Page 105 - The Power to Change Anything

94 INFLUENCER

Russia. A few years ago the grizzled and gawky math wiz did the
formerly impossible. He solved the Poincare Conjecture—a
problem no other mathematician had been able to solve despite
a century of intense worldwide effort. It’s a problem so arcane
that most of us wouldn’t even understand the question.
Here’s what’s interesting about Perelman. He did it just for
fun. The only way the world discovered that Grigori had solved
the problem was that he went to the minimal trouble of post-
ing the solution on a Web site. After spending years of his life
in intense concentration, with no compensation or reward,
Perelman celebrated his dramatic accomplishment with a Web
posting.
What kept Perelman going for all those years? It certainly
wasn’t the fame or fortune. His obscure Web posting caught the
attention of the judges of mathematics’ version of the Nobel
Prize. And for that reason alone he was offered the Field
Medal for Mathematics—and a $1 million prize. Perelman
refused both. He was on to his next task and wanted only to be
left alone. He sits today in his cramped St. Petersburg apart-
ment working on another problem.
Perelman is unique in his mathematical skills, but his
source of motivation is so common and so profound that every
influence genius needs to master its use. The most powerful
incentive known to humankind is our own evaluation of our
behavior and accomplishments. When people are able to meet
their personal standards, they feel validated and fulfilled. They
also feel as if they’re living up to the image of who they want
to be.
In this particular case, Perelman probably exacted pleasure
from all three of the intrinsic sources we just discussed. He rev-
eled in the accomplishment, loved the challenge of the game,
and took pleasure in acting true to the vision of who he wanted
to be. When Perelman conquered the Poincare Conjecture, he
felt a satisfaction so deep and pure that the million-dollar prize
would have only spoiled it for him.