Why do I choose to be an outsider?
To begin with, let’s take individual elements of the title and delve into a topic of much larger significance. Who or what is an Outsider?
Such a person can be defined as one differing from a streamlined system. Our first thought is of people who are at a constant tug of war with authorities, questioning things around them. We feel like we belong but there’s a voice that says we don’t. We are the rejects, those that have been given up on by society.
Such outliers look like they’re made to fail. With traits like rebellion towards authority, higher likelihood of the imposter syndrome(where we assume ourselves incapable of a role or that we are too good for it), which could well harm the system built over millennia or the outsider getting into it.
Even if the outsider manages to get into a system, they find it hard to change it. They are hit by a sense of alienation, of missing out on the band-wagon that their peers and family are on. Yet, it is these traits that make successful entrepreneurs.
An unbridled outsider can alter the world, in a lot of ways. As entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Oprah Winfrey have shown. There can be contrarian views on this as shown below: Entrepreneurs who are outsiders can be:
1. Inventive: The inventors often tend to be individualistic, they often take a concept to the next step. This is a key quality of an entrepreneur.
2. Contrarian: The inventiveness for entrepreneurs is often the answer to their own steadfastness in times when most people would be happy to just follow group mentality. Outsiders do the opposite, and here comes a sense of misplaced empathy. If there’s one defining trait of an entrepreneur, it is that they are consistently swimming against the tide and are very good at it.
3. Creativity:
This is a stand out feature for entrepreneurs to possess in the modern world. As time passes, the need for design thinking and problem-solving abilities has only increased. For example, surgeries have become so much easier now to conduct with the advent of superior technology.
4. Individualism:
Unlike in those days we now need, to monetize and find quick ways to move into our chosen market. The individualistic approach is important but not at the cost of societal alienation. With Space X, a seemingly outside force that is Elon Musk has produced wondrous results that compete with the likes of NASA. With Falcon 9, Musk has proved how economical space flight can be!
5. Courage:
If there is one indicator that an entrepreneur has tied in their resources and come out of the storm of like minds- it's Courage. We are at the advent of deep brain surgery (DBS) for diseases like Parkinson’s which alter the condition of the brain altogether. Even the students of IIT -Chennai have now come up with a wheelchair that gives its users the capacity to stand up while using it! If nothing, an Outsider is one who stares at the fire and brings it home to keep us safe and help us take the next step. This is in fact a key trait of all those who are fighting the Covid-19 fight of 2019.
