What about the music?
The UK’s just crawled out of recession with a whimper. Davos has just failed to reach consensus.
I keep getting told, due to the crash, there’s been a shift in the ‘doing business paradigm’ towards flattened hierarchies, a collaborative approach, shared responsibility and… I almost want to burst into song! ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music…’
They might have been alive with the ‘we’re all going to work together more humanely and creatively…’ but I don’t see much evidence of it. Humans make all kinds of promises when in trouble, like praying to a god. Only to renege on those promises when things get better. A selective ‘forgetting’.
For an old paradigm to be overthrown you have to reach critical mass. But I’m impatient for the new and hacked off by the seductive pull of the old.
IT ISN’T WORKING ANY MORE!
And what holds us back clutching at the familiar? A ‘familiar’ outdated and dysfunctional for a world of business moving and vibrating far faster than we’ve ever known it before. What holds us back is our enduring existential fear of change and the unknown!
Fears are there to be worked with creatively. Name them, face them and then ‘take tea with them’; welcome them into your parlour. Then and only then can you achieve mistressy of your fears through developing that Inner Leadership.
Then and only then can you creatively inspire, influence, motivate and mobilise yourself, as well as others, to create and BE THE CHANGE … a massive, quadruple win for business and humanity as a whole.
I’m so riled about the slipping back and reneging on potential. And that ‘hot’ response tells me there’s work for me to do. To what music of change and to what fears am I not paying attention? And to what music of change and what fears aren’t you?
Well done Sharon! There has been much talk about working to a new order, but as you say as things seem to be improving just slightly the back sliding into the old ways seems to be creeping back. They are seductive because we know them and for some they worked very well! But not for others! It’s either not knowing what to do differently that scares us, or worse knowing, but realising we don’t have the courage to change!
Sharon, your excellent post has me thinkin’! Especially about fears. I could not agree with you more; our response must be to “take tea with them,” but on our own terms because paradigms—the source of many unwarranted fears—can be a tricky thing. Often, folks, unsure of their footing, mistake them for leaps of faith. Some, uncertain of their destination, equate them to a cacophony of side streets connecting us to parallel thoroughfares. For me, they are much simpler, and less sinister, albeit very powerful. You see, it is in the old we find the new. The future comes to us from the past, but not in a straight line. William Duggan taught me that. We find our future in the bend of the road. Consider for a moment it is only from a bend in the road one can see both directions at the same time. I would venture to say it is in this same bend of the road where music slips the surly grasp of the familiar to find itself dancing to rhythmic tones. Herein, fears are abated, progress made, and achievement celebrated. It’s a bit subtle, but did you notice imagination is not required? We can already see both directions. What’s there to fear? All we have to do is make the right connections to create the shift. Said differently, the solution arrives with the problem, achievement walks hand in hand with the goal. Disruption, I’m afraid, is a necessary by-product because awareness, according to Robert Greenleaf (who coined the phrase, servant leadership), “is not a giver of solace — it’s just the opposite. It is a disturber and an awakener.” It prompts change as it brings us to our life’s work, finding Truth. And we must share our Truth in love. Why? Because it is within this truth we find our Way, that others may follow. Carl von Clausewitz describes this moment as coup d’oeil: “the rapid discovery of a truth which to the ordinary mind is either not visible at all or only becomes so after long examination and reflection.” In our quest to find Truth, we may also find our music. But only if we suspend our longing for it. It is in this suspension fears subside. Like love, music must be set free if it ever is to belong to us. As we find the courage to set it free, we soon discover others have found it, too. When that happens, humanity smiles because her melodious opus is more complete, eager to resound in all of her glory! Thank you, Sharon, for a passionate post that resonates with kindred spirits, near and far. Hugs.
Thank you, Dorothy, for your valuable comments. Appreciate oparticularly your point about having the courage to change. Certainly know that one well.
Much appreciate your full and delicious comment which deepens and broadens the topic. Enjoy especially the notion of being in a middle place, seeing what has gone before and envisaging what is to come… and my need for patience! Thank you, Jack.
Hi Sharon
Great post! I think so many things make us fear change – mainly I suspect that loss of control that comes with the chaos stage you go through when you let lose the old ways of being. It takes confidence in yourself and those about to let go of the past! But I do know that it is great to have a network of support – be that family, work colleagues and even the virtual network that twitter provides. Here’s to us going forward together to a new and better world of work and being.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by dorothydalton: GREAT post from @sharoneden “What about the music? ” All about our resistance to change ! Read http://bit.ly/d5kvxy…
Hi Wendy… Thanks so much for your comment…. certainly that chaos stge between the old and the new. Echo your superb sentimemts!