Apex Thinking: Words from Dr. Charles H. Polk

Leadership and Lima Beans

Frustration can stifle even the most energetic, excited, and visionary people on your team, as you likely know if you are leading today on your job. It's natural for talented individuals to feel restless, especially those who have higher career aspirations, if they believe that they work and get nowhere.

My daughter once did an experiment at school in which she took several lima beans and put them into a small glass jar, along with a moist paper towel. After a few days, with added light - and love - the formerly dry and apparently lifeless things started growing, attempting to root themselves within the glass. At that point, they were ready to be moved into the garden, after which the process, really, would start over again—the "old" beans would grow further, and newcomers may or may not be in a position to grow depending on them and their environment. Whether it's beans or your company, one entity must move on to make way for the next for this process to take place.

Those people on your staff who are ready for something else could very well be sprouting those roots, attempting to anchor and yet getting nowhere. While you can't always restructure or promote when you feel the time is right, you can shed some of that same light and care on those that you intend to transplant, and make sure they know their role in the overall vision of your company. Today, as spring moves into full swing, look at your resources—today may be the day you need to start to get some planting dirt on your hands.

Resources

It may seem presumptuous or redundant to tell you this, but everywhere we look we can see the effects of the worst economic downturn of our generation. Pundits constantly compare our times to the Great Depression. This upheaval is not limited to our country; it leaves no nation unscathed. Worldwide, emergent leaders are initiating change across social and political systems. These leaders are crafting a new world; it is taking shape before our eyes. Now more than ever before, we need proven leaders and proven leadership to help us navigate our changing society.
 
It would be wonderfully satisfying to be able to give you an easy solution for managing change. While reading and practicing the knowledge in Apex Thinking may give some direction, no one person has all the answers to the challenging issues of our times. Those of us who understand leadership have a responsibility to relate that knowledge and experience to others.  By expressing our understanding of the complexities of human nature, we can look for solutions with others who are seeking to make a difference. It is our job to reflect, respond, analyze, synthesize, write, and report information that will help guide others through the metamorphosis our culture is experiencing.
 
At the heart of this transformation are leaders who are making a difference. Though leaders as well as followers need to be concerned about having a positive influence in our world, leaders provide an example to emulate. Leaders need to be able to communicate hope and rational optimism so that people will have a clear vision of where the current changes in our social and political systems will take us. This is a time of opportunity when leaders can promote solutions that work: whether they are renewing old ideas or generating new alternatives, effective leaders will guide our course through this new world.