To lead is to live dangerously because when leadership counts, when you lead people through difficult change, you challenge what people hold dear--- their daily habits, tools, loyalties, and ways of thinking--- with nothing more to offer perhaps than a possibility. Moreover, leadership often means exceeding the authority you are given to tackle the challenge at hand. People push back when you disturb the personal and institutional equilibrium they know. And people resist in all kinds or creative and unexpected ways that can get you taken out of the game: push aside, undermine or eliminated.
Leadership on the Line--Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading
Ronald Heifetz & Marty Linsky
While trying to de-stress from a terrible day yesterday I sat down to go to bed and picked up the aforementioned book and began to read. And, while I really should have been doing other things, there must have been a reason that I decided to start reading. Then when I reached page 2, I discovered it. This excerpt says it all. Through my time as a leader and teacher I will live dangerously. But more importantly, it is how I will deal with the danger that comes my way that will determine my success and ultimately the success of my future students. So I am challenging myself, and everyone else to live dangerously, push harder, and be a good leader, mentor, and educator.
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