Keep your amateur spirit alive

Our friend Jules Ciotta sent a short essay recently.
Amateurs do what they want to do naturally, he wrote.
They aren’t overly concerned about consequences.
They throw themselves into projects and make them work.
Amateurs have no limits because they don’t know they exist.
Experts are corseted by how things are supposed to be.
As leaders, we must avoid too many rules and limitations.
We must give our amateurs the room to create new ways.
We must encourage them to be bold. To take chances.
To ask for forgiveness rather than permission.
Amateurs are the true entrepreneurs in our organizations.
As organizations mature, we must resist bureaucracy.
A friend ran a school for children with learning challenges.
She loved the kids, the school and the work.
But that changed with a new management.
Decisions were made by the bureaucrats.
She had to have approval to try anything new.
Feeling boxed in, she resigned. That was a real loss.
Management lost a gifted leader. The kids did, too.
Johnny Zinoni managed a home for alcoholics.
He often flew by the seat of his pants but he made it work.
The chairman of his board was often at odds with him.
Being deeply religious, he told me why he did what he did.
“He just doesn’t know who has me by the seat of my pants.”
If we don’t encourage risk, we won’t innovate.
What we produce will become time worn and lose value.
Fly by the seat of your pants and incite others to do it, too.
For help in flying by the seat of your pants click here.