Toward or Away. Click to keep reading…

Toward or Away. Click to keep reading…

When an unpredictable marketplace emerges, it can be difficult to reproduce past success. If we choose what used to be, what used to work—sticking with just the familiar actions–we may find our goals out of reach. The outcomes those actions used to generate are no longer there. We need to confirm our goals, be they oriented around quality, velocity, employee retention, research, etc., and then re-evaluate our actions to be sure they will deliver.

I remember advice from my father, an engineer who spent a career in product and business unit management at Xerox: “There are plenty of times when it is best to run, but always be running toward a goal, instead of away from a problem.” And while the advice was delivered as I was trying to run away from an undergraduate major in mechanical engineering, I apply this maxim in my work now. What am I trying to run toward in my work? Good people, good projects, and well-run businesses. When the ground is shifting, those three groups all seem to be most ready for change and to find their footing first. I want them to think of me and my colleagues the same way. To do so, I remind myself to lift the veil of concern over whether it is a videoconference instead of on-site, or why the person I need to speak with has ghosted me, and instead confirm that my actions are leading me toward my goals.

The seemingly weekly new paradigm shifts of the Spring and Summer have slowed. However, in a year when the phrase, “the ground is shifting” seems not up to the task, it is important to be moving—or running—with actions that will lead us to our goals.

Though the true wisdom of his guidance had to simmer a while longer before I embraced it, after the discussion (and negotiations) with my father, I changed my major to business, a choice that is delivering dividends decades later.–Commentary provided by Greg Hébert, Lupton Associates’ Business Development

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