Breakfast With Branson
What I know to be true, to the depth of my soul, is that audacity creates.
It creates businesses, and art, and world ranked athletes. It creates best-selling authors, award winning actors, and awe inspiring activists. In short, audacity cuts through credentials and experience and it demands a level playing field for anyone willing to step up, be remarkable, and lead.
Audacity is breathtakingly beautiful in her confidence. She refuses external recognition for anything; she’s driven internally. Her vapid sister Ego on the other hand, demands to be seen, creates drama, and needs her name on everything. One brings the light, the other sucks the air out of the room. I invite Audacity without Ego wherever I go.
It can be very lonely when we choose to be audacious because culturally we’re taught not to challenge the status quo. Not to rock the boat. Not to find exceptions to the rules. We’re encouraged to follow the well worn path that leads to success. But the truth is, there are many paths, and my experience has been when I choose to blaze my own trail, meander, and even get lost, I feel alive with possibility and I feel joy.
But the truth is, there are many paths, and my experience has been when I choose to blaze my own trail, meander, and even get lost, I feel alive with possibility and I feel joy.
The other day, I was thinking about the meal I shared with Sir Richard Branson. I smiled to myself because I remember shaking his hand, introducing myself, and promptly asking him if he’d be on the cover of my magazine. It was a ballsy move, and one I think he appreciated, because he laughed, said “yes” and then pulled out my chair for me.
Between sips of coffee, he shared the best advice he had ever been gifted. It was from his mentor Sir Freddie Laker: “Only a fool, never changes his mind”. Choosing to pivot when new information presents itself has most definitely served him. And, it has served me. It has allowed me to let go, instead of being dragged. To stop. To breathe. And to make decisions that are difficult, but for the highest good of all.
I suggest we applaud, instead of judge those who choose to be audacious. I suggest seeing straight through the bitter hearts that may surround you, and simply go create. Make change. And do it without ego.
Breakfast With Branson
What I know to be true, to the depth of my soul, is that audacity creates.
It creates businesses, and art, and world ranked athletes. It creates best-selling authors, award winning actors, and awe inspiring activists. In short, audacity cuts through credentials and experience and it demands a level playing field for anyone willing to step up, be remarkable, and lead.
Audacity is breathtakingly beautiful in her confidence. She refuses external recognition for anything; she’s driven internally. Her vapid sister Ego on the other hand, demands to be seen, creates drama, and needs her name on everything. One brings the light, the other sucks the air out of the room. I invite Audacity without Ego wherever I go.
It can be very lonely when we choose to be audacious because culturally we’re taught not to challenge the status quo. Not to rock the boat. Not to find exceptions to the rules. We’re encouraged to follow the well worn path that leads to success. But the truth is, there are many paths, and my experience has been when I choose to blaze my own trail, meander, and even get lost, I feel alive with possibility and I feel joy.
But the truth is, there are many paths, and my experience has been when I choose to blaze my own trail, meander, and even get lost, I feel alive with possibility and I feel joy.
The other day, I was thinking about the meal I shared with Sir Richard Branson. I smiled to myself because I remember shaking his hand, introducing myself, and promptly asking him if he’d be on the cover of my magazine. It was a ballsy move, and one I think he appreciated, because he laughed, said “yes” and then pulled out my chair for me.
Between sips of coffee, he shared the best advice he had ever been gifted. It was from his mentor Sir Freddie Laker: “Only a fool, never changes his mind”. Choosing to pivot when new information presents itself has most definitely served him. And, it has served me. It has allowed me to let go, instead of being dragged. To stop. To breathe. And to make decisions that are difficult, but for the highest good of all.
I suggest we applaud, instead of judge those who choose to be audacious. I suggest seeing straight through the bitter hearts that may surround you, and simply go create. Make change. And do it without ego.