If you are not willing to risk, you are not willing to win.

In C.S. Lewis' classic tale - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Before Disney got hold of it), there is a classic line where Lucy asks Mr. Beaver about the most powerful creature for good - Aslan the Lion.

She asks (my paraphrase) "Is he safe?"

To which the Mr. Beaver replied "Of course he's NOT safe!  But he's good!"

The children had a choice between seeking the help of Aslan, which had risk, and staying in their predicament - which the White Witch meant for their untimely demise.   The Disney movie sneaks this great line in at the end of the movie - a point for which I may someday forgive them.  It really belongs where the author put it - before the children faced their challenges.

Now hold that thought while we move on...

If you don't follow Seth Godin, you should. 

Seth is the master of succinct thoughts that challenge your thinking.

He is my blogging role model. (along with a number of beeBees)

His blog can be found here, and you can follow him on Twitter at @ThisIsSethsBlog (although he only uses it to point to the blog).

In a recent post he talked about being willing to stretch yourself to be the position of having "the guts to be wrong, a confrontation with the risk of being stupid."  This reminded me of the line from the Narnia movie and the topic of today's post.

Seth's mention of "being stupid" isn't being stupid - like a teenage boy around girls, or other boys, or.. ok...all the time.  It's putting yourself in the position where you might fail.

In leadership, you are often faced with decisions between something that is safe, versus something that is good.  It may well be a conversation you know you need to have.  It may be a decision to press for a project you know is critical in the face of significant opposition.  It may be a lot of things.

For a leader, the goal of where you want to get to must be clear, and the risks must be understood.  Your job is to advance, not sit in the place of safety, which is ultimately the most dangerous place in the world for you.

This post was previously published by the author on LinkedIn

About the Author:

Kevin Pashuk is Chief Information Officer for Appleby College, in Oakville, Ontario Canada, where his team is transforming the delivery of education through innovative application of technology.

Kevin is convinced that IT leadership needs to dramatically change how IT is delivered rather than being relegated to a costly overhead department.

In addition to transforming IT in his role as CIO, he looks for every opportunity to talk about this... writing, speaking and now blogging on BeBee, LinkedIn (https://ca.linkedin.com/in/kpashuk), ITWorld Canada, or at TurningTechInvisible.com.

He also is an avid amateur musician and photographer (but not at the same time).  Check out his photostream on Flickr  or on beBee hive: serious-amateur-photographers