There is a different driving factor for patience in people vs. businesses.

People are motivated by passion. A budding musician who is passionate about making a rock album will toil for years to realize their dream. An idealist looking for true love will wait decades for that one special someone to come along. A traveler passionate about seeing the globe may work for 30 years to save enough money for their dream walkabout.

Businesses, on the other hand, are only as patient as the size of their bank accounts. Small businesses have very little patience at all. They change direction quickly when their ideas aren’t working. They compromise on hiring great people because they need to get initiatives moving forward ASAP. Big businesses have a lot more institutional patience, not because they have more passion, but because they can afford to be patient. Microsoft could decide to get into the microprocessor business and would have the patience to spend 10-years building expertise, factories, hiring experts, and launching products into a crowded marketplace.

At best, an organization has passion akin to the passions a schizophrenic may harbor. Passions driven by the leadership of a business, good for the general direction, but not strong enough to solicit the steadfast patience and focus that a single person brings to their dreams.