Driven people with character are dangerous.

Those people are the ones who create a better world.

Both are key – drive and character.

One without the other is like separating sodium from chlorine in sodium chloride, also known as salt.

These two become salt only when they’re together.

When separated, both sodium and chlorine are dangerous and volatile.

If the formula for salt is sodium (Na) + chlorine (Cl), then the formula for building driven people of character – the “salt” of the earth, is this:

Urgency (to solve an important problem) + Patience (the willingness to work and wait for progress) = Driven People of Character.

I call it “patient urgency”.

You must have both urgency and patience.

Just like sodium and chlorine are harmful on their own, so too are urgency and patience.

Urgency without patience kills character.

Patience without urgency kills drive.

When they come together, though, you get a rare mixture that both preserves and improves everything it touches.