The Power of Productive Paranoia

“Real­ly great entre­pre­neurs have this very spe­cial mix of unstop­pable opti­mism and scathing para­noia.” - Astro Teller, intel­li­gent tech­nol­o­gy scientist

It was an incred­i­ble relief when I first read Jim Collins’ book Great by Choice where he talked about the attrib­ut­es of lead­ers who thrived in tur­bu­lent times. One of those attrib­ut­es was Pro­duc­tive Paranoia.

Com­mon in some of the most suc­cess­ful lead­ers, Pro­duc­tive Para­noia can be healthy. It’s the attribute of being hyper-aware so that you do what you need to suc­ceed, no mat­ter what.

This is not the para­noia that freaks you out, but the kind that gets you into action, to plan bet­ter, think bet­ter and pre­pare better.

Pro­duc­tive para­noia makes you feel bet­ter when you’ve done what you can, allow­ing you to stop wor­ry­ing and be present to what’s impor­tant right now. It’s about antic­i­pa­tion ver­sus worry.

Turn Thought into Action

I’ve always felt para­noid about things that could go wrong, and am con­stant­ly think­ing about what can be done to make sure we win, mak­ing Plans A, B and C. It’s fas­ci­nat­ing that, in many con­ver­sa­tions about para­noia with a dozen CEOs, I learned they felt the same way!

I once worked with a CEO in the US who was a dooms­day per­son — a pre­par­er to the extreme. He even had a large SUV with bul­let-proof blan­kets, just in case.

As I talked to him, I real­ized I could do some­thing about my own wor­ry about dis­as­ters – like what would hap­pen if the pow­er went out for a month and peo­ple went crazy.

So I got into action: I made sur­vival kits for my fam­i­ly with a back-up gen­er­a­tor, emer­gency sup­plies, food and water. I put togeth­er a win­ter sur­vival kit for my car, as I often dri­ve through the moun­tains in the win­ter. And when I trav­el, I antic­i­pate what could get lost or break down, and always go with extra charg­ers and con­nec­tors for phone and laptop.

While I haven’t gone as far as bul­let-proof blan­kets, or a stash buried in back yard, I do know that, if things got weird, my fam­i­ly and I are ok for a few weeks.

And I noticed that after I put togeth­er the kits, I was more relaxed. I felt bet­ter, know­ing I was pre­pared, and could move on to oth­er impor­tant things. That’s the pow­er of Pro­duc­tive Paranoia.

The Chal­lenge

Think about where you can con­vert para­noia to productivity:

1. What do you need to do to let the para­noia go, to qui­et your mind?
2. Get into action to make sure it hap­pens so that you can focus on what’s most important.