17th March 2010
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
R. Buckminster Fuller
The existing reality is change! Everything around us is changing and we cannot stop the same whether we like it or not. As the management Guru Peter Drucker says, the pace of change is catching up. We have to change or perish. The human tendency is to resist change and wish that everything will be okay. But the reality is that what is okay today will not be okay tomorrow. Look at the technology we are using today and just imagine what will be our life minus these technologies! But all of us resisted the introduction of any new technology until we got used to it.
The so called best will become ordinary over a period of time. Next time you watch cricket match notice the speed of the fastest bowler. It will be around 150 kilometers per hour. Some twenty years ago it would was around 140 kilometers per hour? But we accepted the same as the best as of that day.
You may not accept that some one else will be better than you in your field. Rate yourself as to how you will be assessed ten years from now in your career. Where will you be in comparison with your competitor? Do you have a skill which will stand the test of time for the next five years? How vulnerable are you to world class competition?
I read somewhere that the motto of Sony is "We will make our product obsolete before our customers do so." Just think how powerful is the message they want to convey to their employees and customers! It calls for an extraordinary self confidence to say something like that.
Over this week end ponder over your position in your career and think how competitive are you and what is going to be your strategy and effort level to maintain your position?
N C Sridharan
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