1/ There are timeless business truths like "take care of customers well".

There are also transient or contextual truths like "it is easy to make money in X" and this "truth" becomes untrue by being too widely believed.

Then there is another category of business truth.

2/ The third category of business truth is the "what ought to be" - you imagine a new state of the world and you drive your actions towards achieving that goal.

In the present moment, the new state may look like a distant dream. Yet that dream becomes our companion and lover.

3/ Only words like love, passion, soul can capture the essence of this. Those are not words you find in a business presentation or an MBA curriculum. It cannot be taught, any more than romantic love can be taught.

It is commitment to that love that drives our greatest efforts.

4/ The person in thrall to that idea seems exactly as crazy as the person deeply in love. Your friends will roll their eyes.

Yet the idea won't leave you. It is the constant companion and a delightful tormenter.

A lifetime of pursuit is the price that love commands.

5/ I was hesitant to post this thread because I am almost afraid there would be a business school course on "How to develop a conviction and fall in love with an idea" - that would be how passion goes to die.

We seem hard-wired to seek formulas for success or happiness.