David Cote, the President and CEO of Honeywell, delivered a commencement address at his alma mater, the University of New Hampshire, structured around four major lessons from his 35-year career. His second lesson — about getting out of your comfort zone — was the most energetic, drawing on the vivid metaphor of the arena versus the spectator stands. Cote's authority on this subject was hard-earned. He told graduates about his own spectacularly non-linear path: he took six years to finish a four-year degree, was kicked off campus for being 'a general troublemaker,' tried and failed at manual labor, almost joined a nuclear submarine crew, and attempted commercial fishing before finally getting serious about his career. Every turning point involved leaping into something uncomfortable. The advice wasn't about recklessness but about calculated risk-taking. Cote acknowledged that 'there will always be plenty of people to tell you why it won't work, including some friends and family. And sometimes they'll be right — and that's painful.' But he insisted that the alternative — remaining a spectator — was worse. 'Successful people have failures, sometimes spectacularly embarrassing ones,' he said, 'but they learn from it and move on to the next success.'