LE Part 3: "Optimism" and Genius

Hello everyone!

 This time, it can be kind of off-topic, but let me talk about the qualities great leaders have, related to optimism. Just after I started reading Chapter 3, I got one sentence which came in my attention. I empathized with the sentence on page 41, "Shackleton and other great leaders often seem to have been born with a special belief in their own ability." Personally, I was planning to write an essay about Steve Jobs for this RW class. After I kept doing research on him, however, I realized I could never follow him. I realized he was so-called "genius."

In any sources, there are sections talking about "intuition" he had: for example, "intuition" made him invent products, or his "intuition" was a key to decide the direction of the company. I simply thought it was almost impossible to follow his example because I highly doubt my own intuition would lead me to the right direction or if I had "right" intuition like he had. Those kinds of qualities are sometimes found when researching great leaders. In Shackleton's case, it's optimism. It does not ensure that people can surely cultivate optimism by learning what to do and putting their learning into actions, because there is no certain way to cultivate those qualities. It is not such a simple thing. However, last night, I've got an interesting idea about "genius" from one of my senpais. He has actually written about Steve Jobs and he has felt in the same way as I did in the midest of writing the essay. Reading lots of sources he found about great leaders, finally made him realize "a genius is a person who don't fit in a definition of genius" and by breaking common understanding or rules of what they should do, and making a huge success as a result, that person is recognized as a leader. People who follow the common (already known) ideas of what they should do (for example, in business) are so-called "successor," not a "genius." I was somewhat convinced by his words and thought it was interesting. Seeking for things or ways nobody has done is such a difficult and tough thing to do, but it is the only way to be a "genius." Thinking of this, I realized how great Shackleton was, once again.