Is there something in your life – a situation, a relationship, a project – that you think needs a tune up? What are you doing about it?
In her bestselling book, How we Lead Matters, Marilyn Carlson Nelson recounts a childhood story. She recalled becoming frustrated with her experience at Sunday school given the chaos and shenanigans from her fellow students that ensued each week. One week when her parents picked her up, she defiantly announced she would not be returning to Sunday school and that instead she would accompany her parents to church services. To her surprise, her father became angry and said that if she was unhappy with the behavior of her class then she should “change it!” The next thing she knew, her mother had scheduled a meeting between Marilyn and the head of the school. After nervously presenting her ideas, the head of the school praised Marilyn and together they “fixed” Sunday school. She learned that when something needs to change, rather than look to others to get the job done, it was up to her to do something about it.
According to Creative Think’s Roger von Oech, we must take action to drive transformation. Perhaps we must come up with an idea… add something to it… take something away… but do something that generates change. By coming up with different approaches to address a challenge, by experimenting with new ways of doing things, we might be able to create something that others want. It is up to us to take the initiative.
Happy Networking!