The mystery of billionaires’ long marriages
How can I be as great as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk or Sir Richard Branson? The short answer, she wrote, is you can’t.
The longer answer amounts to one of the best explanations of success I have ever read. According to her it comes in two types: normal success – involving hard work, talent etc – and extreme success – as enjoyed by her ex. The normal variety she recommends; the extreme version is only available to those who are born that way. “They are dyslexic, they are autistic, they have ADD, they are square pegs in round holes, they piss people off, get into arguments, rock the boat.”
.. In other words, billionaires are rotten people to marry. Which is also precisely what I had always thought.
.. I wonder if it might be that when the truly weird find someone who suits them, they don’t give them up in a hurry. Or perhaps it is that if you are transfixed by your work, an affair offers insufficient thrill. Or it could simply be that if you hardly ever see your spouse, he or she is significantly less likely to get on your nerves — Lucy Kellaway