Leap of Faith

Risk-reward scenarios are not universal, therefore the expectations on who will make conservative decisions and who will shoot for the stars becomes biased.

When societal norms punish you for thinking outside of your expected box you collectively shepherd those you care about to play it safe as well. Getting ahead together is the rationale.

Waiting your turn in line or going to the right school or being less confrontational will make everything easier.

Easier for who?

Early in my academic and corporate career I watched in horror when a peer made a risky decision only to realize that, for some, those delusions of grandeur opened more doors. In fact, heaps of encouragement pushed them over the edge until those rewards turned into common payment.

Those peers that were rewarded rarely looked like me.

The level of risk was far from safe if you didn’t fit the profile.

If you were successful the rewards weren’t exactly comparable. Worse, failure ranged from expulsion/termination to no more chances. So the safe path was to do the expected. Let others guide you through the successful journey that they planned for you.

Glass ceiling.

If you want to be CEO or principal or creative director, the first person on board has to be you. Believe in yourself, bootstraps, self-care, yada yada yada.

But the next people in line need to be the current CEO, principal or creative director. If those folks aren’t putting you in positions to learn the responsibilities, risks and rewards that occur daily in those roles and the invisible assistance they depend on every day then you aren’t being set up to succeed.

So you may venture into those roles without a playbook or you steer clear because the Peter Principle intimidates the conservative leader.

Nearly every opportunity I was offered I was extremely thankful to receive. Half of those opportunities were long overdue.

I didn’t ask for more because I didn’t want to lose out, not realizing that if I didn’t ask for more then the person behind me couldn’t either.

For those of us who did ascend one ladder or another there are few that will tell you that the opportunity came on time much less sooner than expected.

The anxiety in the pursuit of concepts like Black Excellence or Female Empowerment come from knowing that the confidence of white male mediocrity tends to rule at the end of the day. CEOs and principals and creative directors don’t tend to go out of their way to find and nurture the best talent so much as they wait for the loudest voice to show leadership through confidence.

So why put yourself through that torture?

Every day you take that risk in your career is another opportunity for the people beginning their journey to normalize those risks. They need to see the unapologetic request for title and compensation as much as they need to see the hard work and effort needed to back up those claims.

We often don’t get quality 2nd, 3rd and 4th chances so we are afraid to watch our start-up enter bankruptcy or our interview for VP go poorly. But if we fail collectively and loudly we will gain the necessary experience and confidence to not settle for less than mediocrity in the future.

I honestly don’t see the next generation being as patient as we were. Their expectations are higher. Much higher.

What I’m hoping for is more encouragement and honesty from those who’ve already traversed those painful roads and never told their boss “I would like to have your job one day” without fear of asking for too much.

The blind metric of perfect attendance and straight A’s without strategic planning and multiple opportunities has ended in so much college debt that taking risks don’t sound as risky as they once did.

But the next generation still needs our support because those bumps and bruises still hurt. We just need to help them back up.

The rewards are closer than they think.

Good things.