Change for the sake of change? VIM Executive Coaching has encountered many executive leaders who have made it their pattern.
The analogy we sometimes like to imagine is a so-so baseball pitcher who is content to bounce around from team to team, always asking his agent for a different “climate,” a different venue or coaching staff. In truth, the old teams might be happy to unload him.
His agent may even say: “Why don’t you try working on your curve instead?”
The player in my analogy may have a passable career, perhaps four or five years of modest wins and losses, but never quite reaches his potential.
We have known executives in the high tech, pharmaceutical and veterinary equipment industries who had wonderful potential, but only “satisfactory” careers. They frequently changed organizations seemingly looking to “re-capture their curve” rather than working on their leadership skills and training.
Mediocrity is a Sad Statistic
There is no “Mediocrity Index” in baseball or in corporate life. We usually say, “He had a future, but instead of putting in the work, he hung around baseball for a few years (or for a cup of coffee) and left,” or “She had so much potential in our industry, but whenever it was suggested she needed more training or to gain people skills, she got insulted and left for another company.”
Those who frequently change for the sake of change are generally not successful as leaders. They are content to stumble in mediocrity. Mediocre executives do not become great leaders. They instead become frustrated and languish in lackluster careers, always blaming circumstances rather than turning an inward lens.
There is indeed, a “Mediocrity Index.” It is a subtle statistic, that may be measured in failed leadership, objectives and results. It is a sad statistic, really, of under-performance, under-achievement and placing all of the blame outward rather than inward.
Mindfulness, on the other hand, is the opposite of mediocrity. Mindfulness forces the frequently changing executive to sit and focus. To take the journey inward to explore some basic truths. It is not always easy “to be,” rather than always clamoring to be somewhere else. Mindfulness can be taught.
Mindfulness demands that we tear down walls, excuses, patterns and counter-productive behaviors. It is an valuable and life changing journey.
I May Not Like What I Find
Those who frequently change positions, often do so because they are afraid of what they might find if they were to instead focus on what they are not bringing to the situation – and why. They may not like their inauthentic nature, their lack of leadership on personnel issues, their intractability in mastering certain skills, their lack of compassion as to important workplace problems. However, they also see how far positive changes can take them.
Those who frequently change for the sake of change also may suffer from a lack of responsiveness in situations. Rather, they will sharply react to criticism or guidance. They are capricious leaders, eager to blame but unwilling to accept.
The very best of the executive leaders understands that for the most part frequently changing jobs will not necessarily result in any workplace improvements. They do understand that they may also be at fault and that improvement must often come from within.
We are not saying that executive leaders should never change. Indeed, change may be necessary for career growth. However, change must come organically. An authentic and mindful executive may be approached by another organization who sees her abilities and has heard about her skills, just as a scout may note the improvement of a pitcher who worked hard in the off-season and developed a mean curve.
The expression that “Change is Good,” is a misnomer. Change is good only in situations where change is logical. For the executive wanting to change because he feels like it (or another frivolous reason) will not find that change is good.
We can all go through life “changing uniforms” but it won’t make us better players or executives. It is not a mindful strategy, or an authentic strategy, and won’t do a thing to improve the curve.