“Chase the future you want instead of running away from the one you don’t.”
– James Rose, Senior Manager of Solution Architects, US Cellular
I’d never met James until Monday, and he said this as part of a panel discussion during the Technology Association of Iowa’s state-wide roadshow. Then, he said it again Tuesday. And, upon hearing it twice, I says to myself, “Self,” I says, “that right there is Daily Difference-worthy.”
There are two motivators; fear of loss and potential gain. Of the two, fear of loss has proven to be the stronger.
Example: Imagine I call you at 3 AM and tell you I just found a $20 bill, and I want you to have it so I am bringing it over. “Heston, have you lost yo’ danged mind?” you might shout into your phone. “It’s 3 AM. It’s just $20, for cryin’ out loud. Keep it, and let me go back to sleep!” The potential gain of $20 isn’t worth disturbing your slumber.
Now, flip it.
Imagine there’s a $20 bill on the table next to your bed as you lie sleeping at 3 AM. Someone creeps through your window and gingerly picks up your $20 bill. As they turn to go back out the window, you’re awakened. Springing from bed to protect the loss of what’s rightfully yours, you fight like hell for that same $20. The fear of loss, it would seem, is worth disturbing your slumber and then some!
So, as Difference Makers, as leaders, do we want to squeeze the $20 bills we already have, or do we want to chase the future we want, where there might be $50’s and “hunnerts” and maybe more.
James Rose isn’t a French novelist like Andre Gide, and Gide couldn’t have imagined 5G, work-from-anywhere knowledge-based jobs. But Gide and Rose are on the same page (as much as they can be considering Gide died about 45 years before Rose was born…but I digress…) 78 years ago, Gide’s take on the topic was this: “One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”
Are we running away from something, or running to something? Are we being lead by fear, or by the image of the future we want, the desire to discover new lands? As Difference Makers, which side of this dilemma feels best to us?
More on this decision process tomorrow…
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