Randy Komisar: What’s his story? He has held various roles at Apple Computer, LucasArts Entertainment, Crystal Dynamics, Claris Corporation and GO Corporation. He’s also helped to build WebTV, TiVo, Mondo Media and other emerging companies.Currently, he acts  as a Virtual CEO partnering with entrepreneurs to create businesses with leading edge technologies. In addition, he’s a Consulting Professor of Entrepreneurship at Stanford University and author of best-selling book  “The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life while Making a Living” which he shows readers how deals are made and businesses get started in Silicon Valley. His business philosophy has been called “Zen capitalism.

“Don’t let a career drive you, let passion drive your life. That may not get you up any ladder, but it will make your trip down a long and winding road more interesting”.

Below are some of his insights on how to create a living while making a life:

1. It’s a big mistake to take the Deferred Life Plan sacrificing your current happiness for the hope of happiness later when you’ve achieved a certain goal.  Rather it’s important to appeciate now as much as possible while remaining open to opportunities for the future.
2. It’s not worth devoting your time to a project if you’re doing it just for the money.  It’s important truly play to your strengths and be passionate about your work. Komisar describes it as:  ”the sense of connection you feel when the work you do expresses who you are. Only passion will get you through the tough times . . . It’s the romance, not the finance that makes business worth pursuing.”
3. Be mindful of the people you work with.  If you go for success at the expense of other people, you won’t be successful for long.

And how to identify your passion/strengths?

Firstly, instead of focusing in on the passion (singular) rather you should think of a “portfolio of passions”; then think of how this portfolio can be aligned to leverage available opportunities. He contends that asking What is my one true passion? and What is the ultimate thing I’m going to do with my life? are counter productive questions.

There may be many elements that you are passionate about and it’s probably easier to think in terms of what general direction you want to progress in, what opportunities are present and how does that fit with your strengths.

Like Steve Jobs who said you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. Komisar says that his career only makes senseif you look at it in the rear-view mirror.  He never knew what he wanted to do; he pursued opportunities until it became obvious that those opportunities wouldn’t give him the fulfilment that he wanted.  He would then look for, chase and  create new opportunities for himself that would lead to a fulfilling life.  Currently, he loves his life as a Virtual CEO.  Some of his Stanford lectures are available at academic earth.

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