Embrace the Challenge of Enemies

A note to young leaders.

Never set out to make enemies but don’t set out to avoid them either.

Never tread with more force than you need to, but don’t tiptoe either. Walking on your tiptoes is slow and painful, and that’s no way to live.

If a life of impact is what you seek, enemies must come. The Scottish poet, Charles Mackay, said it best:

You have no enemies, you say? Alas! my friend, the boast is poor; He who has mingled in the fray

Of duty, that the brave endure,

Must have made foes! If you have none, Small is the work that you have done, You’ve hit no traitor on the hip,

You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip, You’ve never turned the wrong to right, You’ve been a coward in the fight.

So, young leaders – pray not that you have no enemies, pray instead your enemies are worth praying for.