JimCarroll

“Optimism must always be reinforced against the tyranny of pessimism” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Well, that didn’t last long.

I refuse to give in.

I refuse to let negativity impact my thinking.

There is always opportunity.

There is always potential.

There is always the future.

The Daily Inspiration will continue.

Every workday.

With a mindset of optimism.

“Somehow, one way or the other, you will need to be ready to move on from this day!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Hey, is there anything going on anywhere today?

Obsessed with the news? Hitting the refresh button? Reading polls?

Remember how I said that uncertainty and volatility cause many people to defer the making of decisions? It turns out I’m not the only one. Yesterday, an article from Korn Ferry crossed my desk and got right into the specifics of what I keep talking about.

 

The headline?

The Leadership Election ‘Excuse’

US election uncertainty has been the reason many leaders have punted on big decisions. What happens after this week’s voting?

Look, one way or the other, there will be some certainty at some moment in time in the days to come with this uncertainty. You and I might be happy, or we might be crushed. I might be happy and you might be crushed. Or you might be happy and I might be desolate.

We don’t know where we’re going to be.

But somehow, some way, in some fashion, we’ll have to pick up our pieces and move on.

The Korn Ferry article does a really good job of putting things into perspective – I share it in its entirety below. Google’s Notebook summarized it thusly:

The article explores the impact of the US presidential election on business decision-making. It argues that many leaders have postponed significant decisions due to uncertainty about the election’s outcome and its policy implications. However, experts believe that leaders will soon need to move forward with their plans, regardless of the election results, as stakeholders are becoming impatient and missed opportunities are accumulating. While the election may bring some clarity, numerous other uncertainties remain, such as global economic challenges, climate change, and the development of artificial intelligence, that will continue to impact business decisions.

Somehow, we’ll get beyond today and tomorrow in due course.

Whatever happens, we need to move beyond this day.

In my case, regardless of what happens, I’ll be moving myself forward, not back.

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The Leadership Election Excuse
Korn Ferry, November 2024 [ link ]

It’s why tech firms have held back on some hiring. It’s why supply-chain leaders have waited to commit to new partners. And according to a survey by the Federal Reserve, the uncertainty around the US elections is why nearly one-third of financial decision-makers have postponed, scaled back, delayed, or canceled their firm’s investing plans.

But once the election is decided that excuse may no longer apply. Indeed, experts say leaders will soon be unable to cite the presidential elections as a reason to delay decision-making. It’s about time, they add. “The election has been a big distraction,” says JP Sniffen, practice leader for Korn Ferry’s Military Center of Expertise.

While stakeholders have been willing to accommodate delays thus far, their patience could wear thin. “If you just keep waiting for outcomes for other people’s decisions, you’ll never get on with your own agenda,” says Anthony Goodman, a senior client partner and head of Korn Ferry’s Board Effectiveness practice.

In some industries, the election’s outcome (or its general drift) will allow leaders to activate a plan they’ve been sitting on. For instance, some energy- or industrial-focused companies will have crucial data points for a decision about whether or not to maintain major investments in climate-change-related technologies—investments which had significant support from the current US administration, but may not in a future one. “For a lot of industries, there have been two strategies, and one will get the green light,” says Cheryl D’Cruz-Young, founding member of Korn Ferry’s Sustainability and ESG Center of Expertise.

For others, the election results will end a self-imposed investment freeze. Barry Toren, a senior client partner in Korn Ferry’s North American Financial Officer practice, says many of his clients have been sitting on cash. “The floodgates will open. Once the election is done, the spending will start,” he says.

To be sure, experts say there won’t be a rush to announce decisions the moment the polls close, or even in the first few days afterward. Indeed, some analysts are predicting that court battles over the results may stretch on for weeks. Besides, even if certainty around a US policy is very important, plenty of uncertainty will remain for leaders to contend with—stagnant major economies across the world, two major wars, the development of artificial intelligence, and climate change, to name a few. “That brew will still be out there for quite some time,” Goodman says.

