There are two kinds of people in life: those who run away at the first sign of lightning and a far smaller group who dash headlong in its direction.
That the former seek shelter from the storm is understandable. There is danger in the black clouds and wiry bolts of electricity. All of the experts will tell you to head for bunker and stay put until the danger passes.
But what do the experts know? They aren’t smart enough to see with their myopic vision that the DANGER NEVER PASSES. Run from the lightning and you’ll be running from everything:
* Confrontation
* Competition
* Risk
* Romance
* Everything That Is Both Uncertain And Beyond Your Control
In fact, you’ll be running from life. Those who recognize that there are no guarantees, that there is no safety anywhere, anytime, rush off to embrace the lightning. In its deadly force, they also see beauty, the grand and defiant wonder of nature. Of God. And whatever form the lightning takes, as a delicious slice of life, they want to dance around and through its bolts.
If we are to cave into fear, to seek to control the risks, then we cannot sky dive, fall in love, start businesses, invest our money, ski mogul fields, take controversial stands, aspire to leadership, or swim the ocean at midnight.
Everyone lives and dies. The only question is, how fully, how wildly, how completely out of control happy you can be within the goal posts of birth and death.
Paradoxically, the answer to this happiness lies in direct correlation to your willingness to eschew safety and embrace danger. The more we occupy ourselves by building and maintaining moats around ourselves, the less we throw ourselves into the high risk scenarios that lead to the most exhilarating results.
In business, no one wins by mounting a prevent offense. All of the great successes make big bets, defy the odds, act when all of the Harvard Business school professors issue their dire warnings.
The fact is, you can’t be in the life protection business. You must be in the life fulfillment enterprise. Sure there will be some scary moments, but they will pale compared to the highs and the triumphs embedded in the lightning.
Mark Stevens
CEO
MSCO | The Art and Science of Growing Businesses
