Chamber of Commerce
Success …
A Risky
Business
By Mark Turner, President/CEO,
Gilroy Chamber of Commerce
I
n Valladolid, Spain, where
Christopher Columbus died in
1506, stands a monument com-
memorating the great discoverer.
Perhaps the most interesting feature
of the memorial is a statue of a lion
at the base of it where the Spanish
National Motto is engraved. The
lion is reaching out with its paw
and is destroying one of the Latin
words that had been part of the
Spain’s motto for centuries. Before
Columbus made his voyages, the
Spaniards thought they had reached
the outer limits of earth. Thus, their
motto was, “No More Beyond.” The
word being torn away by the lion is,
“No,” making it read, “More Beyond.”
Columbus had proven that there was
indeed “more beyond.”
While many in that day thought
they had reached their fullest poten-
tial and had gone as far as they
could go, Christopher Columbus
came along and pushed the limits
even further. His willingness to step
outside the comfort zone and take
risks encourages us to apply three
leadership principles to our lives,
teams and organizations.
There’s More to Achieve
if You Dare to Dream
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Do
not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path
and leave a trail.”
Set goals and consistently work
toward achieving them. Let what’s
82
happened in the past help to motivate
you toward achieving success and not
become an excuse as to why you can
never make it happen. Dream it and
pursue it. You’ll be amazed at what
can be done and what can be achieved.
Accepting, “No,” as the
Final Word Limits Success
Anyone who has done a tour in
professional sales knows it takes over-
coming six to seven “no” responses
from a potential customer in order to
get the desired, “yes” answer. Many
a salesperson has walked away after
hearing “no” one time only, to leave the
sale to a more determined competitor.
Sadly, we often tell ourselves
“no” before we get started in a new
venture like writing a book, going for
that big account, starting a business,
expanding a product line, launching a
non-profit organization or believing
we’re deserving of success. Had
Columbus subscribed to the Spanish
National Motto and believed there
was “No More Beyond,” he would have
never been willing to take the risk
necessary to achieve success. The word
“no” leaves us with a choice, to accept
it as the final word, or as an invitation
to think differently.
Jose Ortega y Gasset once said,
“The stone and tiger have no choice of
life: the stone must gravitate and the
tiger must pounce. Only human beings
are faced with the mind-blowing
responsibility of having, at each and
every moment of their lives, to choose
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
what to do and what to be. It is both a
necessity and an invitation.”
No Deposit, No Return -
No Risk, No Reward
Back in the day, people used to pay a
deposit on their beverage bottles because
they were so expensive to produce.
Bottlers used a deposit-refund system
which motivated people to return the
bottles after use. In return, consumers
received their deposits back. As time
went on and bottles became less
expensive to produce, the words “No
Deposit – No Return” began appearing
on bottles. No extra effort was required
on the part of consumers to get some of
their investment back.
The “No Deposit, No Return” principle
can be applied to many different
things. No investment at the gym to
lift weights or do cardio workouts, no
personal health benefits; no investment
in education, no advancement in one’s
career; no time invested in others, no
leadership development.
At times it’s necessary to take risks
whether in one’s personal or professional
life. Blind leaps of faith are not the only
requirement to achieving reward and
success. Often times, “risk” decisions
are made after thorough research and
information gathering has occurred.
Calculated risks can minimize negative
outcomes but cannot always guarantee
them. That’s what risk is about.
As William H. Shedd once said, “A ship
is safe in the harbor, but that is not what
a ship was built for.”
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