A Fear Worth Hoping For

I live in a truly fascinating context. I'm surrounded by leaders. Most of them are a of a 'certain age', and by that I mean usually baby boomers. But they are facing tension-paradoxes themselves. They want to be modern in a postmodern world (or vice versa). They want to be relevant while remaining true to their roots. They want to be hip, fresh, cool, and all sorts of other terms best associated with world-famous cola. But I wonder if they recognise how much courage it takes to get there.

When I propose an idea, the reluctance I get is not from fear of inertia or backlash. No rather there's a real drive to change, to improve, to progress. And that's widely shared. Any reluctance simply comes from some unquestioned assumptions. For example we're changing the look of our quarterly publication. It won't look like a newsletter anymore -- it's a cross between a magazine and an annual report. But there's a degree of fear that goes with that because it's not as definable. My assertion is that we get to play Adam, and define such an animal the way we want to. It's defined by its purpose first, and how it looks second. And that goes for every part of the world.

I think our generation has benefited from getting used to computers at an early age. We are familiar with making sweeping changes on the fly, and if they don't work, there's always an undo button. Perhaps this is going to be the direction that culture moves quickly, in a wild cacophony of ideas. And when the next generation ascends to leadership, maybe they'll get me questioning a whole bunch of my own assumptions. That's a fear worth hoping for!