This past Sunday I spoke about the risks which Nehemiah took in the Biblical story of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. Risk is about exposing oneself, others or one's reputation to danger. Risks are taken because the possible outcomes provide an opportunity for change for the better. Nehemiah. we are told, left a secure and prestigious job to do something which made him vulnerable to his enemies and his own people. The outcomes he realises are a safe place and a united community (see Nehemiah 1).
At the School for Social Entrepreneurs two days after I preached this sermon, we had the opportunity to hear Steve Lawrence share his story. Steve is the entrepreneur behind the successful endeavour WorkVentures which provides a number of social services to communities all around Australia. Steve shared with us that in WorkVentures they considered a "learning experience" any project which cost and lost them at least $10,000. Steve reminded us that it was through the process of taking risks, some big risks with losses, we actually learn.
To be a fool means to take unnecessary risks with resources that should not be lost. A person who has an addiction to gambling is certainly foolish in their money management. But it doesn't take an addict's character to make foolish mistakes. I'm not talking about risks which fail due to unforseen changes in the circumstances (look at the unsuspecting "fools" who were caught out with the current economic crisis). Sometimes we make silly judgments and risk things that are too valuable to lose. We've all been there and done that!
So how does one balance risk with security? Wisdom, insight, experience and just plain gut-feelings join together in the entrepreneur and drive him or her to step out in faith and take a risk on a project, in a person or with a resource. With time that risk pays off. Sometimes it does not. Sometime the result of risk is failure.
Failure is a difficult issue to face in our culture. We don't like to fail and we don't like to lose. In fact, we reward winners and success so often and to such a degree that failure for many is something that is dreaded, feared and never acknowledged. I wish we would teach our ourselves not only to fail but how to fail. We all fail but to acknowledge it and learn from it and grow from it is a valuable thing. But we will never fail if we never take the risk, expose ourself to the danger and admit that failure is a possibility.
Perhaps in the social entrepreneurial sector, we need to encourage more risky business, develop leaders who know how to risk without playing the fool and honour even those who in the midst of a fabulously designed and envisioned project find failure to be their lot.
At the School for Social Entrepreneurs two days after I preached this sermon, we had the opportunity to hear Steve Lawrence share his story. Steve is the entrepreneur behind the successful endeavour WorkVentures which provides a number of social services to communities all around Australia. Steve shared with us that in WorkVentures they considered a "learning experience" any project which cost and lost them at least $10,000. Steve reminded us that it was through the process of taking risks, some big risks with losses, we actually learn.
To be a fool means to take unnecessary risks with resources that should not be lost. A person who has an addiction to gambling is certainly foolish in their money management. But it doesn't take an addict's character to make foolish mistakes. I'm not talking about risks which fail due to unforseen changes in the circumstances (look at the unsuspecting "fools" who were caught out with the current economic crisis). Sometimes we make silly judgments and risk things that are too valuable to lose. We've all been there and done that!
So how does one balance risk with security? Wisdom, insight, experience and just plain gut-feelings join together in the entrepreneur and drive him or her to step out in faith and take a risk on a project, in a person or with a resource. With time that risk pays off. Sometimes it does not. Sometime the result of risk is failure.
Failure is a difficult issue to face in our culture. We don't like to fail and we don't like to lose. In fact, we reward winners and success so often and to such a degree that failure for many is something that is dreaded, feared and never acknowledged. I wish we would teach our ourselves not only to fail but how to fail. We all fail but to acknowledge it and learn from it and grow from it is a valuable thing. But we will never fail if we never take the risk, expose ourself to the danger and admit that failure is a possibility.
Perhaps in the social entrepreneurial sector, we need to encourage more risky business, develop leaders who know how to risk without playing the fool and honour even those who in the midst of a fabulously designed and envisioned project find failure to be their lot.
A friend of mine sent me this quote after reading this blog:
(Thanks, Bob)
“It is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement. And at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat”
---President Theodore Roosevelt “The Man in the Arena”, Paris , 1910
---President Theodore Roosevelt “The Man in the Arena”, Paris , 1910
Ronaldo
03/04/09
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