October 2024 — Having visited bullrings in three Spanish cities during my brand sabbatical, it is confirmed that while I do not care to witness an actual fight and would probably choose “no” if I were to vote as to whether the ritual should continue, I do appreciate the tradition of “corrida de toros.”

And I am reminded of the Theodore Roosevelt quote referred to as The Man in the Arena, which is as relevant today as it was when I first read it. I am grateful to the venerable Brené Brown for bringing it to my attention and inspiring how I (“strive valiantly” to) approach my business:

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man* who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

— Theodore Roosevelt • The Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910