Some of you may have recognized the title of this blog as having come from the quote from Henry Ford. I am not about to endeavor in a history lesson here, but I would like to take a moment to ground this quote in its context. Ford is credited with bringing to fruition a variety of things that many of think of as mainstream today. These included things such as the mass production of vehicles, the concept of a standard workweek, and living wages (he paid more than twice the standard daily wage).

I have to imagine that each step of the way he was met with incredulous stares. Can you picture the scene where a mere twenty or so years after the automobile was invented, this guy comes along proclaiming that vehicles should be available and affordable to the masses? Or the reaction when he declared that he would pay employees $5 per day, for a standard 8 hour day.

My point is that, as his quote illustrates, Mr. Ford did not give in to the internal or external voices that tried to dissuade him. Can you say the same?

How many times do we tell ourselves, “I can’t do that,” or “I wouldn’t be good at that?” Worse yet, how many times do we allow others to say it to us? And when I say this I am not talking about reimagining an industry, I’m talking about pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone; about realizing that we have no idea of what we are truly capable of because we choose to limit ourselves.

Why do we limit ourselves? Is it fear? Are we afraid to try something and ‘fail?’ (see my earlier blog for my thoughts on ‘failure.’) Are we afraid of not being instantly good at something? Are we protecting an image we hold of our self?

At our Emerging Leaders Program immersion week last week a leader the participants heard from talked about an important person in her professional life who consistently posed the question, “why not?” Similarly, I have the “so what” person in my life. When I begin to back away from opportunity (whatever that might look like) this person is able to walk me through the “so what” scenarios. It sounds something like this, “so what if you try something and it doesn’t go well. What’s the worst that will happen?” Followed by a conversation where I am able to look at the risks realistically. We then move to “so what if you try something and it does go well. What may come from it?” Over the years I’ve gotten better at asking myself the “so what” question. This opens me up to the possibilities and allows me to grow and learn in ways that I might not have yet imagined.

I’ll leave you with a closing quote from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, “… if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Perhaps that is what inspired Henry Ford.