There is a scene in Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame where the gargoyles tell Quasimodo, who wants to escape his prison and keeper for a day, that it is “Better to ask for forgiveness than permission”.
In business if you want to get things, things that matter, to you, to your company’s bottom line, and to the world, you too will need to become comfortable with asking for forgiveness, for your big, bold actions.
Here’s why: If you rely on waiting for permission to make and execute all your big decisions, you adopt passive position and avoiding responsibility for driving change.
And that’s fine if you want to be a follower, a mid-level cubical worker for the rest of you life.
It’s not fine if you want to make exceptional things happen, and leap-frog the corporate latter to a position where you will be the one granting, rather than requesting permission.
So, if you truly believe in your idea, go ahead and make it happen.
Don’t be reckless and deliberately dishonest or necessarily secretive; but if waiting for formal permission will jeopardize the success of your project, you need to be ready to be brave.
You’ll find it’s pretty easy to ask for forgiveness for a great success…
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