Sicherheit und Risiko

ESPRIT St.Gallen Business Review
been cleared because of this DNA database – and many
convicted (but innocent) rapists and even murderers
have been released, their freedom restored, because we
were willing to gather these DNA samples.
Politics: Giving People You Don’t
Know the Chance to Fire You
Another risky aspect of political life is the requirement
to put your job on the line every few years when
you face an election. I have made it through four elections
in which I was the candidate, and every one of
them involved risks. Not just the risk of me losing a
job, but also the risk of disappointing my supporters –
people who had volunteered their time and money on
my behalf. People who believed in me and in the things
that I wanted to accomplish. There is no guarantee in an
election – anything can happen, and at least 50% of the
time, one candidate loses. But I did not take these risks
irresponsibly. I made sure to do my part and worked
hard to ensure a good outcome. Win or lose, I wanted
my supporters to know that I had done my very best.
Running for governor of Virginia was probably the
biggest political risk I ever took. I had served two terms
as lieutenant governor, and I believed that the best way
for me to serve the state and the people I loved was by
taking the risk to run for the state’s highest office. I
wanted Virginia’s schools to be the best in the nation. I
hoped to revitalize our infrastructure programs to make
our economic growth more assured. I needed to shoulder
this responsibility. I always like the wisdom, if you
don’t run, you can’t win.
If I didn’t run for governor, what would happen to
all the things I had spent years learning Virginia needed
– reducing unwanted teen pregnancies, keeping kids in
school, finding housing for aging people with cognitive
disabilities, and fighting the scourge of crystal meth in
our poorest rural areas? So I dedicated myself heart
and soul to the campaign – it was all I thought about,
24 hours a day, for nine years and six months. I made
countless phone calls to encourage supporters to donate
to my campaign, kissed untold numbers of babies, and
visited civic groups, factories, and public gatherings too
numerous to count. I even drove 700,000 miles in these
years. In the end, I lost badly. I was crushed, but I would
do it all over again today. As Tennyson wrote: Tis better
to have loved and lost / than never to have loved at all.
Risky Business
Before politics, my business was business, and I’ve
seen lots of people take risks, and seen many fail, and
many succeed. I cannot always predict which business
opportunities will succeed and which won’t, but my father
always said that behind every successful 50-yearold
businessman is a 28-year-old failure. It is truly rare
to see somebody get it all right the first time. The twenty-something
prodigies who succeed, like Bill Gates or
Mark Zuckerberg, are famous precisely because they are
so unusual. Most of us mere mortals can’t expect our
first big project to turn to gold, so we’ll need to be able
to turn our failures into learning experiences.
A good friend of mine, Mark Warner, is an excellent
example. His first two attempts in the business world
ended in bankruptcy and failure. But then he got it
right, earning a fortune in the mobile phone industry.
He then took another risk and entered politics, where
he lost his first election for the U.S. Senate in 1996. But
he bounced back, becoming Virginia’s governor in 2001
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Winter 2012