“The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become”
Charles du Bois

I have always loved this quote — and never does it mean more to me than it does this week. It seems, as usual, my clients are giving me a gift — making me look at my own mental state so that I can help them.

It has been a long, hard 18 months. Seems like so many of us are craving safety, security, the restoration of what we had in the past. But perhaps this is getting in the way of us being willing to take the risks to become what we need to be for the future…

One of my new clients is a large foundation that has done ground-breaking work for the first 10 years of it’s life. However, the area of need it is addressing has changed and other agencies now offer the same programs. In order to continue to be a leader, the foundation needs to perhaps give up the established programs (and their guaranteed funding) and help the world press forward into new service areas…

Another potential new client in a founding CEO. He has taken his company through the first 5 years of its life, taking a very hands on role in establishing and implementing technology direction, However, he has now hired in very experienced VP’s — and perhaps he now needs to define a more strategic, less hands on role for himself…

And finally, a personal friend is finding less and less joy in the job he has done for the last 25 years. However, he is good at it and doesn’t have to work very hard and makes good money. But every day it takes a little more effort to get up and go to work…and every day he finds more reason to take long lunches. What he really wants to do is consult…but is it really the time in his life (and the economy) to take that kind of risk?

It can be difficult to put your organization, and yourself, through more stress and uncertainty and challenge when you have all just endured the hard times of the last 2 years. It can be tempting to believe that all we have to do is wait until the economy improves and then we can all go back to the happy days from before. But maybe not. Maybe the old days are gone and our best chance to shine, to succeed, is to risk what we were…for what we can become.