“Originality is unexplored territory. You get there by carrying a canoe — you can’t take a taxi.”
– Alan Alda (b.1936), American actor*
On a sunny Midwestern morning with a view far down the Mississippi River — I’m reminded of the way the early settlers made it across our country. Imagine getting to the banks of this river, maybe during a rainy season — and thinking, “Well, heck, honey,” we have to get over to the other side… I’m convinced Denver is there because a bunch of them said, “Aw, hell no!” when the came to the Rocky Mountains. And everything west of the Rockies is because some of the settlers dared to be original – to head up the side of a mountain or to carry and then launch their canoes into uncharted waters.
There aren’t taxis, ferries, Uber, Lyft or busses to stops that haven’t been mapped yet.
In business, and in relationships, in this chapter of life, the maps aren’t all drawn yet. More importantly, if originality is our destination, the maps are never completely drawn.
As we resume doing business face-to-face, I’m excited to be in a room full of people today willing to launch their canoes, no matter how uncharted the waters might be.
*as referenced in The Monday Morning Memo on June 14, 2021
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