The Startup Arena
You may have heard the quote about the man in the arena by now. It was part of the Citizen in a Republic speech given by Theodore Roosevelt on April 23, 1910. At the time, the message was intended to push back against the cynics who looked down on those who were working hard to make the world a better place. The passage has been re-popularized by the researcher, author, and speaker Brené Brown with her New York Times bestsellers Daring Greatly (2012) and Dare to Lead (2018), and her TED Talk on The power of vulnerability. This talk became one of the most watched TED Talks of all time. In Daring Greatly, Brené Brown leverages decades of research to make the case for the power of vulnerability in transforming our personal lives. In Dare to Lead, she applies and expands those principles to leadership in the workplace. Both are exceptional reads and are highly recommended.
Much of the acclaim attributed to Roosevelt’s speech has focused on the pushback against critics who have no “skin in the game.” There is another element of the speech that resonates with me because it acknowledges just how much perseverance is required. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again…” This mental image — of the warrior striving against all odds — is commonly associated with endurance sports and is also the quintessential Hollywood hero and heroine figure.
Adventures in the mountains require perseverance and there are many examples in popular non-fiction literature of alpinists surviving epically bad conditions and or tragedy and returning to tell their tales. Annapurna by Maurice Herzog is a retelling of the first recorded ascent of an 8000 meter peak (by a French team in 1950) and is exemplary of the fortitude, courage and perseverance of pioneering alpinists. Alfred Lansing’s Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage (2nd ed. 1999) is perhaps one of the greatest tales of perseverance, courage, and leadership ever documented. One example from my own adventures was completing a ski descent of the South Face of Crestone Needle. The endeavor required multiple attempts over nearly 4 years before the right combination of snowpack, weather, and timing made it possible. Crestone Needle (14,203 ft.) is one of 54 peaks in Colorado with summit elevations higher than 14,000 ft. The line is steep, narrow, and ephemeral — the intense Colorado sun can melt out even large snowfalls in a matter of days.
In today’s world of social media and managed “personal branding,” it’s trendy to be an entrepreneur, to work for a start-up, to *say* you’re going to change the world. It’s another thing entirely to put in the time, the energy, the effort and to put yourself on the line to deliver results day in, day out. Having walked this road for a number of years now, I find Roosevelt’s metaphorical language on perseverance to be on the mark both in terms of effort and reward.
