Where Is Your Tevye Line?

Go the F**k to Sleep... The No Asshole Rule... The Aristocrats (description, for those who aren't sure if they are ready to be totally offended)... The Aristocrats (video, for those who are ready to laugh hysterically while certainly being offended)...



We all use language we're "not supposed to." We all know some person or product or service that has made a ton of money by breaking that "not supposed to" rule. Controversy sells!



I recently faced a dilemma: Go for it or tone it down?



For my latest book, Disrupt! , which comes out in August, I took one of the chapter titles, Do Epic Shit, from a quote from one of the interviewees, "do epic shit," and decided to use it in the title of the book: Disrupt! Do Epic Sh*t.



OMG. You would think I disrespected everyone's mom or their religion or their values in the worst possible way!!



The reactions were super intense! I asked a long-time friend and well-known author to write a quote for the cover: He replied, "Sorry Bill, but my editor and agent both advised me against [being associated with this book] — they don't like the title. I can't say I'm a huge fan either." Woah.



Surprised the shit out of me! But I try to have an open mind and am a passionate learner. So I crowdsourced the debate. Asked some of my online communities to vote on Do Epic Sh*t or a more safe version. Both sides, pro Sh*t and Sh*t haters, were passionate. In the end, it was 2 to 1 for a safe title and against Sh*t.



So now the official title is Disrupt! Think Epic. Be Epic.



For a business book, that probably was the right decision. Yet I still have this nagging feeling. Did I sell out? Or did I do the right thing?



Which brings us to the point of this post. It's not about my book or cussing. It's about a question we all face every day...



For you: Where is the line between taking a principled and passionate stand and being willing to bend?





Where is the point at which you move from "Yeah, I can compromise on this. No big deal." to "No. I cannot compromise. It must be this way or I cannot be a part of it."



I call it the Tevye line. (Fiddler on the Roof: Where Tevye keeps bending his principled believes for the love of his daughters and finally reaches his limit... He cannot bend anymore.)



For each of us, that line is different. And it changes based on the topic and circumstances.



The only way we can be true to ourselves is to know our Tevya line, and to revisit it constantly, and move it one way or the other as we grow and change.