Wouldn’t it be great to have all the money and power to start whatever you wanted? Would you love to have all the resources and none of the worries, you could do really innovative things, but you most likely wouldn’t. With position and power comes a certain amount of complacency and constraints, and the temptation to play it safe is often too great. One notable exception to this rule comes to mind in the form of Apple Computer. About 1 year ago Apple decided to kill off one of the most successful product lines in its 30 year history, the iPod mini. While analysts scratched their heads, seccond guessed management, and acted generally confused, Apple went all-in and introduced the iPod nano to great success. Why does this example have to be so rare? Timidity is prevalent in business today, complacency the norm. The entrepreneurs with the “let’s figure it out as we go along” model are sneaking up from behind. Why? Because entrepreneurship is characterized by risk, Risk! the polar opposite of timidity. A risk-taking environment in which failure is not looked down upon is the fast-track out of corporate mediocrity, and absolutely necessary to entrepreneurship.
“Far better is it to do mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
~Theodore Roosavelt
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