I’ve grown accustomed to safe hires; to people ticking off marks on the list. Chance is something we do as kids. We risk and from risk we expand. We grow. We learn the limits of our capabilities. We stretch those limits to become what we are meant.
Then we get older. We slink towards safety. We are quiet and controlled. We turn our backs on our younger and wilder ‘selves and turn towards what we describe as reason and even survival.
We punt.
Consider the idea: It’s fourth down and the first–the second chance–seems far away. You punt the ball, play defense. You hope they screw up enough for you to have a chance. Punting is a way of giving the responsibility of action to someone else. The responsibility ought to be your own.