Went for a good run today and managed to finished an excellent interview with John Maxwell by Shane Parrish on The Knowledge Project. (Link to podcast here.)
John is a leadership expert; he developed the 5 levels of leadership framework and is a best selling author. You should check out his work here.
There are many gems in the conversation which warrants a listen to the entire episode. One of the gems though which really spoke to me, especially against the backdrop of the current crisis which threw a lot of plans into disarray, was his comment on being growth oriented and not goal oriented.
Most driven individuals have the tendency to plan and set goals against a timeline, within a certain margin of error. The interesting thing about the current crisis is that the world changed so drastically in such a short time that I’ll bet for most of you out there, your goals are not entirely relevant anymore. For me, this is true and truly frustrating.
Growth on the other hand is enduring; having a growth mindset implies a certain level of pliability and adaptability. To that, I was reminded of the quote that was attributed to Darwin (probably a mis-attribute but makes sense nonetheless): “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
It’s a good reminder to go back to basics. For me, that means going back to the why’s of my career thus far and my continued passion in technology, entrepreneurship and venture.
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