Originally published on LinkedIn (reformatted for zahradnik.io / Medium)
Over the past seven years in the non-profit world, hundreds of people have passed through my hands — protégés, peers, fellow officers.
One pattern became impossible to ignore: I’m exceptionally good at spotting potential.
Sometimes a few minutes with a person is enough for me to see:
- “This guy could be a CTO one day.”
- “He’s in his 20s, already working two contracts in parallel.”
- “Despite hating corporate life, he still delivers.”
This particular guy is real — and he’s on a very strong trajectory.
I hope to have him in my company one day.
But there’s another side to the story.
I’ve met extremely bright people who barely get by financially.
Genius-level IQ, yet burdened by:
- inner instability,
- fractured mind,
- cycles of self-sabotage,
- emotional volatility.
They inherited incredible hardware… but often at a cost.
And don’t get me wrong — I love having such people around me.
One of my long-term visions is to build a company that gives outliers a real chance: a place that shields them from unnecessary chaos and lets their brilliance shine.
But here’s the realization that hit me hardest over the years:
👉 Potential is cheap.
Thousands of people are brilliant.
Many of my friends have the potential to become millionaires — but they don’t.
They run in loops.
They move slowly.
Sometimes they don’t move at all.
Meanwhile, others — equally smart but more grounded — simply rise.
They are humble, stable, integrated.
And they quietly climb to the top while the “geniuses” burn out.
Just look at Ray Kroc vs. the McDonald brothers.
Visionaries often stay stuck.
Operators win.
Because at the end of the day:
It’s not genius alone that wins the game.
It’s persistence.
It’s stability.
It’s integration.
It’s being someone people can count on.
Reliability is the true superpower.
