On a recent flight I found myself seated next to “Mr. Ambition.” Trying to ignore the bundle of explosive energy next to me, I dove into my book.  Halfway home to Pensacola Mr. Ambition decided it was time to talk. I had a different agenda; reading,  Eventually, I gave in to his unspoken pleas; I closed my book.

Wound tight and ready to spring, he slung information at me.  He was gung-ho, tip top, cream-of-the-crop with a new ivy league college degree and he was ready to build an empire but his co-workers, “these people in Pensacola,” weren’t cooperating. He asked me about dealing with “southerners.”  Yes, he asked.

“These southerners” moved too slowly; they were sabotaging him. He didn’t get it.  He was ambitious and his team members were NOT. He smacked me with “ambition” at least ten times; “they lack ambition, I’m ambitious, it’s an ambitious undertaking.” I asked him if he was aware that the word ambition worked its way into nearly every sentence he spoke.  Startled at my comment, he explained that he’d been raised to be ambitious. I said, “That’s great, but almost everyone is ambitious.”

We talked about ambition and decided that his co-workers didn’t lack ambition all together. They just lacked ambition for his goals and ideas. They had ambitions of their own; he had no clue what their ambitions were. We agreed that ambition is common. We all want to get somewhere; we all want something. 

The difference maker is initiative. Ambition without initiative is simply wishful thinking. I asked him if he had initiative. With enough initiative he could build his empire without the cooperation of “these people in Pensacola.” It was up to him to get things done. I suggested that he take the initiative to discover the ambitions of his co-workers and that information just might improve his working relationships. He looked contemplative for a second, then ended the conversation. I returned to my book.

I’ve been thinking about that conversation and I’ve asked myself the same question, “Do I have enough initiative?  And, what exactly is initiative? ” I surfed on over to dictionary.com and looked it up: in⋅i⋅ti⋅a⋅tive (Pronounced i-nish-ee-uh-tiv) – noun 1) an introductory act or step; leading action: to take the initiative in making friends 2) readiness and ability in initiating action; enterprise: to lack initiative  3) one’s personal, responsible decision: to act on one’s own initiative. 

I perused my library for some initiative inspiration and found it from Roy H. Williams, author of “The Wizard of Ads.”  Williams said; “Initiative means you take action. You work with what you’ve got. You never stand around waiting for instructions. You do something, even if it’s wrong.” Well, that’s me; you do something, even if it’s wrong. On many occasions I’ve given something new my very best shot, and then, if things went wrong I’d apologize, make it right, and learn from the experience. (The School of Hard Knocks.)

When we lack initiative we lock up, terrified to try anything we can’t do well. We do nothing. With initiative we’ll take on tough challenges even at the risk of failure or looking foolish. Initiative made you put your roller-skates on for the very first time and again at age forty. Initiative got you your first date, your first job interview, your first promotion or pay raise, your first big project, your first karaoke performance, or your first round of golf. Initiative takes you to places and things that you’re not good at, but eventually, with practice, you’ll get good. Initiative gets it started so that things can get done. Ambition merely sits around wanting. Ambition without initiative is a waste of thought. I’ll take initiative over ambition any time. This week I’m working on my initiative. I’m hoping that Mr. Ambition does the same.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 7:15 am and is filed under Plan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.