54.
The Innovator’s Mantra
True innovators have a mantra: “The enemy of the best is the good.” They are constantly daring to make
things better. What others call impossible they see as probable. They live out of their imaginations – not
their memories. They live to challenge the commonly accepted. They assume nothing. They see no limits.
To them, everything’s possible.
If you want to be a leader, I have a simple suggestion: Just keep innovating. Innovate at work.
Innovate at home. Innovate in your relationships. Innovate in the way you run your life. Innovate in terms of
the way you see the world. To become stagnant is to begin to die. Growth, evolution and reinvention
sustain life. Sure it can be scary. But wouldn’t you rather feel your fear than play small with your life?
There’s no safety in being the same person today that you were yesterday. That’s just an illusion
that ends up breaking your heart when you get to the end of your life and realize that you missed out on
living it boldly. Lasting fulfillment lives out in the unknown. When I was a kid, my dad used to tell me:
“Robin, it’s risky out on the limb. But, son – that’s where all the fruit is.” And to play out on the skinny
branch, you need to innovate. Daily. Relentlessly.
Of course, the more you innovate and refuse to be bound by the chains of complacency, the more
you will fail. I mentioned that in an earlier chapter. Not every risk you take and not everything you try will
work out as planned. That’s just life happening. Failure truly is essent