Every idea has it’s time. To recruiters you are an idea until signed on. Your promotion remains nothing but an idea until you get it. So in a sense your next career move is an idea until expressed and all ideas have their time.
Early in my career I was talked out of accepting high office in a professional association because my mentor deemed me to be ‘getting ahead of myself’. The idea of me in this role was too much of a stretch for my mentor ( who made the right call as it turned out).
The world of innovation is littered with the road kill of those on the bleeding edge. Many see the wisdom in timing their I.T. Upgrades when all the bugs of the first release software have been patched, or even skipping a whole version of a new operating system like Vista preferring to wait for the stable and proven upgrade.
The risks of course are being left behind, or perhaps worse thinking up a brilliant idea that is out of date because the world has moved on.
I had this experience this morning on my red eye Qantas flight from Sydney to Melbourne (this is being typed on my iPhone in cab to Cbd).
I thought of a comedy sketch where the cast of the old TV show Dallas crewed the plane. I was prompted by noting that one of the staff put me in mind of a character from Dallas – not due to her behaviour which was impreccably professional, simply a name that created a link in my mind. It brought to mind a drunken stewardess – the Sue Ellen Ewing character of Linda Grey- staggering down the aisle spilling drinks on people and helping herself to booze too. JR and Bobby flying plane. Cliff Barne would be thrown off the Flight for making a scene.
Whether there was any humor in there might be debatable but what is clear is that the idea is about 25 years too late. Rats!!
That’s the point, how many careers are influenced by these timing issues? The other point is my experience this morning was a classic example of the ” combining and adding” step of my Beyond Personal Mastery(r) model of creativity. To find out more check out beyond personal mastery(r)
Well the taxi is nearing middle of Melbourne so signing off Jim
