Over the last few months, I have been deciding on the next stop of my transitioning career. When you’re in your fifties and haven’t filled out an application in many, many years, it’s not a search for a job position. It’s a search for a place where you can create positive business outcomes based on your experiences. When you’re in your fifties, it’s not your college transcripts that defines you. The transcripts of my past are a collection of experiences that most people do not have (and I’m sure some are grateful for that.)
From a humble beginning, I realized early on, “It’s not one’s work that defines them, it’s one’s enthusiasm for the work they do that defines them. As l talk with organizations in need of transition or organizations in constant movement toward a better tomorrow, the first thing I listen for is their enthusiasm. All leaders I talk with say they expect a prosperous future, and some understand they must transition to get there, and that, in some cases, it will take a complete reinvention.
Transformation can only begin when the leaders are enthusiastic about the outcome they envision from the transition, even if the outcome is a complete reinvention, and they must be able to visualize that possibility. Sadly most don’t or can’t, and we all know the names of company’s who sealed their fate through denial.
So I thought I would share my unscientific research in understanding the roles Enthusiasm, Leadership, and Management play in transitioning a company’s future. Leaders I have recently spoken with all believe in that prosperous future. However, their enthusiasm towards this vision varies. Some had no enthusiasm, which more than likely means they won’t transition their company; they will retire from it. That sounds cynical, however it’s a strategy of some leaders who face the need for reinvention or tough transition. They instead gamble against time.
My friends, it doesn’t matter how enthusiastic a leader is if he outsources the path to the future through a management process, rather than a leadership process. Leaders are enthusiastically driven by their vision. Managers are the facilitators of the leader’s enthusiasm. All leaders need good managers. When leaders are enthusiastic about the path toward their vision, some of what they see is more than likely blurred to those who help manage the team down the path toward it. Of course, everyone should have a clear image of where their companies going. I’m not talking about a plaque on the wall spelling out a company’s vision. The vision I am talking about is one the leader must paint as they go, and their enthusiasm is their paint. Leaders feed information as they find it; they find it because they look for it. Most managers only deal with the information they have or have been fed. Managers take the steps, Leaders build the stair case.
Managers need to know everything, and leaders know it’s impossible to know everything when you’re leading a transition or a reinvention. Those who understand transformation, know transformation is a process, not a defined road map with all the rest stops and fueling stations clearly marked. Transformation happens when a group of determined individuals collaborates continuously.
Transformation can only begin when leaders are enthusiastic about the outcome they envision as a result. It’s the leaders' enthusiasm toward continuously seeking a better way which creates great companies. Good managers can improve current circumstances. However, it takes leadership to reinvent tomorrow’s current circumstances. Managers will need too much information and will normally not have the vision to see what others don’t. However, if they do, they just became a leader. The trick is recognizing the manager who believes they can implement someone else’s vision. Visions can’t be commandeered and duplicated they must be created. A leader’s vision is a constantly changing landscape which is painted with enthusiasm, imagination and collaboration. Leaders understand that what you think you know will always change. Transformation is not about what you know and where you go. Transformation is what you know and what you learn as you go.
“Companies are only sustainable when they can merge the future with the present and do it continuously.” This is my passion and what drives my enthusiasm, which I am always eager to share.
R.J. Stasieczko
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