson or analyzed his swing on video.
Instagram's CEO, Kevin Systrom, is apparently an entirely self-taught programmer.
The world (and media) loves stories like this, and I'm guessing the stories are in the neighborhood of truth, but not quite as sexy as they've been made to be.
Nonetheless, it's an interesting narrative and one I'm sure we'll continue to hear.
By the way, here's Watson's shot from the 2nd hole of the sudden-death playoff. Maybe the best shot I've ever seen, given the circumstances.
True, technically. But there's stories like this everywhere, of people following passions without formal schooling.
One of my favorites is Kevin Smith, who (arguably) started the indie film revival with his credit card and the movie, Clerks. This after he dropped out of film school.
The implication for business is: let people follow more of their personal interests and they will find a way to over-perform and add value.
Posted by: Alan | April 10, 2012 at 02:47 PM