Well, he wasn’t actually a guru. He wasn’t out to convince anyone of how great new technologies were. He just saw what could be done with them and got down to work to offer services that nobody had ever offered before, and he had the intuition that they would be a big hit.

He was into cinema with sound and commercial aviation. What a guy! He also kept an even keel at a time when 99% of the population were in a panic over the worst stock-market crisis of the XX century. The crash of ’29.

He said “Crisis? I just see opportunities here” He had already invested in silent movies and was in the process of shooting the most expensive movie ever made at that time. Suddenly someone invents sound for movies, and he realized that this was the future. So he stopped production and did what he had to do to include sound.

What was the movie like? It was rubbish! The sound part of it was no more important than the props. A total bore. That movie could never have been good, but to be able to create the amazing movies that we have today, it was necessary to go through that period of experimentation.

What about commercial aviation? Same story! He sees it, he goes for it, and works like a demon. He was the leader of team who followed him blindly, because they realized that this man was one of a kind.
Basically, he developed these two sectors like nobody else ever did in the XX century.

You’ll all be wondering how I can possibly praise a person who was not quite the full shilling, who was excessively ambitious, had mysterious connections with the CIA, and who did business in a not very ethical manner for most of his life. Well, life has taught me that everybody has a dark side. Some people I accept in their entirety, but in general I concentrate on certain specific aspects of a person that interest me without having to be convinced by all that person’s traits.

When I think of this man, with all his defects (and he had plenty!) and of what he achieved, I look at myself and realize that I’m just wasting time. It’s time to get moving and to take action!

Is today anything like 1929? Yes, it’s exactly the same!

It’s in times of crisis that the best ideas are born. We are now at the cusp of the biggest change in history. In times of change such as these, the cards are shuffled and dealt anew. What are you doing to ensure that you get good cards?

I’m off to see the movie that Scorsese and DiCaprio made in 2004, to see if I can learn anything from it.

This post in spanish: Howard Hughes era un gurú de las nuevas tecnologías.