#08: Mastering Adaptability
20 years into the 21st century and it has become almost platitudinal to observe that what got us here in the past will not get us where we need to go in the future.
By now, we all know that we are living through an age of unprecedented rates of change. We are all well versed in narratives about landscape shifts, industry disruptions, strategy redundancies. However, familiarity with the challenge does not necessarily equal a solution.
In this episode, adaptability expert Jim Lawless joins us for a fascinating conversation about what do we, as individuals need to navigate these waters. In this slot, Jim shares his views on the skills that leaders especially need to develop to keep their organisations successful in the 21st century, and why we need to let go of industrial-era thinking before we can access sustainable adaptability.
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Jim Lawless
An honorable member of the Forbes Coaches Council, Jim Lawless is the CEO of Symmetry International – a management consultancy working globally across all sectors on the acceleration of transformation within organisations and teams, where he acts as an elite team coach at board level and has advised, designed and implemented successful change programs for many senior leadership teams.
Jim has been elected a fellow of the UK’s Royal Society for the Arts in recognition of his outstanding business writing on culture and change. He is also the author of the international bestseller ‘Taming Tigers’ – an acclaimed book where Jim presents, and tests himself, the “rapid adaptation framework” for which the principles have changed lives of several high performing individuals and companies around the world.
Acknowledged for his work and thought-leadership in AQ (Adaptability Quotient), Jim is also recognised as one of the World’s leading keynote speakers and is ranked #6 in Global Guru’s World’s Top 30 Motivational Speakers for 2020 and #1 outside the USA, and his high-demanded presentations have entertained and inspired over half a million people around the world.
Learn more about Jim LawlessIn this Episode
What is it that makes it difficult to take ownership of oneself, one’s destiny, and one’s direction? One of the reasons it's hard to take ownership is we were trained not to. At school, we weren't encouraged to own the solution, we were encouraged to get the right answer and repeated back. (…) It’s also an easy way of being and a human being will default to an easy way of being. Owning my own destiny and writing requires me to ask: Why aren't I acting in a certain way? Why aren't I at a certain place yet? And what would I have to do in order to get to the place I would like to be at? And what if I fail in that having potentially told other people that that's where I'm going? (…) It's a lot easier not to own it.
What is metacognition? Being aware of how you think, and thinking about your thinking, and your emotional response to that thinking.
The rate of change has exceeded our innate ability to adapt. This can be solved. Like the athlete or engineer, we can enhance innate ability with learning. Jim Lawless