Joshua Walters is a bipolar comedian who also is active as an educator in mental health. During his talk on TED, he tells the audience about his manic experience in high school that lead to a choice: "I could either deny my mental illness or embrace my mental skillness."

Walters in his talk mentions an article in the New York Times entitled, Just Manic Enough: Seeking Perfect Entrepreneurs. The Times article talks about Seth Priebatsch, an entrepreneur who was looking for some venture capital.

So, what do you give this guy — a big check or the phone number of a really good shrink? If he is Seth Priebatsch and you are Highland Capital Partners, a venture capital firm in Lexington, Mass., the answer is a big check.

But this thought exercise hints at a truth: a thin line separates the temperament of a promising entrepreneur from a person who could use, as they say in psychiatry, a little help. Academics and hiring consultants say that many successful entrepreneurs have qualities and quirks that, if poured into their psyches in greater ratios, would qualify as full-on mental illness.

Others here at Psych Central have talked about how what some deem as an illness instead becomes an asset. The key is to be just crazy enough.

http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_walt...zy_enough.html
http://www.ted.com/speakers/joshua_walters.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/bu...pagewanted=all

An interesting topic with an alternative viewpoint.