If there is one thing that the last few years have taught us, is that uncertainty is here to stay. To survive and indeed thrive in the world going forward it is imperative to move from striving to control to being as adaptable as we can. In control, we aim for efficiency, striving for order and reducing complexity, versus learning to navigate the fast-changing world and embracing uncertainty. Combine uncertainty with the exponential nature of technology and it becomes abundantly clear that learning will be lifelong and has to be part of everything we do. Sounds daunting. But actually, there are amazing resources at our disposal that we can dip into at cost points that are dropping all the time. Even the formal world of ivy-league universities has become accessible to anyone with time and inclination to dip into short and impactful learning journeys.
There are so many online options, and recently I discovered/embraced the world of podcasts. An incredible treasure trove of very talented interviewers, thought leaders in their own right, interviewing people from all spheres of life – leaders at the top of their game! And who better to learn from. The downside is that my friends, family and colleagues are now getting annoyed at me continuously quoting stories from these interviews and the theoretical and practical frameworks. Not to mention of course the many motivational stories that are brought to life. Many of these topics are delivered by authors with published books which give depth to the topic if you want to do the deep dive.
And so, I come to one that I have recently listened to by Brené Brown, interviewing Simon Sinek. (Thanks to Brené Brown for allowing attribution, the link to the podcast is below.) Aligned to this notion of an uncertain world, Brené opens the discussion with a quote from Jim Collins, “We’re living history, surprise after surprise, after surprise. And just when we think we’ve had all the big surprises for a while, along comes another one. If the first two decades of the 21st century have taught us anything, it’s that uncertainty is chronic, instability is permanent, disruption is common, and we can neither predict nor govern events.” So relevant as the ‘new normal’ buzz words seem to be on everyone’s lips post-Covid!
Inspired by Simon Sinek’s earlier work, our company recently embarked on our own journey of finding our WHY which I highly recommend. Our WHY, and indeed my WHY as co-founder, is “We create trust-based communities that unlock potential and inspire growth.” In the podcast, Simon and Brené at a point discuss and challenge the notion of growth in most companies’ purpose statements. What is the higher cause, contribution or impact of this growth? This links into Simon’s new book, “The Infinite Game”, which I have not yet read but it’s now on order, and I’ve no doubt I’ll be annoying my colleagues further with more exploration! If we are to unlock potential in our team, colleagues and clients, we will have to collaborate, explore and learn together. Growth in this context is expanding our knowledge, our skill-sets, our understanding of business needs, and how we can innovate solutions to address these needs.
At Adept we have redefined one of our key strategic pillars, moving from the efficiency mindset to one of learning. Underpinned by our values, in particular Humility, Sustainability and Teamwork, we recognise the importance of embracing our own learning journey with our aspiration to be an Elite team. We recognise learning as a core element of our consultant’s short term goal set (we follow OKR methodology) and longer-term career paths. We’re also building capability in how we find our talented people and deliver our company value to our clients through “learning” channels.
Our vision is “To shape insanely great teams connecting our world of work”. I’m so looking forward to unpacking that as a just cause and inculcating our learning journey.
Episode Attribution
Brown, B. (Host). (2021, January 18). Brené with Simon Sinek on Developing an Infinite Mindset. [Audio podcast episode]. In Dare to Lead with Brené Brown. Parcast Network. https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-simon-sinek-on-developing-an-infinite-mindset/
