Are you a trapeze artist? If not, learn the ropes - your survival may depend on it

There are a few impactful conversations that we all have in our lives that continue to resonate even as our receding hairline and our inability to understand Snapchat become more pronounced. In fact, sometimes the resonance becomes a deafening roar as time progresses. That is the case with me as well and one particular (chance) conversation I had with the then COO of Juniper Networks – Stephen Elop - more than a decade ago inspires, motivates and recharges me whenever I start having self-doubts about my entrepreneurial journey.

And that conversation, as is typical with these kinds of mind-shifting dialogs, happened at the crosswalk of a city street. Yes, you heard it right. It was Mathilda Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA right across from my then employer Juniper Networks. And the dialog was between me and Stephen Elop. Just an everyday encounter as we both awaited the signal to cross to the other side (headed to the pop-up tent stadium where he was going to address the company for an all-hands).

There were just two of us and a couple of minutes to kill and he broke the ice by asking me what I did. And then offered to answer any question that I had. I wasn't going to let go of that chance and seized the moment. "Stephen, Juniper is an engineering driven company and you were brought in to bring some business and operational acumen. And what you have done in the short three months has been quite inspiring to watch. But, don't you have any misgivings yourself about the enormity of this challenge and the motivation of others to follow on this unchartered path?".

He smiled and responded with these pearls of wisdom. "Ashwin, great question. Imagine a circus with trapeze artists. There is only one kind of trapeze artists - the successful ones. They are a breed that are willing to climb up their rope ladders to a certain point, gain enough confidence and momentum and be able to let go and fly in the dark with nothing but courage and audacity knowing that they will see the other rope ladders on the other side and make any mid-flight adjustments along the way to reach their destination. Then there are the also-ran trapeze artists who start climbing the ladder, never feel confident about their own abilities about flying in the dark so they keep waiting to see and touch the ladders on the other side before they have the courage to let go which obviously never happens so they continue climbing this single ladder of "success". Their hands get sweaty and they start to slow down even as more new artists enter below them and they see the risk takers take off for their free flight above and below and they are stuck in the only ladder they know. I have taken flight and the ones who follow me are those that are confident in their abilities, and the ones who aren't will be left behind. And we will know who is a trapeze artist and who is not very shortly". And then we got the pedestrian signal, crossed the street and I never spoke to him again.

But his words left an indelible impression on me. And when someone asks me seeing the path I have chosen "wow, that is risky", I mentally calibrate who is the trapeze artist here and who is not, and is the bigger risk continuing to climb the only ladder you know or experiment, diversify and take chances. And if the latter is a bigger risk, yes, they are spot on. Thanks, Stephen for that conversation and the analogy that serves as my guiding light and scores of others who I share the story with during their moments of self-doubt. #TrapezeOn

#TheAccelerator www.ashwinkrishnan.me