Leadership is a willingness to place yourself in a constant state of disruption…a constant reimagining of being and doing.
Some truths are endless…
Some leadership principles are timeless…
Yet, how we view and implement them are fluid and ever-changing.
What has endured is not always eternal, and the shelf-life on what we have always considered to be imperishable has recently been revised.
Our modern world is pulling the proverbial rug out from under those stalwarts and pillars of structure that have defined our society longer than we can remember. The wheels of change are spinning at a faster and faster rate. What we were able to wrap our head around today has morphed and changed itself by tomorrow.
And whether that is a good or a bad is neither way, it just is.
And as leaders, we can neither choose to hide from or ignore this reality.
The way we look at learning, education, even the very notion of school is being reevaluated and reconsidered, constantly. What we learn, how we learn, where we learn.
And it is no different in the world outside of the schoolhouse steps. Upheaval and disruption of our current ways of doing and being are everywhere.
What we fail to realize is that this is not some new phenomena. This type of change process has been ongoing in the halls of history throughout time, the only difference…
We were never confronted with this type of pace.
Which is why leaders not only have to be more agile, they have to be more aware. And not only of the process of change, but the mindset, as well. As the world whirls around us and change confronts us at every turn, we also have to be aware of the mindshifts that have occurred.
From the classroom to the boardroom disengagement is happening at an alarming rate. People no longer are willing to stand idly by and accept a sit and get, carrot and stick existence. Creating is the new consumption. People want to be intrinsically motivated, to be part of something that is bigger than themselves, to be tied to work that has real meaning.
As leaders, when we fail to recognize this shift, we elevate the disengagement factor.
Which is why awareness is paramount for today’s modern leaders. Not just in knowing and understanding those timeless leadership principles but, being able to apply them in new and innovative ways will not only be needed, it will be necessary.
The direction we go, the opportunity we have, will all depend on our perspective.
We can either choose to bury ourselves in the processes of the past, or we can take the first steps to redefine and reimagine the world around us.
The choice is ours…
DCulberhouse 