Not enough, part 2

(Clearing out the Evernote archive from SXSW)

Creative

Ambitious

Innovative

Social

Analytical

Visionary

Entrepreneurial

Young

Disruptive 

Successful. 

How many of these can one person be?

SXSW is full of people like these - or at least people who like to think they're like this. If you go to SXSW, you'll hear all kind of peans to disruption, innovation and our glorious algorithmic future.

What you won't hear is how hard it actually is to make these things happen.

For these you'd need these kinds of adjectives:

Stubborn

Persistent

Relentless

Shrewd

Follow your heart, but back it with a business plan and get a damn good lawyer.

My only approach is to believe that all these people are faking it, or at least some of it. They're letting their freak flags fly in the comfort and safety of their peers and fueled by generous expense accounts.

Perhaps because I'd been traveling almost non-stop and seen and done and said more than I'll ever remember. My brain skews towards self-preservation when it's had enough. That might explain things.

Hell, I don't begrudge people for having some fun in their jobs. And of course an industry conference is going to paint said industry in its best possible light. But for all the talk of a bright shiny future, all I could think of was the effort and patience and tenacity you need to effect real change.  

I was surrounded by denizens of the creative class, and if you spend enough time around them you'll start to think that creativity is all that matters.

But it's not.  

Getting anything disruptive done is a tough slog. It's thankless, devoid of glory, and there are no guarantees.