#A DUMPSTER FIRE PROFESSIONAL#

In other words, your people will show up in exceptional ways during exceptional times. The challenge for many will be to sustain that momentum to discover new ways to thrive in the long term.” Successes like these, forged in a crisis, are a testament to our resilience and ingenuity.īut as Deloitte recently warned,“…people and organizations are capable of tremendous growth under the pressure of a crisis. Whether the last year brought long-standing challenges to the surface or created new ones, have you taken notes? Where do your people, especially your leaders, need the most help? Repeatable success demands repeatable skillsĭespite the challenges of 2020, many of us found success in unexpected places: a surprisingly adaptable workflow or previously unimaginable innovations, big and small. How well have your people navigated the volatility, uncertainty, chaos, and ambiguity of the last 12 months? Suppose your company considers itself agile and change ready. How have your continuity of operations plans fared? Were you prepared to meet demands for a more diverse and inclusive workplace? Maybe your organization hires sharp, strategic thinkers to anticipate future trends. How well have you collaborated virtually? Perhaps your company has a highly collaborative culture. We made mistakes, but we took notes-lots of them-and will bring many of those insights into the classroom. We became a quick study on virtual learning and successfully taught hundreds of leaders in virtual programs last year. Even in areas we considered ourselves strong, we were tested in new ways.Īs an in-person learning firm, Leadership & Co.’s agility was put to the test when COVID-19 arrived. And my boss’ advice still rings true: Are we taking notes? Learning from hardship and dysfunctionįor most organizations, 2020 brought weaknesses into sharp relief. 2020 was filled with profound personal hardship for most of us-loss of loved ones, social isolation, reckoning with inequity and inequality.Īnd yet, our innate resilience prompts us to look for lessons to learn. Unfortunately, a broken world often breaks us, too. A poorly-run project, an ineffective strategy, or a toxic culture provide opportunities to not just see what bad looks like, but to viscerally experience it. That’s because we don’t just notice when things are broken-we feel the brokenness.

If you want to understand economics, study the biggest calamity to hit the U.S. “If you want to understand geology, study earthquakes. Its greatest teachers are crisis, catastrophe, and calamity. Put another way, life’s greatest lessons lie in our faults, failures, and flubs. Federal Reserve put it, “If you want to understand geology, study earthquakes. As Ben Bernanke, the former Chair of the U.S.

#A DUMPSTER FIRE PROFESSIONAL#

Much like driving a beater teaches you more about cars than driving a brand new one, or living in an old house gets you more skilled at home repairs than living in a new build, so it goes with professional experiences. As frustrating and dispiriting as that project was, I left it armed with first-hand experience about why projects need rigor and structure, why leaders should be inclusive and collaborative, and why workplace culture matters. But experience has proven her words wise. I wasn't interested in documenting a parade of errors I wanted to learn best practices. To a junior consultant, that was bizarre advice. After a particularly inept decision by the project manager, my boss shared a piece of memorable advice: You learn more by working on bad projects than good ones, so take notes. Early in my consulting career, I was assigned to a deeply dysfunctional project.

A dumpster fire