It’s an idiom, in the dictionary, ‘no guts no glory’… meaning “success does not come without the courage to take risks.” So, I’m trying to factor this idiom into the scheme of things, in – where else, these days? – but in politics, of course!
Like, at times, all throughout the pandemic, when toilet paper and various other essential items, were in short supply, over an even greater number of years than the pandemic, it seems supply chain problems may have gutted — so to speak — the guts supply. In politics, in particular.
Ever since, when Donald Trump, apparently, acquired the GOP, that’s when guts were becoming about as hard to find as some of the most endangered species… the Sumatran Tiger, the Yangtze Finless Porpoise, and the Cross River Gorilla, for example.
You could search high and low, among some politicians, without spotting any guts to speak of. The shelves surely have seemed quite bare, or was it some politicians’ souls that were almost entirely bereft of guts?
That’s so hard to figure, how one person can be exerting such authority over others.
Of course, the pundits, the political analysts, the many experts… have been attributing the former president’s power to his base. It’s not the majority of voters, in that base of his, but it’s big enough to rattle a whole lot of politicians, in the GOP.
It’s almost like Mr. Trump is holding a cudgel over their heads. One wrong move, one sign of disloyalty, and these poor congressional representatives, senators, and even state government officials get bonked by the cudgel.
So, considering that idiom, that “success does not come without the courage to take risks,” isn’t it getting to be high time to fix this increasingly serious supply chain problem, and beef up the guts supply?
In business, problems, like shortages of essential items, can present opportunities. Folks in business thoroughly analyze things, they toss everything around in meetings, they get the big picture, and decide what to do.
Ramping up the supply of guts — unclogging the supply chain — shouldn’t be such a big deal.
Or maybe, all some of the politicians really need to do, is to repeat, over and over…
‘No guts no glory!’
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.