Here’s my email to Leadership Reno County alums for 12/16/13:
Are you paralyzed to error on the side of caution? I know I am. As we’ve rounded out this year thinking about the “gap” that exists between where we believe things need to be and what our realities are, one thing we don’t like to admit is how much we are driven by the path of least resistance, erring on the side of caution or never ever upsetting the apple cart. The only problem with being paralyzed by this way of thinking is that it rubs against a core leadership principle: leadership is risky.
On this day many years ago, our country’s founders decided to engage in an act of leadership and rebel against King George by dumping some tea in the harbor (the Boston Tea Party). Undoubtedly, they were driven to do something out of norm. We love stories like this. We don’t typically celebrate the acts of leadership that never had any risk to them. Now, I am saying that engaging in acts of leadership can be risky and not necessarily encouraging you to be reckless. The risk for many of us is simply doing things a little differently than we typically have done them in the past or like we typically do them. By experimenting in this small way, I believe we can make progress in the gap.
So, as this year moves toward an end, what acts of leadership—even daring, risky acts of leadership—do you need to engage in? What kind of progress might you make in the “gap” if you did things just a tad differently? That’s what “leadership is risky” is all about.
With you in this risky adventure…