The Serendipity of "Yes"

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.  -Theodore Roosevelt

Have you ever read something or heard a speech about a fundamental truth that you know, but haven’t thought deeply about in a while? I know I have. I had that experience last week listening to Jack Ma talk about his story building Alibaba into a $300B+ market cap company in 18 years.  Early on, he was rejected so many times that most would have given up.  He applied to KFC with 24 others and was the only one who didn’t get a job. The classic case was applying to Harvard 10 times and being rejected each time. It’s classic because I noticed that he has a lot of Harvard MBA’s working for him now! He kept saying “yes” to opportunity and his perseverance paid off.   

We’ve heard this story before haven’t we? Edison made over 1,000 failed attempts in inventing the lightbulb. Steve Jobs was booted from the company he founded. Shoot…even Bob Dylan lost a high school talent contest to a tap dancer. We celebrate these people and their successes. However, what’s most interesting to me is not that they were successful, it’s the journey they took. They didn’t always have money and success. At one point, they all had the opportunity to say “no”, but they said “yes” and persevered, not knowing for sure that their efforts would pay off.  

It reminds me of the story of a colleague of mine at UPS, Jack Levis. You probably have never heard of him. He had an idea that we could take in all the information we collect on package shipments and use that information to dynamically create the most efficient routes for our drivers. It was incredibly complex and the outcome was uncertain, especially considering the state of advanced analytics at the time. He failed…time and again. To the point that his closest allies were encouraging him to give up because he was damaging his reputation. He didn’t quit. His innovation is a program called ORION and it saves UPS millions of dollars a year, improves our service and reduces about 100 million miles driven per year. As a result, over 430,000 UPSers and their families are better off, our customers are better off, and the environment is better off. 

It got me to start thinking about my personal and professional life over the last 25 years and I realized a fundamental truth, the serendipity of “yes”. When you say “yes” to an opportunity, you begin the journey down a road that will have fortuitous forks that you cannot initially see. Will there be some treacherous forks and dead ends?…of course there will. But my experience has been that the positive almost always outweighs the negative, and the journey is always more fun! When I look back on my life the only regrets I have are the things I didn’t do, not the things I did.

I truly believe that saying “yes” is the only way to realize your potential. Committing to a cause with an uncertain outcome is a force multiplier for your potential. It requires you to make connections with other people which opens doors to new possibilities and perspectives that may not have occurred to you.   It also forces you to dig deep. Saying “no” is easy. You say “no” and move on. Saying “yes” requires action. It puts your reputation on the line. It’s uncomfortable. Do you remember that teacher, coach or manager that pushed you to levels beyond what you thought possible? Saying “yes” creates that same motivation…and growth.

At the end of our days, no one will remember you for the things you said “no” to. Do you have to pick your battles?..yes.  Will there be risk?...yes. When you pursue an uncertain outcome, sometimes that outcome is disappointment and failure. But isn’t that risk worth the cost? Life is just too damn short to let it slip by in a cocoon. Resolve to say “yes” more than “no”. Live large. Be bold. We all have a limited number of days, make them count.