Grabbing the Bull of Change by the Horns

Risk, Courage, Innovation

As Mark Twain once said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” Facing change is frightening for most people. So, for the publishing industry, it may be a time fi lled with fear, but it is also a time for great courage to surface.

I asked Jane Friedman how she evaluates the risk in major new digital projects, where there is no established model for return-on-investment. “Well, that’s the fun of it, isn’t it? That’s what gets me up in the morning!” she laughed.

Experimentation, however, often comes with risk, which can be scary. But fearful or not, we are already seeing some publishers grab the bull of change by the horns.