Socrates said that the secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new. This nugget of wisdom is right up in my grill this week.
A few weeks back I made the difficult decision to move away from my current job and on to something new. I found myself in a mismatch, the strategy of the company had shifted and the role that I was in no longer matched my strengths. It's not a bad thing, it's nobody's fault and I have no regrets. The decision now is what next, because it isn't completely clear what that new thing is.
All of that said, one thing that is clear to me is that the tools that I wish that I had in my last three roles do not exist. And I have this nagging desire to build them. As background, I have spent the last couple of decades as an operations manager working in a highly regulated setting. I love start ups and scale ups and when this happens there are always special problems that need special solutions.
When it comes to starting and scaling, these types of operations have yet to see the framework that is ideally suited for this environment. I have been exposed to operation management tools, productivity tools, leadership development tools, and LEAN tools, but they are all disconnected. I have literally spent multiple years patching together bits and pieces but it has never been ideal. So in my time off I plan to put these parts together in a way that makes sense, at least to me.
So over the next four or six weeks "I'll be in the workshop", so to speak. I am going to steal a play from Pete Carrol and organize the wins, lessons learned and catastrophic failures into an approach (he calls this his philosophy).
- Pete Carrol
We'll see where this goes. I plan to post some of the relevant stuff on the blog here in between sailing, hiking and photography updates. Join the newsletter or leave a comment if this is your jam. More to come.