To some degree, it’s been understandable that leaders have held back on major decisions pending the election results and their policy implications. “For some leaders, there’s a potentially big cost for moving quickly and being wrong,” says Korn Ferry vice chairman Nels Olson.

Still, leaders who have been waiting to make major decisions may have missed out on multiple opportunities. Over the past year, the US economy’s bout of major inflation ended, and the economy grew steadily. Indeed, in the Federal Reserve survey, the leaders who reported delaying investments admitted that their firms will have lower revenue and employment growth in 2024 than firms whose plans aren’t impacted by the election.

The decision-making delays have also made reaching targets potentially more difficult for some organizations. Even as higher-level managers hesitated, lower-level managers and individual contributors had keep the business moving, often without support. “A lot of managers want to know how they are going to hit their goals,” Sniffen says.

Besides executing their major post-election capital and strategic decisions, many leaders should come up with plans to bring in more skilled talent and convince more individual contributors to become managers. Neither of those problems, which can be found in any industry these days, are likely to be solved by a new US president.

“The best decisions you will ever make are the ones that give you some of the best moments of your life!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

34 years ago today, I began a new career, working at home, leaving the corporate world to pursue my passions and interests! I’ve never looked back – and in fact, have been blessed to experience such absolute joy in the home office every morning. My wife quit her job in the corporate sector some 3 years later and has been with me in the home office since then.

I’m sharing a post I wrote about this some years back since it puts into perspective both my realism and the decision process that led me here.

Today’s inspiration? The point should be obvious – since it shares a photo of a typical moment in the home office when my sons would visit me throughout the day! Among the best decisions I have ever made is deciding to build my own business, work from home, and experience the absolute joy of having my sons and wife around me through the entirety of my work day!

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It’s a crazy story. A full-fledged CPA (Canadian Chartered Accountant), I decided to leave what was then a predecessor firm of KPMG to build a career as – wait for it! – an e-mail and online information resource consultant. I had a great starting contract with a major Canadian company, but after that, had no idea how things would unfold.

I was only able to take on this risk because my wife – we were newly married – had a stable job as the Tax Manager / Controller for a massive global food company. Listening to me each morning during our morning commute on the train, I think she sensed that I might forever be happier working in a world in which my imagination for the future was not being compressed by the inertia of an organization.

The fact is, I knew something big was happening in the online world, and I wanted to be a part of it! I would soon go on to write my first book about the online with another fellow – and within but 6 years, we would pump out 34 books in all, becoming the Lennon and McCartney of the Canadian Internet scene.

Beyond that, a career path began to unfold that truly became unimaginable.  The real magic came from a life lived working at home with my wife and the joy of starting a family – and then watching my sons grow through every day from my home office. I think is the most wonderful career success of all – I am blessed beyond belief.

Imagine the joy that comes with the arrival of your first son, and then getting to experience this moment of joy through every working day, throughout the day!

Or starting your day with storytime as soon as they wake up? This went on as a routine for at least two years!

Imagine being on deadline for something, and seeing this little fellow come barging into the office to interrupt your thoughts!

Imagine walking in – and finding Teddy being sacrificed to the altar of technology on the fax machine!

The voyage has not been a solo one. In just over four years – after returning to work for six months after the birth of our first son and missing him terribly – my wife left her job to start working with me in the home office. (I needed the support and assistance, and rather than getting on outside the office, we decided to go all in!) She’s been with me ever since, occupying her bit of space over on the other side of the room. She still is not in a cooperative mood when I decide that it might be a good time for some Led Zeppelin at 715am though!

The boys soon discovered that Daddy had some fascinating technology at his desk, and always did their best to commandeer it! Many of my days would see this type of scene as a computer game took over the office agenda!

For years, my efforts to try to get something done would fail – with my attention being diverted by a different form of ‘office politics.’ Struggling through trying to pay attention to a conference call? I’d get this bit of joyful energy to wander into the room to say goodbye before heading off to school:

Over time, as my career began to take off, I lived a life that had TV crew after TV crew come to my home office to film some bit of insight about the future. For a few years, my sons would wake up in the morning to find a TV crew out in the hallway, setting up for some sort of news shoot.

