Moby-Dick's anti-hero, Captain Ahab, is NOT a role model. 

His fixation on the white whale consumes him, literally and figuratively. His ship's crew pay the price for his obsession. 

But he sometimes shows good examples of how to focus to get results. 

At one point, he demands that the ship's blacksmith make the most badass harpoon ever.

"Look ye, blacksmith, these are the gathered nail-stubbs of the steel shoes of racing horses."

"Horse-shoe stubbs, sir? Why, Captain Ahab, thou hast here, then, the best and stubbornest stuff we blacksmiths ever work."

Ahab knew that, to get the best results, you need to work with the best materials.

"Now for the barbs; thou must make them thyself, man. Here are my razors—the best of steel; here, and make the barbs sharp as the needle-sleet of the Icy Sea. Take them, man, I have no need for them; for I now neither shave, sup, nor pray till—but here—to work!"

Extraordinary results demand sacrifice.

When at last the twelve rods were made, Ahab tried them, one by one, by spiralling them, with his own hand, round a long, heavy iron bolt. "A flaw!" rejecting the last one. "Work that over again, Perth."

To get exceptional results, you can't compromise on quality. 

Ahab's obsession didn't have a happy ending (sorry for the spoiler). His harpoon was amazing but irrelevant against a force of nature like Moby-Dick. But it was, nonetheless, a superior harpoon. 

Ahab was no role model. But he did know a thing or two about getting results. 

(Bonus tip: Read the book. You won't regret it.)