I spoke with a senior strategist who works with multi-billion dollar corporations in the UK, and I asked him what the biggest challenge facing organizations is today. Without hesitation, he said: "Courage. Courage and curiosity."
He explained it like this: Once you get to the top as CEO of a large organization, you spend more time thinking about how you can preserve the status quo (i.e., you on top) than how to change and break and build things.
He offered a delightfully dark analogy: "Being a CEO is a bit like being a minister in the court of King Henry VIII. Ultimately, you are going to get your head chopped off because that's how all ministers end up. You always think you're going to be the one that won't, but you will."
So the question becomes: What's your strategy? Do you spend all your time avoiding being beheaded, knowing that ultimately you will get beheaded? Or do you try to make as much difference as possible before you lose your head?
"Too many follow the former," he told me. "And ironically, the ones who spend their time trying to avoid being beheaded get beheaded quicker." If your performance drops a bit financially but the board doesn't know where you're headed or what the upside is, they'll replace you quickly. But if your performance drops a bit because you've got a long-term vision they believe in, they'll stick with you.
Playing it safe has never been something I've done, for better or worse - at least when it comes to my career. There are plenty of physical adventures I refuse to have, to my husband's disappointment. (Camping near bears? Hard pass. Moving countries and starting a consulting practice in a downturn? Sure, why not?)
Mary Oliver says:
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
How, how, how on earth, can the answer ever be: “stay curled up in a ball”??
The strategist gave me another way to think about this: "If your organization's history were a book, what would be the title of your chapter as CEO? Is it 'We Didn't Mess Up'? Or 'Our Profit Margins Were the Greatest in the Industry'? Or is it something bigger?
He said it's astonishing and disappointing how many CEOs have no idea what their chapter title is. Their vision is essentially: "I got the job. Now I'm going to hold on to it for as long as I can. Don't mess up."
This is as true for nonprofit leaders as corporate CEOs. Maybe more so, because you started with a mission bigger than profit margins.
So:
Where are you playing it safe?
What is your strategy beyond mere survival of your own organization?
Do you have a vision for your legacy?
When it’s most tempting to play it safe is also when your courage and curiosity are needed the most.
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