7

Moving to a Higher Platform

MY GRANDMOTHER USED TO SAY, “MAN PLANS, AND GOD laughs.” Businesspeople are the ultimate planners. But life makes lots of unpredictable interventions that create a web of ambiguities with unexpected consequences. Our ability to deal with these ambiguities helps determine the limits of our opportunities and fortune. Indeed in entrepreneurship classes, we say that to be an entrepreneur one must have a “tolerance for ambiguity.” Some say it’s the ability to “go with the flow.” If you’ve ever gone white-water rafting, you know that going with the flow can be dangerous. Unexpected rocks in the water can do you in. Only experts with comprehensive knowledge of the river can successfully go with the flow.

As an entrepreneur ...

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