Mistakes of Action
I had one of those “ah-ha” moments a few weeks back. You know, one of those little gems that when taken out of context has an almost existential impact on you.
I was reading a story in the newspaper about some fraternity buddies who fell out of touch with one another. The article’s author wrote about how he had known of one of his fraternity brothers’ cancer for a few years, but didn’t contact him because he had no idea what to say after such a long absence and felt awkward. At that point, another frat brother chastised him with this comment: “Let the mistakes we make be mistakes of action, not mistakes of non-action.”
That got me to thinking: how many of the mistakes we make in marketing are due to inaction? How many promising ideas or initiatives did we back off from? This is a business that is supposed to be about “bold ideas,” yet often we’re far too comfortable with the status quo, or too cautious to weather a challenge, to act on them. Then, in a few months, we may read how one of our competitors just did such-and-such, and we moan, “Hey, we had that idea last year!”
Ideas without action are like a kite without wind. No matter how pretty they look, you’ll never know what their true potential is.
So this year, as a belated New Year’s resolution, I invite you to join me in taking the pledge to “be bold.” To act. To acknowledge that I am going to make mistakes, but at least they will be mistakes of action.
You know it’s the right thing to do. But (here’s the irony of it) will you act on it?
Posted by Mickey
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