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Reflection and Renewal
By Jim Clemmer
"Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and
worlds within you,
opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought."
Henry David Thoreau, Walden
During the 18th century, two explorers set out with small flights of
ships to find the fabled Northwest Passage that cuts through the Arctic
Circle across the top of North America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans. It was widely agreed that the first to discover this elusive passage
to China and India would find fame and fortune. Captain John Smith was
bold and impatient. He believed that speed was critical to winning the
race against the competition led by Captain Henry Jones.
Captain Smith and his crew made record time through the ice-filled waters.
They rarely consulted their charts and maps. They took only quick sextant
sightings to plot their position. They had no time or patience for such
nice-to-do activities, since they were too busy sailing their ships.
Meanwhile, Captain Jones and his crew kept a brisk pace, but took regular
time out to check their progress against what little information was available
in these vast, uncharted waters. When they encountered natives, they befriended
them and spend days learning how to communicate and then probing for their
understanding of this frozen land and sea. They also studied the sea currents
and charted wind directions. The captain and his officers met frequently
to pool their information, debate what it all meant, and decide what direction
they should take.
Had Captain Smith seen this, he would have laughed heartily. He was hundreds
of miles ahead and making great time. But there was one small problem
— he was heading into a deadly trap. He had ventured far down a
sea-lane that looked like an open passage. Had Captain Jones known where
Smith and his crew were, he could have told them that it was a dead end,
the sea was about to freeze over there, and they were in the most desolate,
God-forsaken place in the Arctic. Jones and his ship sailed steadily onward.
As the seas froze, they wintered over in a well-protected area that had
a good food supply. The next year they found the Pacific Ocean –
and their fame and fortune. The speedy Captain Smith and his crew were
never heard from again. Decades later their frozen bodies and smashed
ships were discovered by other explorers mapping the region.
This fictional story illustrates a major problem we encounter again and
again in our work with individuals, teams, and organizations trying to
move to higher levels of performance. It's the problem of balancing the
speed and pace of daily life or operations with periodically stepping
back to make sure we're heading in the right direction. Going nowhere
in a hurry is a timeless leadership issue that's been with us for centuries.
As the pace of change quickens, it's easier to fall into this age-old
trap of confusing busyness with effectiveness.
Stepping back, taking time out, assessing our direction and effectiveness,
reflecting on our progress, is as rare as a proud man asking for directions.
Here are a variety of perspectives showing how central reflection is to
growing and developing:
"The most excellent and divine counsel, the best and most profitable
advertisement of all others, but the least practiced, is to study and
learn how to know ourselves. This is the foundation of wisdom and the
highway to whatever is good." — Pierre Charron, 16th century
French philosopher. Of Wisdom
"We forge gradually our greatest instrument for understanding
the world – introspection. We discover that humanity may resemble
us very considerably – that the best way of knowing the inwardness
of our neighbors is to know ourselves." — Walter Lippmann,
Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist and author
"Self-reflection is the school of wisdom." —
Baltasar Gracián, 17th century Spanish writer
"With self-knowledge we lay the groundwork for the inner life
without which we're slave to chance and circumstance." —
Vincent Barry, The Dog Ate My Homework: Personal Responsibility - How
We Avoid it and What to do About it
"Self-reflection is the first key to becoming a leader...leaders
must be self-directed and self-reflective, listening to their inner voice
and taking direction from their values and vision." —
Warren Bennis and Joan Goldsmith, Learning to Lead: A Workbook on Becoming
a Leader
Like the woodcutter who's too busy chopping to stop and sharpen his ax,
we get caught up in a frantic pace that may be taking us to the wrong
destination. In 1891, the Anglo-Irish playwright and author, Oscar Wilde,
wrote, "we live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated;
the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely
stupid." Over one hundred years later the tradition of industrious
stupidity continues. If we're not paying close attention, we can get caught
running flat out with our head down. We can race down dead end roads and
right over a cliff. We were too busy running to watch the signs or stop
and look at a map.
Excerpted from Jim's fourth bestseller, Growing
the Distance: Timeless Principles for Personal, Career, and Family
Success. View the book's unique format and content, Introduction
and Chapter One, and feedback showing why nearly 100,000 copies
are now in print at www.growingthedistance.com.
Jim's new companion book to Growing the Distance is The
Leader's Digest: Timeless Principles for Team and Organization Success.
Jim Clemmer is an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, workshop/retreat
leader, and management team developer on leadership, change, customer
focus, culture, teams, and personal growth. His web site is www.clemmer.net.
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