Altering Perspectives

ALTERING PERSPECTIVES | IDEAS ON RISK, LEADERSHIP AND MENTORING 

All great leaders take risks. There is something about living in the tension of complete and utter failure and reaching the pinnacle of success. Living in this tension invites leaders to make difficult decisions, accelerating their learning and expertise due to lessons learned in pressure filled environments. At times, the fear of failing can motivate leaders to accomplish great feats or lead them to demise. We’ve seen these truths in the lives of many leaders today. 

Naturally there are leaders who do not possess the courage to take risks, therefore they remain stagnant, paralyzed by the fear of “what if?” Think about the pastor who had dreams of leading a mega church, but is now relegated to preaching to a few congregants. He might have begun optimistically, but is now full of frustration due to his lack of “success.” Or the mom and pop store owners whose dreams of guiding a flourishing business have dissipated when “success” repeatedly escapes them. What are they missing? I propose that they are not taking enough risks nor have they properly altered their perspectives. 

You will inevitably fail in life. When taking risks, and when not. So why not fall flat on your face taking the shot? Failing isn’t all that bad. Altering your perspective of failure assists you to clearly view risk and neutralize the fear surrounding it. When taking risks leaders will disappoint people around them, but in the end they will impact many more because of the lessons learned as a result of the collapse. 

Mixing the faultiness of humanity and the instability of industry seems to be a recipe for disaster, but it is my firm belief that if you are loyal to your core values, and if you follow the mission of your heart, you will be “prosperous.” Herein lies another dilemma for risk takers. What does it mean to be prosperous? Prosperity must be defined in the heart of the leader so that they can be at peace with their lifestyle and legacy. How is prosperity defined in your life? 

When writing about these ideas I am reminded about our roles as mentors in the lives of the urban youth that we serve. In the urban context this is a matter of life or death. Youth are either emboldened to risk take to ensure their own survival or they are paralyzed by trauma and fear therefore leading them towards forms of death. The tension of failure and success is thick for urban youth. Their minds ping-pong back and forth between the two. They war internally with waves of hope and waves of pain, failure and death. Our role as mentors is to assist youth to alter their perspectives on failure, encourage them to take more risks, and astutely capture the lessons of their misfirings. 

We should whisper into their ears, “Fear not, for I am with you. My presence and support will comfort you, through every season of your life. I vow to guide you towards paths of right living, comforting you in moments of failure, teaching and modeling for you the way to abundance and prosperity.” 

- Eric Vasquez 

Mentoring in the urban context isn’t easy. It requires the confrontation of death, the resisting of complacency, and the defying of failure and fear. It requires compassion and grace, love and kindness, and consistency and determination. May you creatively guide those on the margins towards wealth. 

I have a multitude of additional thoughts and wonderings on these ideals. I will reserve them for a part two of this blog. 

Enjoy the quotes below:

“I have observed that the prosperity or misery of each people is in direct proportion to its liberties or its prejudices and, accordingly, to the sacrifices or the selfishness of its forefathers.” -Juan Crisostomo Ibarra

“Before the fruits of prosperity can come, the storms of life need to first bring the required rains of testing, which mixes with the seeds of wisdom to produce a mature harvest.”

- Lincoln Patz

Blog written by 

Eric Vasquez 

CEO, Just Us 4 Youth