Your Future - the one thing that limits it
The future, your future. "The sky's the limit" some might say. I'll challenge this with a look back at that one thing that really moved the meter, made the difference throughout my career.
I say that people and human relationships are your limit.
Twenty four years and a little, that’s how long I worked in telecom. Global, complex, cutting edge, brilliant. Early on, I designed central switching offices and watched their magic as they connected people and transformed lives. To see the possibilities to improve humanity through technology, amazing. I worked beside peers, through my teams, with my leaders developing human relationships. Relationships that transformed our organization and company.
Time and time again, I was impressed by technology, just as I still am today. Always, however, I was moved by people. Forward with great leaders, forward with great relationships, forward with diverse high performing teams. Delivering, accomplishing, enjoying, celebrating those challenging mountains we climbed and overcoming those impossible obstacles. We were conquerers in the industry.
Unfortunately, over the years, I also watched as colleagues, and myself, were moved equally into inaction, sluggishness, paralyzing demotivation. You know what I'm talking about, personally and professionally we've all experienced this to some degree. Times when a leader was suffocating or unethical, times when the team's dysfunction reeked or personal agendas rose over aligned purposes and unresolved conflicts left organizations paralyzed. Sadly, greatness and futures were destroyed.
Now, more than ever, the future and what it requires must be viewed in terms of human relationships. Some may argue that what is most critical is your strategy, your technical prowess, your expertise, being first to market, having the best marketing and brand. While I would never argue that these aren't important, there is a common thread, a dependency on someone, to do something, most likely with someone else. And that's where the issues start and end...with people in a relationship.
As Albert Einstein once said, "Politics are more difficult than physics." I'm an engineer by degree and after many years of working in and through large global, complex Fortune 500 organizations, let me assure you, Albert was right in his sentiment.
So what do we do as next generation leaders?
How do we successfully build or transform our organizations and cultures to meet the challenges we face?
How do we manage paradox, drive self mastery, implement positive sustained change with lasting successful impact, and manage our teams and companies as we face this extremely VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) environment called the future?
How do we turn diversity, bias and conflict in organizations into strengths? We have four generations represented as part of the workforce and employees that must work together with very different backgrounds, cultures, views on just about everything.
Don't limit yourself by broken, dysfunctional human relationships. Don't let your company, your organization, your team or yourself be devastated by ignoring a growth mindset toward human relationships. These must be developed, nurtured, and worked on deliberately. Truly, people and human relationships are your future.
To learn more about how Elan James can help you or your organization transform into next generation leaders focused on the power of human relationship, please contact us.
Look out for our Next Blog...Do you have a growth mindset and why your company can profit from having one?