Sometimes the biggest obstacle to your success is...well...you.A few months ago I had a series of meetings with some senior people at a pretty large firm in the financial services space. They were looking for some guidance and validation on bringing to market an innovative new product solution that was way outside their normal core competency. On paper, the description of what they were attempting to do was impressive and made total sense to me. However, each executive with whom I met seemed skeptical about it and its potential success. One senior person after another, without clear coordination, would ultimately steer our conversation to this one question: "Do you think we can be successful with this?"If you know me, you generally understand that if you ask for my opinion, you will get it (and sometimes even if you don't ask too). In this case, there was no exception. My response each time without hesitation:I absolutely believe you can be successful....that is, if you guys can get out of your own way.The fact that executive after executive asked me this question told me there was likely some internal resistance or friction surrounding the initiative. It was a classic case of a smart person or people within a big company being courageous enough to identify an innovative opportunity in the market, but not being able to get the consensus to take the risk and steps necessary to execute on it. Whether it was their politics, their lack of nimbleness, their ignorance of what it would take or all of the above, it was my opinion the company was likely setting this project up for failure if they ultimately could not get out of their own way and get it done.This is why it is well documented that most corporate innovation labs suck -- big companies consistently show that they just can't push asid But this also happens with people too.We are all presented with opportunities every day -- many are small, but some potentially transformative. They may take some extra thought, risk, and/or action on our parts in order to get the payoff. Often, they may also require us to take extraordinary steps that lead us out of our comfort zone. As a result, despite making sense on paper, they don't happen for us.Like big companies, it's hard for people to get out of their own way. We have our own politics, insecurities and risk aversion that can hinder our growth. Change can also be scary or exhausting. It's only with some introspection, learning from our history and committing to doing what it takes to making things happen that in those cases we can be successful.So next time you are considering taking a big bold step, first ask yourself, "Am I willing to get out of my own way and be successful?" If you can take some important preliminary actions to clear a lane for yourself, I have absolutely no doubt that you can. On this first weekend of the summer solstice, not sure how many clicks you'll be making on the links below. But if you are interested at all in tackling a great longer read, definitely check out the DeLorean article in the Last Word. I never really knew the details around the failed motor company and it's founder, and totally got sucked into the origin story. Check it out and have an awesome weekend!XOXODave