And, perhaps more importantly, do you know for sure what it is exactly that “got you here?”. Such is the dilemma that so many leaders and organizations face. They have no idea how they got “here.” And they have no clue how to get “there!”
A Really Good Book
“What Got You Here Won’t Get You There” is the title of Marshall Goldsmith’s book. It was published in 2007 and is available on Amazon via this link. I highly recommend the book. In that book, Goldsmith helps the reader how to handle what he calls the “paradox of success.” Goldsmith says that folks who have achieved success share some common characteristics that have attributed to their success. Unfortunately, it is those same characteristics that will make it difficult for them to adapt and to change to meet the needs of an ever-changing world.
Do you know where you are?
Goldsmith is great and he has sold way more books than I have. But, I see things a little differently from where I sit. My first question is this. Do you even know where you are?
If you don’t even know where you are, you have no way of determining if you are where you want to be. Sounds rather simple and fundamental, doesn’t it? Yet, so many fail to stop and take a look around to see where they are relative to their intended destination. Do you know where you are?
Do you know how you got here?
I am going to go with the assumption that you had a destination in mind when you started out. And you have now figured out where you are and that is not where you intended to be. So, how did you get here? Did you have a good roadmap when you started? What took you off your chosen path? Was it neglect or was it intentional? We can change destinations. We can correct our course. But, we better understand what winds blew us off course in the first place.
Do you still want to go there?
We established a moment ago that we can change our course and our destination. Circumstances and conditions may have changed enough to warrant a new destination. We need to make sure that we have the courage to abandon the old trek and move in a new direction if we need to in order to be safe, secure and achieve the goal that the destination was taking us toward. Do we still want to go there? Or do we need a new destination?
Do you know how to get back on track?
Here is where we must pause for a momentary “gut check.” Do we really know how to get us back on track? And can we get ourselves and the organization heading toward our new destination? We may have had the skills to take us to the old destination under ordinary circumstances. But something unforeseen has happened. And we now must face the fact that we are still a long way from our goal. And we must look deep inside and ask ourselves if we know how to get us and our organization back on track.
I want to help!
I really do. I want to help you ask these questions. Do you know where you are? Do you know how you got here? Do you still want to go there? Do you know how to get back on track? These questions may be hard and they may be uncomfortable. But we must have answers to them. Let me help you. Click here to connect with me and arrange a brief conversation about these questions and explore whether or not I can help you get the answers that you need.