Monday, January 8, 2018

Leadership Quote - TS Elliot

Image Created by Erin Morey
Last week we celebrated New Years, and as we continue into 2018 I wanted to share the words of T.S. Eliot:

Only Thos Who Will Risk Going Too Far Can Possibly Find Out How Far One Can Go 
- T.S. Eliot

Today I invite you to review your goals for the coming year. Are they SAFE Goals? Perhaps they might be too safe? The world today tends to be extremely risk adverse where companies and people only make minor adjustments in areas where they can be reasonably certain of the end results. Instead, the people and companies that make a splash are the ones who take the risk and perhaps can even go too far. What was the world like when Steve Jobs introduced his Apple iPhone? At the time could it easily have been a flop?
Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharyzk, and Joe Gebbia decided to rent out the extra space in their apartment as a bed and breakfast, apparently with an air mattress, which started (and named) Airbnb. Overcoming "stranger danger" must have been a significant obstacle. Why would a person be willing to live in a complete stranger's apartment rather than a hotel? Why would a person let a stranger spend days in an apartment not under a strong rental agreement?

These are only two examples that could have gone too far, but instead, have forced shifts in entire industries. So what about your goals? Are they safe small steps, or are they giant leaps? To paraphrase (from multiple sources, including Richard Branson, Steve Aitchinson,  and Kristine K. Stevens): 
 If it doesn't scare you, it's not big enough.
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T.S. Eliot was a prolific British author and considered one of the 20th centuries major poets, although he was a native US Citizen, eventually becoming a British subject in 1927. 

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