Of all the things that remain the same, change is one of them. We all know that personal growth, family harmony, and organizational health all rely on the fact that we can’t be content to just stay the same and expect things to get better and better. We must always keep our eyes on the things of life that are in a continual motion of growth, because the day we stop growing (and changing) is the day we start to die. It happens in relationships and it certainly happens in our leadership life. Look at nature: when a flower stops growing, it begins to die. Only when it is still taking in nourishment and water will it stay alive. We are the same.
Many others and I call it reinvention. Even when things appear to be going well, I’ve come to understand that I must constantly be looking for ways to reinvent myself and my work so that it better meets the needs of today’s culture, but more importantly, for it to sustain and meet the needs of tomorrow, which are always changing. There are lots of examples of this:
As said above, life itself and nature are constantly either growing or dying.
Sports teams often go into a period of “rebuilding.”
Buildings are renovated to meet needs better.
Business practices are revamped in order to gain market share.
Educational systems are honed to help students learn better.
Technology is constantly upgrading.
Leaders and organizations must keep up. Whatever the product produced, the programs presented, the services offered, or messages communicated, we cannot allow ourselves the luxury of doing it the way it’s always been done, even when our methods and practices were successful. Everything changes in one direction or another, and the only way to have a chance of continued success is to look at the way we do things and ask ourselves the tough questions about whether or not our “how we do it” is still relevant to today’s culture and if it will be effective moving forward. Most of the time, the answer to the tough question is that we need to upgrade and update our methods.
There are traditional things which I personally enjoy. There are nostalgic themes and tried and true methods which helped me do some pretty great things along the way. However, I refuse to become the keeper of yesterday’s methodology. I want to remain relevant and useful for many decades to come. To do so, I reinvent. I believe that all leaders must be willing to do the same.
Is it easy? No. It’s often painful to let go of the things which brought us success in the past. We prefer to be comfortable and keep doing things the way we like to do them. However, if we do. If we refuse to reinvent everything about how we do our jobs, our organizations will suffer the consequences. We will lose market share, influence, and the ability to compete with others who are staying on the cutting edge. Reinvention is hard work and it isn’t at all comfortable, however, staying the same and watching things decline around us is an awful way to exist. Reinvention is the way to stay alive. When we look at every aspect of our personal and professional lives through the lens of reinvention, the journey becomes exciting again, the present fun, and the future extremely bright.
Go out and reinvent something about your life right now. I guarantee you will be happy you did, and so will the people you lead.
Lead well.