Risk

Gun’s Quote-of-the-Week:

“I’ll take the risk.”

-Curt Anderson

My internship in Tacoma was the best job I ever had. Period.

Oh, where to start? Let’s see… perhaps it was the fact that I was being paid VERY well for being an intern.

Perhaps it was the fact that the vehicle was provided with a gas card in it while I was there.

Perhaps it was the three-story house that I stayed in, with a bedroom on the top floor, with two picture windows overlooking Mount Rainier and ships coming in to port, and the owner owning a 38-foot sailboat that needed to have another crew member in order to sail competitively. Perhaps it was becoming that member.

To this day, I have never fit in so well at a company. They loved me and I loved them. I still cherish my many memories of Tacoma.

Curt Anderson was the president of Air Systems Engineering, Inc. at the time and was the man who hired me originally. In terms of a business leader, he was one of the best. In terms of integrity, caring and emotional support, he was the best in the country. It’s true… in 2006 his company was named “Best Company to Work For” by the ACHR news, the flagship publication for the HVAC contracting industry.

He’s retired now, but still lives in Tacoma. He shot me an E-Mail the other day just to “check in.” Wonderful man.

At one company meeting, he told the story of how he hired a guy who ran the controls group in the company. At the time, the man wasn’t sure if he would like contracting or not, and wasn’t certain that he would stay for very long as he was in a completely different industry at the time. Curt said, “I’ll take the risk.”

That man ended up sticking with the company for 16 years. He ended up developing an entire department dedicated to building automation and controls which earned the company a tremendous reputation in the Seattle/Tacoma area. It would seem the risk paid off.

In order to reach something better, you have to let go of what you are holding on to now. That point before you jump sucks. The scariest part is actually standing on top of the diving board looking down. You may very well have made the decision to give something a shot, but it’s an altogether different story when the time comes to jump. “Is this right?” “Did I really think this through?” Yeah, you might land wrong. It may hurt. Frankly, you may fail.

What then? Well, you try something else.

The biggest risk of all, however, is simply doing nothing. I won’t give you many guarantees on Gun’s Quotes, but I will guarantee that not taking a risk to be happy will result in sadness and regret. Certainly there are risks that are not worth taking, but many are and many should.

Make a decision, commit and jump.

…and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!