You are driving down the road searching for the park where you know you can sit and read surrounded by nature, away from the city noise for a few selfish moments with yourself and nobody else.
You take the right turn that you know will soon open up into this vision of the park that you had been dreaming of all week, looking forward to this moment on your weekend. But alas, rather than the beautiful park, you find a marsh-land with nowhere to sit and relax. What a disappointment. But you know it is somewhere around here. You remember from years ago when as a young man you stumbled across this oasis, that now you are so yearning for.
Easy you say, so you reverse back out of the path and track that took you there and right before you took the right turn. You stop for a moment, re-visit the beautiful park in your mind's eye and after a short while you once again, take the right turn to find what?..... Obviously the marsh-land. But you are sure that those many years ago, this same path took you there. Surely that passage of time has not transformed that oasis into this stinking sludge.
And after repeating the same process a few times.... you give up!
Well, those of you still reading.... know that you would never go through this process as after you first attempt you would certainly do something different like, try a different route, call a friend, etc.... but it seems futile and downright stupid to repeat the same action expecting a different outcome...
Well not so stupid it appears...... we seem to keep investing our hard-earned cash in organizations that continue to make the same mistakes, vote in Governments that apply new rhetoric to same old practices and as Leaders....... are we more or less driving down the same path expecting a different outcome? Somebody defined this as a sure sign of stupidity!
You see, as Leaders most of us do. Yes, we might put different make-up on it, but the essence of what we do is the same. Why? Well, because this is what is expected by the investors that continue to invest, the Board Members that continue to hire CEOs of the same ilk and our staff that continues to support our misguided actions even though intrinsically they know they are off-the-mark.... and so do we Leaders by the way, know this.
Sounds like a viscious cycle; our inevitable doom! And if we do not break it, another GFC or the one after will.
The truth is that in every crises there is always a handful of Leaders that understand this and operate outside the norm (effectively listening to and trusting their essence, their purpose, the intuitive voice inside) and create something new, sustainable and initially apparently unorthodox.
The crises (so the opportunity) is here NOW! Which choice are you making TODAY?
- take the right turn, yet again!
- listen to the voice within!
The choice is yours. History shows that there are very few that take the second choice, (they are called Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson), so the choice is simple but certainly not easy!
Aldo Grech - CxO Consulting
For some reason, your post reminded me of the realities of Eskimo thinking in an environment of white space and their language. It is more a language of the voice within where it brings ideas and things into being as it happens with the focus on the present experience. Somehow the environment of snow, ice and white removes the scenery we see on and off the screen and lets the Eskimo focus on action. Change is about the life one creates with actions and choices. The leader is found within as the focus is the activity not the product. Fortunately, the web is changing how we communicate and more importantly how we learn, unlearn and learn. Leaders need to do the same. Thank you for the opportunity. Emily Medvec
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