Risk takers are often discounted, pooh-poohed and can be actively campaigned against for stepping outside the status quo. Their daring to question what’s accepted challenges our seeming comfort, shining a light on the constant change surrounding us, yet can sometimes go by undetected. Think: Steve Jobs, fired from his own company than rehired to take Apple (and our personal computing and communications) to states previously unimaginable. Think: Galileo who was tried by The Inquisition, found guilty of heresy for his “sun is the center of the universe” observations and died under house arrest for his crimes. Often, history is kinder to these risk takers, lauding their accomplishments, to the ultimate recognition where their ideas are common to our everyday lives.
We don’t get to choose our passion. It just is. Our challenge is to nurture that purpose, imperfectly, as we “thicken” our skin to take the arrows.
