After I spoke with Accenture’s men and women at International Women’s Day, I had many requests to share two concepts. The River which I commenced my talk with and A Time to Risk which I concluded it with. Enjoy the contemplation.
The River.
I want you to imagine you are standing at the edge of a river and you really want to go to the other side of the river. It is and has been a burning passion.
I want you to imagine it is many years later and you are standing at the edge of the same river. You never ventured to the other side. How do you feel?
I want you to imagine you did venture to the other side of the river with all its unknowns.
I want you to imagine how you feel when you reach the other side, take your first step on to the river bank and look back from which you came.
What feeling inspires you most? What action would you prefer to take?
A Time to Risk.
This was a powerful poem a young business student gave me as a gift for mentoring her many years ago. It is such a powerful poem it needs to be shared.
To laugh is to risk
appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk
appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another
is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings
is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams
before the crowd is to risk loss.
To love is to risk
not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try at all is to risk failure.
But risk we must.
Because the greatest hazard to
life is to risk nothing.
The woman who risks nothing
does nothing, has nothing, is nothing
She may avoid suffering….but
she simply cannot learn,
Feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by her certitudes,
she is a slave;
she has forfeited freedom.
Only the person who risks,
can be called…. A free person.
Author Unknown.
I hope this inspires you as much as it has inspired me in my life. Jenny Brice.
