Lesson 17: Change
Change can be difficult but it requires wisdom. Some changes will make you sink to the bottom of a pool, but others could lead to a $140 billion company that sells athletic shoes:
My lungs were running out of oxygen as I sank further into the water. I was a toddler when I made the impulsive decision to jump in the deep end of the pool even though I could not swim. So now I was staring up at the sunlight dancing at the surface until my older sister, Raquel, dove in after me to save my life. On dry ground, water dripped down my tiny body as I gasped for air. When Raquel felt assured that I was fine, she scolded me for doing something so dangerous. I admit that it was poor judgment, but I learned a valuable lesson: take calculated risks.
I thought about that experience in the pool when I started reading Phil Knight’s memoir, Shoe Dog, about when he co-founded Nike. In 1962, Phil had graduated from business school with an MBA and an idea for a shoe company: “Let everyone else call your idea crazy… just keep going.” Phil flew to Japan and convinced Onitsuka, a shoe manufacturer, to make a shoe that he could sell in the U.S. Armed with only some market research and a few classes on entrepreneurship, he flew around the world to meet with Onitsuka. He did not yet have a company name, let alone a customer. This seems like a less extreme version of jumping in a pool before knowing how to swim. But it worked; he changed his life in 1962 and never regretted it.
Phil Knight’s story captures his audacity to take calculated risks, and ultimately he built Nike into an elite international brand. Like Phil, I will be a first-time CEO, except in a different industry. I plan to acquire and grow a business in skilled trade, which presents a unique challenge because I will be responsible for decision-making without experience in the industry. Thankfully, I have begun to seek wise counsel who are experts in the industry and in leadership. One of my values is wisdom so that once I acquire a company, I can learn from mistakes to make the best changes possible.
Change is Lesson 17. Next week, I will share Lesson 18: Research.
