Frankie D. Terrell
Assistant Manager Global Security, S&C Electric Company
I've never believed that meaningful success comes without taking chances. Sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone, take a calculated risk, and have the courage to pursue something that may not have a guaranteed outcome.
As an American, I believe deeply in the idea that this is a land of opportunity.
Throughout our history, the people who made a lasting impact didn't get there by playing it safe every step of the way. They took risks. They challenged conventional thinking. They pursued ideas that others may have doubted.
Jesston Williams
Executive Director / Co-Founder, Tangelic
Playing it safe is the quickest way to stay stagnant. For me, the leap that changed everything came after 20 years of building a comfortable, successful career across healthcare, finance, and laboratory services. At the height of the pandemic, I walked away from that comfort zone to dive into clean energy with Tangelic. Leaving decades of familiarity behind to bring reliable power to underserved regions was a massive risk, but true leadership requires trade-offs. That single choice took me on a mission to Ghana to drive the Sunrise Spectrum Initiative. Because I took that risk, we aren't just discussing impact; we are actively changing lives on the ground.
Ronald Stephen Houston
Owner / Author / Writer / Screenwriter / Ghostwriter, GorillaWorks Limited
I own my creative voice, and doing so is risky. If you connect with the readers, everyone is happy. If your writing fails, the blame is all yours.
Charles Myles
Public Speaker, Trainer, Author, and Pastor, Powerful Days
One of the biggest risks I ever took was choosing to step away from the security of a long career in government contracting and fully pursue the work I believed I was called to do.
For nearly 20 years, I had the stability of a professional career, leadership responsibilities, and the opportunity to support projects connected to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It was a tremendous experience, but over time I realized that my purpose was pulling me in another direction. I felt called to spend more of my life developing people, speaking, training, pastoring, teaching, and serving communities that often needed encouragement, leadership, and hope.
That calling eventually took me beyond traditional professional environments. It meant stepping into communities, correctional institutions, and prisons not just as a trainer, but also as a pastor and someone committed to helping people understand that their current circumstances did not have to define their future. Serving incarcerated individuals, correctional professionals, law enforcement officers, and people in the community became an important part of that journey.
Walking away from something stable was not an easy decision. There is always uncertainty when you leave what is familiar to pursue what you believe you are called to do. But I reached a point where playing it safe would have meant ignoring that calling.
"Sometimes the greatest risk is not stepping out. It is staying where you are after you know you have been called to move." Charles Myles
That decision led me to build Powerful Days and expand my work as a speaker, trainer, pastor, and community leader. It opened doors for me to serve people in environments I could not have imagined earlier in my career.
The risk did not eliminate every challenge, but it brought greater alignment between my work and my purpose. Taking that leap allowed me to build a life centered on helping people grow, lead, heal, and transform.
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