Remaining Relevant for Sustainable Growth

I had a very revealing conversation with a colleague recently about the meaning of staying relevant as a root for a sustainable and growing career. This conversation was triggered by reports of leadership changes in a leading South Africa-based corporation which has operations both throughout our continent and in other markets in the Middle East. The vexing question for us was why did it seem that most people that were being sourced to lead its strategic business transformation were all coming from outside, some who were seen to reverse its progress towards a more diverse leadership.

We reflected how it had become successful by growing people from within. We could only speculate as to why but it seemed obvious to us that the answer was much deeper than we could know from outside. This discussion was also more relevant noting this apparent reversal of progress towards a more diverse leadership group, a critical question for a South African business in particular noting our apartheid past and the aspirations expressed in the 1996 Constitution.

Whilst we did not know what could have caused the internal candidates in that situation not to be the ones considered for the new roles, we reflected more in other situations that we know. We noted situations where people get to join or grow in organisations because they have particular characteristics, knowledge and potential for further growth. How sometimes these individuals show a depth of excellence that builds a promise for the future. In some cases, the organisations they work for do give them the support they need to grow, or sometimes the situations are frustrating for them.

But we then could see there are situations where some individuals become comfortable where they are, because the trappings of success start to consume them. The hunger for learning starts to fade away as they start to enjoy the material benefits of what they have achieved. The yearning for further development starts to disappear as they start to believe they have arrived. In a changing and complex world, which requires ongoing understanding of the external impacts on the business, they build on past success and internal relationships, blind to all that is happening around them. Holding to all they know and the relationships they have built to where they are now, they forget what had gotten them to the successful position they would be in.

Suddenly, the organisation faces an external shock so deep that it starts to look at ways to change its trajectory dramatically. And as it starts to look at its next generation of leaders, it finds that it cannot rely on them to deal with this new world. That they have not build the necessary complex set of skills or process of understanding new questions enough in a way that will help lead to the critical answers needed. That its next generation of leaders have been so internally focused; so driven by building internal power bases; so taken up by the ego of position, that they cannot be trusted with the critical transformational tasks that are so necessary for the organisation not to self-destruct.

And in many cases, as we proceeded with the dialogue, we could see that, as people grow, they forget that they need to stay relevant. That always they need to be who they always thought they were. And they cannot be that unless they continuously re-invent themselves; deepen their learning; always seek to understand the changes that are taking place in the world around them; build new external relationships whilst strengthening the existing ones; and take new opportunities that stretch their lateral experience which is a key building block for the future.

We wondered whether in the organisation we started conversing about it was not likely that some individuals did not continue to stay relevant. All we could was speculate. But more importantly, we could draw comfort for ourselves that this was a critical lesson nonetheless.

For you to have the staying power necessary for growth, it is critical to stay relevant. It is not only in the successful execution of the tasks of the present that this will happen. It is also in showing readiness to deal with the changes that come with an uncertain future that this will happen. Otherwise, the forces of change will cause you to miss out on growth opportunities which would have been yours for the taking.

Learn. Discover. Connect. Stay relevant. Grow.