I often find inspiration in reading stories of the lives of others and the lessons learned. Take for example Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the summit of Mt. Everest along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
Hillary shared some excellent leadership wisdom about the importance of taking action when he said, "Once you've decided what it is you're going to do, start right now."
In an interview not long before his death, he talked about taking action versus procrastination that has caused failures in people who could have achieved great things. He said, “Today, I'm eighty-eight years old and there are six projects I will never be able to do.”
He shared that in 1955, he was exploring Antarctica and came to a mountain range. He climbed to the top of the range, looked across the glacier and saw animal life and sea life. He thought, “I will climb down this mountain, crawl across the ice of that glacier and I'll climb the other mountain range."
But then another thought took hold of him. “No, that's not necessary, I'm still a young man. I'll come back another day to climb the next mountain.” But the years passed and Hillary never got back to Antarctica.
The lesson for leaders is this. In every person's life there are two seasons. There is a season when time and energy work for us and there is a season when time and energy work against us. I have learned, over the years, that there is never an ideal time to begin a great work. The choices are NOW and LATER. Leaders are made to take action. Whatever you've decided to do, don’t procrastinate, take action and do it now.
Hospitably,
Fred Cerrone
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