As VIM Executive Coaching is Denver-based, we’re thrilled to be hosting the baseball All-Star Game. It was not originally supposed to happen that way, as Atlanta was to be the host city.
As executive business coaches, we don’t delve into the worlds of sports or politics. All we know is that with one, bold decision, Major League Baseball changed a huge sports event (obviously to take place in mid-season), and with it, major corporations and their executive leadership teams had to quickly mobilize and adapt to overnight change. Included in these changes were the staffs of city governments and city services, transportation, the Denver hospitality and foodservice industries, media and even healthcare facilities.
Meanwhile on Television
The other evening, we heard some business leaders angrily commenting as to how, through political motivation, their beloved city of Atlanta was still suffering from the decision to move, and how it was to placate political correctness, “and all that.”
It got us to thinking not about baseball (though it’s a fun sport) or about politics (we’ve had more than enough for now, thank you) but about change and how executive leaders manage change. That does topic does go to the core of VIM Executive Coaching and how we work with clients.
There is a whole field of management study devoted to the topic of “change,” and how organizations deal with rather sudden change. If baseball or even sports hold little interest for you, then think of mergers, acquisitions, new manufacturing equipment or software or any major change affected your organization. Broadly speaking, and we realize the enormity of this brushstroke, there are organizations that are able effectively to adapt to change, and those that forever struggle with any change. Indeed, some organizations and their leaders often collapse under the enormity of change rather than adapt and over time, prosper.
Why such a disparity?
We believe it has a lot to do with mindfulness. In the moment, we have the choice to mindfully respond to a change or to react to it.
The Choice
What interested us was that the leaders who were troubled by the All-Star Game move were significant in their organizations and communities. They are still many months later, upset and reacting. While we can understand their passion, there remains an unwillingness to move on.
We have seen this same type of reaction in countless scenarios in virtually any type of organization you can imagine. It is not about “baseball” or ultimately, a rather small footnote in MLB history, but in a refusal to be accepting and authentic.
There are those who simply cannot change or who react time and again to the reality of the situation, rather than to respond to what is asked of them and what they need to ask of their employees.
Mindfulness, being present in the moment – every moment, is one of the greatest attributes an executive leader can possess. The ability to respond with intention, with being present and authentic is more than “a gift,” rather an important skill every leader should possess.
If we angrily or stubbornly keep reacting to a set of circumstances rather than respond in a mindful manner as to how to deal with that change and move on, then the situation will never resolve.
The winners are not those who are necessarily more brilliant or talented or even “wealthy,” but those who have the ability to respond, to move on, to be authentic and most of all, to be mindful.