Heat. Fires. Delta Variant. Infrastructure. Reopening. Remasking. Isn’t this supposed to be our vacation month?
Leadership thrives against a backdrop of chaos… if you know what to expect next. Last week we talked about the morning-after achievement, against-the-odds: when you have hit your numbers, nailed your goal, accomplished what they said wasn’t possible… the Doldrums are waiting for you.
How do you pull out of that Doldrum downturn? When you’re coming-up on the fork in your leadership road: will you replay, or reinvent?
Tom Brady finished his tour-of-duty with the Patriots with his hand weighed-down by Super Bowl rings. What could a field general do to coming off that epic string of victories? Hit “replay,” and head for Tampa to do it over again. Jeff Bezos became the richest-guy on the Forbes list by inserting Amazon into the retail supply chain and deploying more delivery trucks in America than police cars. What next? Hit “reinvent,” and have the valet bring up your own rocket, to head into space. What comes after the after?
You know what it takes to win yesterday’s contest; now, will you just set out to replicate that victory? It was a “wow” the first time; will it be as remarkable next time? It will – for sure – be easier, but far less satisfying. The alternative?
Instead of hitting “replay,” you can choose to start with a sense of innovative opportunity – the kind that positions you for things you’ve never done before – and propose a new game-plan that points to new achievements full of risk but in line with your calling!
Paul writes from the heart to his friends in Philippi; he starts with his résumé that showed his prior privileged status as a top-1% player in his Jewish culture; then: “…whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:7-11).
Here’s Paul’s example: looking back at success – or, just rehashing what you’ve done before – won’t satisfy. Yesterday’s victories – when viewed through today’s rear-view mirror – are likely to look pretty small. The summits on his forward horizon that were left to climb were a far more compelling future to pursue, and he was willing to bet-the-farm on that decision. Replay? No way. Reinvention? Nothing less would do…
The next assignment for a leader who is ready for reinvention is to go into the Cocoon. That’s where the caterpillar does the work to come out of reinvention as a butterfly: transformed.
Most leaders are pros in their past successes… but are amateurs in taking themselves through the Cocoon. Nothing in their past – academic education or career training – readied them for the most important discoveries they could ever make: how do they become comfortable with their God-designed potential and use that awareness to create a breakthrough next season?
That’s what we do in The Master’s Program: we guide leaders through their personal Cocoon! Sound like self-promotion, coming from me? It isn’t: it’s you-promotion, coming from your Creator…
More next week…
Bob Shank