That’s why I find all the gnashing of teeth about the future of the workplace so interesting. Quite clearly, with COVID-19, much of the workforce has discovered the joy and beauty of what can come with a home office environment. Yes, many people do miss the interaction with their business counterparts.

But let’s face facts – I dare say many of them won’t want to go back to an office workspace any time soon. They’ve discovered the magic that has been a part of my life for the last 30 years.

Lessons learned? Check my post from 2003! 10 Rules for Working at Home!

10 Rules for Working at Home

With that in mind, it is clear that there is a seismic workplace attitude shift underway, and we will do our best to understand it!

 

“Disappointment is a necessary exercise designed to strengthen your resilience” – Futurist Jim Carroll

There is never any progress without disappointment along the way! You’ll never achieve anything if you never encounter a few hurdles in your path. As soon as you get your hopes up, you should always be in the right mindset to bounce back quickly in case those hopes are dashed!

Right about now, at the very moment I am writing this post, I should have been on this plane right about here.

I’m not.

Instead, I’m sitting on my deck at home, writing this post.

The backstory? I was set to keynote a major conference in the United Arab Emirates, and as things sometimes go, it was canceled at the very last minute. I mean, very last minute! That’s actually kind of ironic because one of the slides in my deck references the idea that ‘volatility is the new normal, uncertainty is our new reality, and resilience is our new agility.’ Without going into any details, and after a Zoom conversation with the client, I certainly understand this unique situation and the reasons for the fast turn of events.

Even so, I’m pretty disappointed that my role in the event is not going ahead, but I’ve also learned how to take these types of things in stride and roll with the flow. Like any speaker, there are some pretty significant cancellation classes at play so I’m whole. And they are talking about bringing me back in February for another event, so there is that.

But still. It’s a big disappointment. I love my time on stage, and I love the opportunity to share my insight on trends and tomorrow.

Instead, today, I’ll golf.

This is not the first time this has happened to me – over my speaking career, with about 2,000 events in my roster, I’ve probably had 10 or 15 short-term cancellations at the last minute. That’s a really small number – some have been critical last-minute events outside of the control of the client, while others have involved an illness or other circumstances. And then there was 9-11 and the pandemic. S*** happens.

In any type of career or executive role, we have to learn to roll with the punches. Doing that means getting into a mindset that doesn’t let our disappointment with circumstances outweigh the pluses. So what are the pluses here? First, working with my client, we jointly developed a wonderful, 300-foot wide slide deck that captured my thinking on trends in the context of their issues in a new and different way – a brief sample here. This certainly gives me a lot of ideas on what I can do with my slide decks going forward. That’s a plus!

Not only that but to focus on the issues the client was thinking about, I spent some time researching some fascinating new, critically important trends that will feed directly into another client engagement I just confirmed for later in the month. With that effort, I’ve developed a new appreciation for some key issues that organizations are thinking about. That’s a big plus – when you are someone who shares insight on trends, it’s always good to gain insight into other trends that people might be thinking about.

Plus, today I get to golf, in 20C temperatures. That’s a plus.

Through the years, I’ve learned a little bit more about how to manage my disappointment, building up my resilience and agility to deal with the next set of unforeseen circumstances. Because after all, volatility is the new normal, uncertainty is our new reality, and resilience is our new ability.

That’s the thing about disappointment – we can let it be negative, swirling around in our consciousness and setting us into a mood – or we can consciously decide to try to move on from it to focus on the positive things that came with the circumstance. In business and our personal lives, we are regularly going to find ourselves in situations that are less than optimal. We can bounce back, shape our mindset, and reinforce our optimistic attitude that will ensure our continued success and opportunity in the future. That’s how you move forward, not back.

All in all, while it’s a disappointing set of circumstances, overall it’s a win.

At least I continue telling myself so.

So while I’m not currently on a jet setting off for a wonderful little speaking adventure, I have worked hard through my disappointment to see the silver linings through the noise!

Fore!