When All The Roads Are Closed. All The Roads Are Open.
Thursday, September 27th, 2007 by Mark | Posted in Business, Entrepreneur, Management, Small Business, Unconventional Thinking | CommentsI went for a hike yesterday to sort through a major quandary. Or so I told myself. You see, I convinced myself that all the gods were conspiring against me. They had a meeting in heaven and Mark Stevens was tops on the agenda. Specifically, they were going to see to it that he had no place to turn. No road to run down. I was facing a business dilemma-or so I told myself-that I was turning into a life dilemma. A major chapter in the history of Western civilization. More than that, a biblical epic.
As I carefully constructed this drama, I made sure it was one of those stories Hollywood hates. There would be no happy ending here. How could there be: all the roads were closed. Every strategy I thought about, pondered endlessly, brought to life in a film noir I was directing, wound up on a dead end. Whoa, I was making damn sure that there was no viable exit from my business dilemma and that I had every right, excuse me, to feel terribly sorry for myself. The gods had it in for me and when they feel that strongly about a marketing guy and his business issues, well there’s a place in hell waiting for him.
And then the hike. And then the epiphany. All the roads are NEVER closed. In fact, none of the roads are ever closed. Not if you want to take a five minute break from feeling sorry for yourself and apply your creativity, your determination, your imagination and your guts to simply going down THE road you want to follow. I don’t care if every member of the Harvard Business School faculty says THAT road is closed. I don’t care if the Bishop Of Canterbury says it
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September 27th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Very interesting story and parallel. You shouldn’t let anything or anyone stop you for advancing in your career.
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:15 pm
This is a good post and covers most of it but you have left out the downside of going down your own path…
Unless you are prepared to face the hardships of going down this closed road you may be sorely disappointed with what you find along the way…
In addition, if you take this closed road, you will surely come to understand “why” it was closed. How many people will you see on this road who have fallen and failed… their hopes and dreames dashed by harsh reality…
Their is a price to pay…call it the cost of admission or dues… going down this road to glory is neither easy or cheap and chances are once you get on it, you can never turn back. take one step on the road and you are committing yourself to either failure or success.
it’s easy and even romantic to think of the “end”… (when i’m successful or when i’ve gone through my hurdles or have paid my dues) but simply thinking about a succesful conclusion is quite different than actually taking step after grueling unsteady step…sometimes one step ahead 2 steps back, the ruts and pitfalls that await you each having disasterous consequences if you succomb…
A lot of people don’t make it… and a lot of people try.
that being said, I agree 100% that you should try if you are so inclined and well informed but just remember bucking the trend or norm isn’t for the faint at heart.
October 3rd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Wonderfully stayed. Let’s remember, life is not for the faint of heart. We all face the same curve balls. No one is immune. It’s just if you want to let life happen to you, or make some, though it is small in the great scheme of things, effort to control your own destiny. Or yes, die trying.
Mark Stevens
CEO
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Hi Mark,
nicely said, I took this statement and the correction to it for good in the past year, sometimes it is indeed troublesome to live up to it, but there is always some light at the end of a tunnel if you saw it right! My bet is that the long and winding road might be the more satisfactory one if it takes you where you always wanted to be, no matters what others said. It might not be the straightest one though….
Cheers,
Riccardo
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:45 am
Forget straight. Think of true and passionate and brave and fulfilling and life affirming….and don’t give a damn what anyone else says.
Mark Stevens
CEO