The IMPOSSIBLE Race
The Red
Queen from Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass’ said it best,
"It takes all the running you
can do to stay in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must
run at least twice as fast as that.”
It is this
philosophy that keeps leaders leading, great companies growing, and teams
performing. Standing at the bottom of
your own career ladder can be extremely frustrating. Particularly, if you fail to recognize that
growth only comes through change and change can only manifest itself through
action.
If we are to
grow we must realize that we are the masters of our own destiny. Many times in my career as a manager and a
leadership development coach I see people get caught in the “they” syndrome. These are the people constantly waiting for
someone else to step in and deliver their dreams and ambitions to them in a
gift wrapped box. I am reminded of a
tale from Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, about a man on a journey who
had come to a village only to find that the road ahead had been blocked by a
mountain. The man sat down to wait for
the mountain to move. Many years later
the man was old and his hair was white and he still sat, waiting for the
mountain to move. He, too, was waiting for someone else to move
his obstacles.
Getting
caught up in the habit of waiting for things to happen in your life and your
career is a bad place to be, particularly, when you work for a company that has
nothing but growth and opportunity ahead.
If we don’t put action to our ambition we watch while everyone else gets
promoted around us. Advice: Pick up the baton and get in the race! You deserve to be a part of this unbelievable
opportunity. Take it!
