Larry Page on Taking Risks
Larry Page, co-founder and President of Products of Google Inc., reveals in an interview with Andy Serwer, managing editor of Fortune Magazine, that he isn’t all about business and intensifying Google’s search engines; he cares a lot about making progress on things like renewable energy, safer cars, even mechanized farming. This is just one of the few things revealed about the reticent icon, in his interview last May 2008.
How he proposes change is not wholly through the latest technologies. Instead, he inculcates a certain way of thinking that people should look at things with a definitive approach. People should accept that failing is just a part of life. Risks are present in every venture. In the interview, Larry Page insists that too few people are willing to take risks; they like to stay in their comfort zones. Often, the people with the most insane ideas are the ones who’ve succeeded, he shares.
Page may have been referring to a lot of things when he discussed how risk takers leap into absolute darkness with nothing to light their way but faith. True, most people would not take risks because of the fear of failure. It is human nature that dictates fear, but it is also human nature to want to succeed.
Page here is not a philanthropist speaking but rather a philosopher, conveying his belief that life could be so much better if people start taking risks if they ever want to succeed. Page took a huge leap of faith when they started Google. Where he stands now is proof that he has stared down fear and followed his belief.
Larry Page is profiled on Forbes.
Technology leaders such as Mayo Shattuck are profiled on Leaders of Technology.
Mayo Shattuck is profiled on BusinessWeek.