There have been a few times in my professional career where I've walked into a room and surprised someone with the gumption I've displayed. At Georgia Tech, I walked into the Athletic Director's office and told him that I was going to get my way through hell or high water. As a brand new engineer, I told my boss's boss that I would not release product because I couldn't tie my name to bad science. And this past week, I told our senior management team that I can't support a project that I don't agree with.
Jonathan Sacks wrote, "We bear responsibility for what we could have prevented, but didn't." Martin Luther King said, "A time comes when silence is betrayal." Sometimes, you have to say no because saying nothing is the same thing as saying yes to something you don't believe in.
As time goes on, it gets easier to say "no" to things you don't stand behind. Sure, sometimes it's still scary. You don't necessarily know what the consequences are, or how it changes the perception of you in someone else's eyes. But we are responsible for the design of our own lives. And I have infinite respect for people who display the gumption to say "no" - pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically - to the things that they can't justify doing.
Likewise, I am continually amazed by people who have the courage to unabashedly go after what they want. People who aren't afraid to have difficult conversations. People who harbor no pretenses and make no compromises. I'd like to think that one day I'll have that kind of gumption. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it.
Jonathan Sacks wrote, "We bear responsibility for what we could have prevented, but didn't." Martin Luther King said, "A time comes when silence is betrayal." Sometimes, you have to say no because saying nothing is the same thing as saying yes to something you don't believe in.
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| Standing up for what I believe in at the Unite for Sight conference in New Haven, Connecticut. |
Likewise, I am continually amazed by people who have the courage to unabashedly go after what they want. People who aren't afraid to have difficult conversations. People who harbor no pretenses and make no compromises. I'd like to think that one day I'll have that kind of gumption. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it.
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