When I took a course on Leadership at Harvard, I was like most of my student peers. THRILLED to be going to Boston. ELATED about having the Harvard experience (and on our resumes). EXCITED about the journey of leadership. But many of us were wondering what it really meant to spend a full week with folks from around the world, listening to the likes of Marty Linsky and David Gergen pontificate on the best leadership in the world.
And we were all surprised, very surprised, by the truth of leadership, uncovered.
Here’s the truth in a nutshell. Whenever we are confronted with a problem at work, chances are, we are not always pointing the finger in the right direction. That is not to say that we are not fully justified in our assessment of what defines poor management and bad co-workers.
However, if we are working around all of this badness, the finger should be pointing back to ourselves. Get out of there.
Statistically, Gen Xers were the first generation to break the mold of corporate loyalty. My generation was less likely to stay at a job for more than 5 years (okay maybe 6). When a recruiter looked at my resume, she asked about the jumps, the short stints, the gaps. All glaringly reflective of the fact that I was true to my demographic stereotype.
So I wanted to share this with you in two parts. I’ll divulge why I’m still here and list the reasons, but the bigger message is that, while folks are retrenching and fear is driving us away from change, it’s time to take a stand. Make great change in your life. Start small, like one thing you want to do in 2012 (as opposed to a list of 200) and apply laser focus to that one thing. And then create a path for getting there. Don’t make it “win the lotto” and sit back passively. It could be something like – publish an article. Or a book.
We need to give ourselves permission to change and grow. AND we need to find patience to get us there. It’s about timing, perseverance and realistic expectations. For me, I have my exit plan in my head. And I’m still working on it on paper!
Agent M
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