Seven Years... (Avoiding the Corporate Curmudgeon Condition)

Seven years ago today, we dropped our youngest off for his first day of high school.

In the seven years since, his life has been a whirlwind of change - surviving his formative years, learning to drive, moving out of home to go to university, and culminating in his recent wedding to an absolutely delightful young lady.

My darling wife and I were ruminating this morning about the changes our son has gone through, and then asked the question “How have we changed in the same time frame?”

The answer was “Likely not as much as we should have”.

We are probably the same people we were seven years ago.

So then the discussion centered around why we become resistant to being formed as we get older…

… even if the change is good for us.

We get set in our ways.

We get locked into patterns of behaviours.

We rationalize that the way we are is the right way.

We feel we’ve learned everything we need to learn to be successful.

We become annoyed at people who think different, and act different than we do.

In extreme cases the phrase “Young Whippersnappers” escapes our lips.

I can hear you thinking “But that’s normal behaviour as we age”.

But just because something is normal, does that make it right?

Why do we resist the need to be flexible and adaptive so we can become a better person, a better citizen, or a better partner?

So… today’s topic does apply to leadership, because many organizations have the same challenges as they age.

They start out highly flexible and adaptive.

They read the market.

They connect with their customers.

They solicit feedback so they can change for the better.

Then something happens.

Someone (or a group of someones) decides that things are fine.

They have it all figured out.

After all, they are a market leader.

“Stay the course!” they say. It’s been working for a good long time.

Then they seem absolutely gobsmacked when the market decides they are irrelevant.

The corporate junkyards are full of examples.

Kodak, DEC, Blockbuster, Atari, Polaroid, and more.

They were market leaders.

They held on to their proven business model until it was too late.

They were resistant to change, and the resistance came from within.

In seven years, the world can change significantly.

Apple released the original iPad less than seven years ago.

Look at how that changed how people interact on line.

But I’m not talking about new tech, and adapting to it.

I’m talking about changing your willingness to learn.

As a person.

As a leader of others.

As an organization.

I’m not talking about tossing out all your planning, but to ask yourself if you’ve built in room to grow, and stay relevant.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go yell at some kids and tell them to get off of my lawn.

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Image: Used under Creative Commons License

About the Author:

I'm convinced that IT leadership needs to dramatically change how IT is delivered rather than being relegated to a costly overhead department.

In addition to transforming IT in my role as CIO, I look for every opportunity to talk about this... writing, speaking and now blogging on BeBee ( www.bebee.com/@kevin-pashuk) , LinkedIn, ITWorld Canada, or at TurningTechInvisible.com.

I also shoot things... with my camera. Check out my photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/kwpashuk