My dreamgirl often complains about how paranoid I am as a person. For example, I refuse to leave my laptop in my car. I always insist on leaving at least an hour ahead of schedule before any meeting or date, so that I won’t ever be late.
I triple-check to see if the doors are locked in my house before leaving or going to sleep, and often spend sleepless nights wondering if I did or didn’t pull out the plug on my TV whenever I am away on a trip.
So far, I haven’t lost any of my laptops, nor any of my wallets, or been robbed or anything like that. And God willing, nothing like that will ever happen to this paranoid writer.
So it seems like being paranoid isn’t always a bad thing. Liew Mun Leong, The CEO of CapitaLand, Singapore’s biggest property firm, would agree. He considers paranoia as part of his philosophy of success.
His message to young professionals is: “be paranoid! The most untoward event can spring at us, so be prepared.”
Mr. Liew believes strongly in the importance of paranoia. In his book Building People: Sunday Emails From a CEO, he say that “in business you’ve got to plan and be prepared for every eventuality.”
He isn’t the only top business executive to believe in the value of paranoia. Former Intel Chairman Andrew S. Grove even wrote a book entitled Only the Paranoid Survive, and credits the success of Intel (which dominates the computer chip market) to his seeming paranoia.
It is when you are paranoid that you plan. And you plan for the worst situations. It is paranoia that makes one prepare for the worst that life has to offer.
In management, the “worst” that is being referred to is probably best described by Murphy’s Law. Murphy’s Law says that “if something can go wrong, it WILL go wrong.”
The thing is though, if one is paranoid, one is prepared for that wrong that will happen. So paranoia, properly applied, can be the cure for Murphy’s Law.
Just look at the brisk sales of external hard drives on the market. Their main purpose is to backup your files and make sure you don’t lose them in case your computer crashes at the worst moment (in loving obedience to Murphy’s law, of course). They have been quite successful in meeting that need. Many computer users now have one.
So what’s the lesson for the day?
Be paranoid. It may actually be the key to your success.
Be Paranoid.
Andy Grove’s book and ideas have helped a great many businesses survive. As far as being smart enough to not leave your computer in the car or not risking being late for an appointment because everyone’s time is valuable, I’m in complete agreement. Now if only others could be as paranoid.
Funnily enough our office has recently purchased at least a dozen external hard drives. We work with expensive, and sensitive forest data…so, very topical of you to mention that.
I think that paranoid, though, it quite a powerful word. It rings true that it may be necessary, but I think paranoia has that ‘without due cause’ connotation. Then again, like you said, even if you’re incorrect about a worry, it’s the preparedness that’s important, not the fear.
I think it’s good to be paranoid when it comes to protecting yourself. It’s not fun to be lax and suffer the consequences.
To Business coach– That’s true, I honestly think if more people were just a bit more paranoid, a lot of problems can be avoided in both business and life.
To Th rive- preparedness is what makes paranoia (in the context of this post) a good thing. But I think its the fear from paranoia that makes us go into the whole preparation for the bad things that could happen…
To Todd– I agree, this is especially true in some of the not so nice spots in a city. It doesn’t hurt to look behind your shoulder or to check if your car is locked up in those cases to make sure you are safe and protected.
paranoia is good if in good measure and results to preparedness. But like all traits, excess of it that results to worry and stress about something that has not yet even happened is not a good thing.
[...] The Bizness Blawg: “How Paranoia Can Actually Make You Successful“ [...]
well, if you want to be successful, be paranoid.
If you want to be happy, then stop being paranoid.
[...] The Bizness Blawg: “How Paranoia Can Actually Make You Successful“ [...]