The most succesful generals and admirals in history shared one characteristic: they were willing to disregard orders and risk disgrace in order to exploit rapidly changing circumstances. When the chance came, they recognised an opportunity, weighed the odds swiftly and placed their lives and careers on the line to snacht a victory.
In short, they were bold, often turning a blind eye to previously agreed strategy while ignoring direct instructions from their superiors. As an entrepreneur you are unlikely to have to follow the orders of others, but the fetters of conventional wisdom can prove equally inhibiting.
Fortune favours not just the brave but the bold. Boldness has a kind of genius in it. It relies on the unexpected and can lead to catastrophic defeat because it ignores conventional wisdom, which often proves to be wisdom of a kind. But should boldness succeed, the resulting succes appears all the more devastating in the eyes of startled observers and rivals.
Opportunities to get succesful keep popping up. The more alert one is, the more chance one has of identifying an opportunity; the more preparation one has done, the more artillery one can bring to bear; the more self-belief one can muster, the more certain will be the aim; but the boulder the stroke , the better chance one has of confounding the odds.
All entrepreneurs have a short- or medium-term gameplan, it's the only sensible way to proceed in getting succesful. But should the chance offer itself, that game plan must be hurled aside and the watchword on the road to succes changed to: 'Carpe diem!'
