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April 26, 2005
Books
The Merits of Madness
Posted by Carole Matthews at 3:03 PM
Join the discussion! Read Inc.'s May 2005 "Book Club" column by Reporter Darren Dahl here, post your comments about the book, and e-mail questions you have for the authors. Send them to Darren Dahl at ddahl@inc.com, using the subject line, May Book Club. We'll send the best ones to the authors for answering, and then post a complete Q&A on Fresh Inc.
Everyone knows entrepreneurs are a little crazy, and a new book claims it's both genetic and very American. In The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot of) Success in America, author John D. Gartner claims that the personality traits that define entrepreneurial overachievers, like exceptional energy reserves, gut-instinct decision making, and an affinity for taking risks, are symptoms of hypomania, a psychiatric cousin of bipolar disorder. Gartner suggests the U.S. leads in churning out entrepreneurs because this is a nation of immigrants, another group high in hypomanic risk-takers. He uses case studies of historic visionaries like Alexander Hamilton and Andrew Carnegie to support his contention that hypomanics have long been threatening to change the world.--Darren Dahl
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Dear Common Readers:
I believe that most people don't understand entrepreneurs because most people are afraid to dare to be different and dream big- but entrepreneurs are not. Society tells us that we must conform to certain standards, that we must be "domesticated" in order to survive, but society is wrong. Yes, it is true that in order for an animal to be accepted into someone's home, the animal must be domestic, but in the same way that a wild animal can rarely survive for a long period of time if it is ever captured and placed in a cage, a successful entrepreneur could never survive behind barricades that limit them.
You can call it bipolar disorder or hypomania or whatever suits your fancy, but I will NEVER trade my jungle for your walls of isolation. I'm a fearless and unpredictable cheetah- the fastest cat in the world, and you're just a tiny, weak little kitten that can't even hunt for himself.
If you're happy with such a dull life then congratulations, but I'll never dream of trading lives with you even for a second, because I've been to places, and I'm going to more places that you don't even know exist.
-Lindsey Jo
"The world is my classroom."
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