The man in the arena

“It is not the critic who counts… but those who actually strive to do the deeds” – Theodore Roosevelt.

The person who takes the risk, who says ‘let’s try this’, who takes action when they notice something isn’t the best way (or is even absolutely terrible, but has been ignored for years), and maps a way forward. This is the person we should celebrate. For they take on all the risk of failure onto their own shoulders, and success will almost definitely be taken by someone else if it works.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the nab who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and swat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat” – Theodore Roosevelt

If you skipped over the above quote, please take a moment to read it. It’s important.

The person we should celebrate is the one in the arena, not the critic, or the “cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat”. It’s the person who says “these workshops are not a good use of time, I’ll facilitate the next one”. They’ve made themselves accountable, and if failure comes they accept it onto themselves. Or let’s look at the alternative, a group of 10 people sitting around a table talking for 3 hours. They get nowhere, slowly, this happens at least 99% of the time. But noone is to blame.

It’s the person who says ‘give me 2 people and 2 weeks and if you don’t like it, we’ll stop’. They’ve said they’ll show and not talk, and they’ve given you a lever to pull if they fail.

It’s the person who builds something first and then talks about it. They see a problem, solve it, present it, get support, then those who have only been talking about it with no action for literally years will come out of the woodwork and point out all the problems. This is the person we should celebrate, and it’s the critic who’s fault we should cite.

And guess what? Maybe they failed. Maybe they were wrong. But at least they tried, and as Teddy said “there is no effort without error and shortcomings”. Failure or error is inevitable. It’s the fear of relevance, it’s stasis, it’s comfort that makes people scared of these change makers (to use such a terrible phrase), and they become critics.

You think you’re not a critic, you think you’re not a cold and timid soul. But are you? It’s easy to support these people in success. But how do you treat them in failure? This will reflect if you truly encourage innovation and autonomy. And how do you treat them in success anyways? Are you supportive or do you worst traits come to bare? Ego, jealousy, indifference. Our horribly human traits.

This is personal to me as I’ve experienced both sides of leadership in my career. On the positive side one of my current leaders said (beautifully) – “We should always be trying new things as there’s nothing we can’t fix in our industry”. Yes! And then I’ve also experienced the opposite.

Simply put. You may be running slowly, but you’re lapping everyone on the couch.

Go forth, take initiative, you have a voice, a valuable perspective that could make things better for yourself, your company and your family. Believe in yourself. Meaningful change comes from the sum of individuals paying attention and putting their perspective into action. But it starts with you, the one in the arena, seeing something that others don’t, or a way forward that others aren’t taking. If this isn’t you, at least don’t be the critic or cold and timid soul.