The most striking thing about highly effective leaders is how little they have in common. What one swears by, another warns against. But one trait stands out: the willingness to risk.
The idealist and dreamer will stubbornly go down with the ship. The serial innovator grabs the rudder and changes course.
Highly successful leaders ignore conventional wisdom and take chances. Their stories inevitably include a defining moment or key decision when they took a significant risk and thereby experienced a breakthrough.
The best-run churches and organizations are masters of the midcourse correction. They plan in pencil.
Life is too short and hell is too hot to just play church.
Contrarian thinking at its best simply asks, Is this really true? It speaks up when the politically correct answer or the conventional wisdom doesn't match reality - when things simply don't work the way everyone says they should.
