Personal and professional transformation are phrases that often sound inspiring, yet are rarely achieved. Why is that? In a world that has changed so rapidly in the last five years, it astounds me that more leaders have not taken a long hard look in the mirror and recognized that something had to change.
Just so you know…my look in the mirror was long…and very, very humbling.
Safe Is Death
I’ve spent the last twenty years in an industry that prides itself on not taking risks. Slow and steady avoids bad PR and other external forces with nefarious intent. So how does one “raised” in that environment decide to reinvent himself?
The answer for me was quite simple actually…the modern world of work demanded that I change.
Sure, I could try to play it safe for the next few years…and as my friend Ted Coine
likes to say I could “get comfortable with obsolescence.”
Quite simply following a risk-averse hide in your comfort zone leadership style means professional death. No one will believe you are current. No one will believe you understand how the world works. And by the way, all of those millennials that will dominate your workforce in the next few years will never trust you to lead them in any way.
“The modern world of work demands that you get current. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like it. It’s no longer up to you.”
It Won’t Kill You
As it turns out, transformation does not end your career. It creates new opportunities. Transformation does not hurt your credibility. It takes it to a place you didn’t think you could get to.
Transformation does not put you at risk in your “play-it-safe-until-I’m-useless” world. It changes you into a leader that others wish they could be.
Isn’t it time you pushed yourself beyond processing paperwork and answering emails faster and faster and counting that as progress?
How About You
Staying with your status quo crowd is the real threat. The death squad you’re so afraid of is the one you already belong to. It’s time to break free and jump into the modern world of work. Remember, real leaders recognize they no longer have a choice.
I’d love to hear from you.
No Excuses.
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