Metaphors Gone Wild: Buds and Risk

Anais Nin wisely observed this about risk-taking: "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." Stepping out of our current circumstances, yes, can lead to beautiful metaphoric blossoms. But the bud-like state offers a protection of its own. The choice is not an easy one. The following quiz may help you decide when you're ready to blossom.

ASSESS YOURSELF
Read the following statements and answer Agree or Disagree, depending on the extent to which you agree with the truth of the statement. Think of the degree to which the statement matches your way of thinking. If you both agree and disagree with a given statement, try to determine which choice you'd agree with just slightly more or less than the other choice. Instead of a 50/50 response, then, you would consider the statement as a choice between 51/49%; you would favor one response slightly more than the other. (There are no trick questions here. Simply tell if you agree or disagree with the statements by writing "A" or "D" on a list numbered 1 -- 13.)

Agree - Disagree
1) We should be adaptable when unforeseen events occur.
2) One change always leaves indentations upon which to build another change.
3) In the beginning, problems are easy to cure but hard 
to diagnose; with the passage of time, having gone unrecognized and unattended, they become easy to diagnose but hard to cure.
4) A workplace that is used to freedom is more easily managed by its own employees than by any other arrangement.
5) A wise influencer must always tread the path of great men and women and should imitate those who have excelled.
6) People not inclined to rely on luck alone will be the most successful.
7) Success is a combination of opportunity and ability.
8) Most people have no faith in new things until they have been proved by experience.
9) If you have to beg others to fulfill a mission, you are destined to fail.
10) If you are respected, you will be secure, honored, and successful.
11) Things that come easily are hard to maintain. Things that are hard won are easier to maintain.
12) A leader who thinks more about his own interests 
than about yours, who seeks his own advantage for everything he does, will never be a good leader, for others will never be able to trust him.
13) In order to keep employees loyal, managers must honor them by sharing both distinctions and duties.

INTERPRETING YOUR SCORE
Because there are thirteen items, if you had seven or more in one category, that is your "majority" category. Which category, Agree or Disagree, is your majority category?

Now let's see how open you are to risk-taking. In all likelihood, you agreed with at least seven of the statements. Would it "shock" you to learn that these thirteen paraphrased statements are all taken from "The Prince" by Niccolo Macchiavelli? Written 500 years ago, the book has become synonymous with words like "duplicity" and "deceit." And yet, much of what it endorses makes sense for today's leader, manager, or teacher.

Does a majority of Agree answers mean you are Machiavellian, in the most negative sense of the word? No, not at all. It means simply that no one thing is 100% "right" or 100% "wrong." Even in "The Prince" there is wisdom from which we can profit. But... if you are not open, you won't be able to spot the worth; your stamp of "worthless" will prevent you from seeing worth in hard realities. If you take no risks into the unpopular or unknown, you will not be able to optimize or rectify possibilities that lie hidden in the here and now.

GARDENERS AND GARDENS
Marcel Proust is another author who wrote about blossoms: "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." You have such people in your life. Rely upon them as you venture from bud-existence into fully formed metaphoric blossoms.


Dr. Marlene Caroselli is an author, keynoter, and corporate trainer whose clients include Lockheed Martin, Allied Signal, Department of the Interior, and Navy SEALS. She writes extensively about education, business, self-improvement, and careers and has adjuncted at UCLA and National University. Her first book, The Language of Leadership, was named a main selection by the Executive Book Club. Principled Persuasion, a more recent title, was designated a Director's Choice by the Doubleday Book Club. Applying Mr. Albert: 365+ Einstein-Inspired Brain Boosts, her 62nd book, will be released by HRD Press in 2018.

Author:  Dr Marlene Caroselli

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