Eighteen months ago, I asked an executive client what keeps him up at night.
“Disruption,” he said emphatically.
And then, without a second’s pause, he added,
“The need to disrupt ourselves before our competition does.”
I wonder how well he’s sleeping these days now that disruption is the prevailing state. When even the simplest order of our daily lives, both at work and at home, has been disturbed. Discontinuity, dislocation, and displacement prevail. Nothing is a given.
It’s perturbing, to say the least.
In consultant-speak, it’s called “A Period of Perturbation”.
It’s what happens whenever a system breaks down. If interdependent components no longer fit together into a unified entity, then even the most effective system will ultimately break down. And until the new system emerges, the period of perturbation will endure.
It can leave us rattled and in a state of agitated confusion. In part because we were attached to the old system when it served us well. And in part because the period of perturbation unfortunately doesn’t come with an end date.
We’re in the 13th month of a pandemic-induced period of perturbation.
So where do you go from here?
It can be hard to step forward when the ground under your feet doesn’t feel stable.
Do you wait for some semblance of new normal to stabilize before you act?
Or do you take advantage of the disruption to the status quo to invoke a change that matters to you?
Answering some important questions may help you decide.
Here are the first two:
1. Do you see something that’s not working?
2. If so, does it matter to you enough to change it?
Take your time to reflect. Listen to your heart, not just your head. And stay tuned for more.
Take good care,
