In the great tradition of repurposing, here’s a twist on an old joke:
A Graduate Recruit, an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Consultant and a CEO were scheduled to be executed in the morning. As is customary, they were granted one last request.
The Graduate Recruit said, “I want to chair a meeting of the board of directors.”
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Consultant said, “I want to give one more TEDx talk about the importance of being agile enough to quickly pivot your business strategy.”
The CEO said, “Shoot me before the consultant gives their talk!”
Some flat-footed businesses are still saying, "Pivot...?". But a lot of good businesses have got what I call ‘Pivot Fatigue’. As the director of one very successful mid-sized company told me last week, “We are weary of pivoting. We’ve done it, and we’ve done well, but people are deeply tired. We don’t want to hear more about how we ought to be doing it. We need to support people while we do.”
The need for pivoting is not going to let up: it’s not only the effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, it’s global megatrends that provide the backdrop for everything that’s happening in the world.
My friend and colleague Sean Bacon, a former Canadian paratrooper and mental toughness expert who coached his country’s Olympic Gold medal women’s rowing team says, “When you're fighting a gorilla, you don’t stop when you get tired. You stop when the gorilla gets tired.”
That's both correct and tough. So that leads to the crucial question: "What will sustain you and your people?" Marginally better salary and benefits than the competition? I'm not convinced.
The topics that are coming up increasingly as I talk with leaders are things like making work more meaningful, being imaginative in how you 'cultivate' your culture, offering clarity where that's possible, and providing support in handling ambiguity where it's not.
These would make good agenda themes for any uncoming awayday...
Copyright Andy Bass 2022.
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