To Lead Is To Live Dangerously

To lead is to live dangerously, because when your leadership counts, when you lead people through difficult change, you challenge what people hold dear – their daily habits, tools, loyalties and ways of thinking – with nothing more to offer perhaps than possibility. Moreover, leadership often means exceeding the authority you are given to tackle the challenge at hand. People push back when you disturb the personal and institutional equilibrium they know. And people resist in all kinds of creative ways that can get you taken out of the game, pushed aside, undermined or eliminated.

- “Leadership on the Line”, Heifetz & Linsky