Taking a personality as a model often seems like a utopia. No one is perfect and so we can examine the bad aspects that prevent us from seeing the virtues or believe that he is an extraordinary being and therefore we cannot draw inspiration from him. Albert Einstein’s unusual profile and career provide important advice and aspects for today’s entrepreneurs and leaders. Zoom in on the many lessons of this emblematic personality.
Selected as the “Personality of the 20th Century” by the American weekly Time in 1999, theoretical physicist Albert Einstein is still a symbolist figure in science, academia, culture and popular history. He changed the world of physics thanks to his many discoveries. By publishing his theories on special relativity and gravity, he contributed greatly to the development of quantum mechanics and cosmology. But he is best known to the general public for the equation E = mc2, an equivalence formula between mass and energy, which laid the foundation for nuclear energy. The scientist had many qualities paralleled by entrepreneurs, including a thirst for discovery, innovation and creativity.
“The value of a man lies in his ability to give, not in his ability to receive.”
Albert Einstein
Make mistakes, accept failure and persevere
The famous physicist’s path may be marked by success, but he faced many setbacks and made many mistakes before revolutionizing the scientific world. He went through a difficult schooling career and failed the entrance exams to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Unable to find a job in the university environment he wanted to join, he took a job at the patent office in Bern, which would give him time to live decently and engage in his research. This would lead to the publication of several articles in the journal Annalen der Physik in 1905, which would launch his success and lead him to the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. He also spent a good part of his life researching scientific theories that did not succeed.
Albert Einstein said, ” The person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new “. Innovation is really the first experiment, which often involves trying a number of things that sometimes lead to errors, or even bitter failures. To the entrepreneur as immediately viable or successful A project, product or idea that can’t be displayed, often takes several attempts to implement them effectively. Making mistakes is a human element that is also essential to the growth of a company. Entrepreneurship and innovation are essential. Take risks and sometimes inspire many endeavors. But the experience the leader gains from it can be a source of innovation that will revolutionize a market. The scientist also clarified I haven’t failed, I’ve found ten thousand ways that don’t work.“. A way of emphasizing that failure and persistence are the cornerstones of success, prompting us to change perspective and learn from it for the future. Many studies show that entrepreneurs who have failed and Those who have understood the positive side of failure identify better opportunities and achieve their next project, faster growth and better economic performance.
learn continuously
With the flow of information, new technologies and innovative digital processes accelerating, entrepreneurs can become increasingly overwhelmed in all their aspects, benefiting the competition, which is better armed. To avoid this, you should try to continuously develop your company, its products and its services. Thereafter the leader must continually train himself and his employees. This may include reading books, daily monitoring of information or training on innovative technologies. Einstein often told that he was ignorant of many things and did not know enough. So his curiosity inspired him to continue learning day by day and train himself in a self-educated way. A poor student at school, he thus taught himself differential and integral calculus during his teenage years and deepened his scientific knowledge through reference works written by great names in 19th-century physics. century, such as Gustav Robert Kirchhoff and James Clerk Maxwell. In one of his letters, the scientist also admitted that reading helped him formulate his famous theory of special relativity.
Demonstrate imagination, creativity and curiosity
, Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited while imagination embraces the whole world, stimulates progress, brings development. ,
Albert Einstein
This quote attributed to Einstein emphasizes that imagination is the key to taking your business to the top. Even if the entrepreneur has all the necessary knowledge, his imagination can drive him to expand his mind and think big. This allows him to set up his project with incomparable originality and visualize every aspect of the product or service, even if it doesn’t yet exist, beyond financial considerations and technical problems. With imagination comes creativity. This quality is essential for any creator or entrepreneur, allowing them to invent and complete a project that can be innovative. It is an asset against the competition that allows the company to generate substantial revenue and profit. Curiosity is also essential for a physicist. They have always applied themselves to observing their environment and asking themselves questions, even the simple ones, trying to understand every detail. With this curiosity Einstein became heavily involved in his research. On the entrepreneur’s side, it prompts him to break out of the stagnation to find innovative ideas, to look beyond his own realm.