Be daring, be different, be first-Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop 

 

I have always been a great fan of Anita Roddick. I wanted to have dinner with her..pick her brain..learn from her wisdom. I admired her gumption, her vision and her commitment to social causes.  She was involved with activism and campaigning before it was cool. She had an agenda and pushed it. She was daring. She was different. She was first.

What did she have that made her first? She was passionate. She was passionate to the point of being obsessed. It is obsession that drives an entrepreneur’s commitment to a vision of something new. Anita knew that. She lived it.

Education. Experience. Execution.

It boils down to education through experience and execution.  Learning through trying, adjusting, failing and doing. In the beginning Anita did not think big, she just thought better. How do I do this better?  The big came after the better. Transformation came by way of education and action. Unconventional action. 

 No one ever gets anywhere by following a formula.You get to the vision by investing in” the big messy idea”. That complex, new thinking piece of work that EVERYONE expects to fail. The big messy idea is actually a little…well…its actually a little scary.

So I want you to do me a favor. That big messy idea that you have been dreaming of starting, the one that will increase your donations and help 20 times the number of  people you are helping today. That idea that will send more kids to school and bring water to remote villages. The big messy idea that seems overwhelming and unreachable. That idea that is scary. 

 I want you to OWN IT.  OWN IT.

When you own it you will invest in it.You will study  it incessantly and figure out  how to break that big messy idea into smaller manageable pieces. You will  be the authority. You will be the expert.You will adjust and create and plan and conspire. You will connect with people that can help you.You will trust yourself.You will have an opinion.

You want to be heard?

Step up and Step out. People will hear you and they will show up to offer you the resources you need. They will come.

And those that do not come?

You keep inviting them to the party. There will be a NEW big messy idea coming down the pike.