One of my favourite speeches is Theodore Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena speech. Brene Brown made it even more famous in her amazing Ted Talk which you can find here and that is where I first heard it.

Having been on this innovation business journey for some time now, my vision, emotions and ideas have naturally changed and have been influenced by the people that I have met along the way. I’m not sure if this is something that just happens to me but the weight of other people’s opinions and thoughts can alter the vision you had originally created; for the better and for the worse.

Where I originally dreamt big and believed I could get there, other people’s realities began to stop me in my tracks. Dreams felt too big, too daunting because of someone else’s experience. Suddenly the world seems very big and I seem very small. What happens next? Paralysing fear and doubt sabotage your mind and stop you from entering the arena.

I’m still incredibly naïve and I thank God I am. If I knew how difficult this journey would become, I’d have never started it and what a shame that would have been. Naivety is bliss in business, especially when the odds are stacked against you and you have huge ambition. Playing it safe has never been my forte.

I am deciding to go back to the beginning where my vision was born. Like a prisoner breaking free, I invite creativity and ambition back into the driving seat, throwing out fear and doubt. When you would rather fail than never try, that is when you know you are an entrepreneur.

I’ll leave you with the last sentence of the speech. “Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat”.

I hope this inspires you to jump into whatever you fear with both feet and let ambition take you home.