Jean Case, chairman of the board of National Geographic and CEO of the Case Foundation, visited Cincinnati on Feb. 26.
The entrepreneur and thought leader, who recently published “Be Fearless: 5 Principles for a Life of Breakthroughs and Purpose,” met with city leaders and influencers throughout the day before a fireside chat at Union Hall.
Ahead of the conversation, she spent time with a few members of the press where she dove into insights from her book, as well as its growth from her work leading the Case Foundation.
The overall message of her book, she explained, is to encourage "ordinary people" to take extraordinary risks, ultimately debunking the idea that anything is out of someone's reach. In fact, Case noted the mindset of, "I have a great idea, but it's too big for me" was one she consistently found in the people she met during her travels.
Instead, Case challenged that attitude with the stories of leaders like Oprah and J.K. Rowling, two individuals who pushed past their boundaries despite significant obstacles.
“Nothing great comes from the comfort zone."
There are five main principles for those considering these big risks, Case argued: make a big bet, make failure matter, reach beyond your boundaries and let urgency conquer fear. It's about “not settling for incremental change, but making a big bet," Case said.
These themes translated into Case's fireside chat, where she was introduced by Mayor John Cranley. She used her time to discuss failure and entrepreneurs' fears regarding it.
"It’s easy to say the world is over when we fail," she said. Case challenged that concept by arguing that mistakes are best viewed as research and development — and as an opportunity to learn and grow.
“I would rather invest in a founder who has failed as that founder probably has learned a lot," she added.
Setbacks and challenges also set entrepreneurs and their enterprises up for a change of perspective and often times, greater success. Using her work with National Geographic as an example, she explained how its editors were first presented with the idea of adopting photography into its work. At first hesitant, leadership embraced the idea — which has since become a hallmark of the brand (so much so that it earned the position as the first brand to hit 100 million followers on Instagram; it also won an Academy Award this year for its documentary, "Free Solo."). Fortune, it seems, favors the bold.
It's a message that Case was eager to impress on the Cincinnati audience: “Nothing great comes from the comfort zone,” she said.
