Do you hear more people claiming that
their world has been turned upside down and that they have lost control of
their lives, their career options, their futures?
In his 1969 book, The Age of Discontinuity: Guidelines to our Changing Society, Peter
Drucker advanced the thesis that now and for the rest of time all bets are off.
Drucker contended that we are confronted by sharp “discontinuities” between the
patterns and trends of the past fifty years and those of the future. These
discontinuities make it impossible to predict the future, because prediction
inevitably involves a forward projection of current trends.
Nearly 50 years has passed since the
book was published, and one can’t help but note the irony that his prediction
about being unable to predict the future has come to pass.
Note
to Control Seekers:
If we are indeed in charge of our lives
amid discontinuity, then why are there so many shocked complaints and fears
about a loss of control? Why do so many of us seek a short cut to restoring
personal control?
Lacking a sense of their endgames and
purposeful direction, control seekers might take the long way around toward
arriving at a plan by asking various individuals for their opinions. Whenever
granted an audience they will ask: “Considering my background, experience and
credentials, where do YOU think I ought to go? What is a safe bet for my
future? Where might I be better off?”
If Peter Drucker was still with us, he
might have responded to these seekers with questions of his own such as: “What
can you contribute in this world? Where do you want to be? What knowledge are
you applying to your actions?”
Where
There’s a Will There’s a Way
The 20th century Trappist
monk, M. Eugene Boylan echoed the thoughts of many before him when he said: “life is defined as a self-movement, and a person is his own master.”
Boylan submitted that knowledge directs our will, and our will defines our
actions and our lives.
Unlike frantic control seekers, those
who are diligently working toward a defined career or business plan are very
comfortable discussing their endgames. They have clearly defined targets and
ask only for deeper insights about prospective employers, partners, customers
or acquisitions. They are well-poised to pursue each researched, willful next
move.
The next time you hear a seeker complain
about a loss of control or wish that someone else will reveal the next step to
take, consider asking a few questions in return:
Where are you headed?
What is your plan?
What do you already know about your target?
Who are your guides?
Setting a personalized master plan can
inform a healthy career/life journey. By controlling our own discerned, willful
thoughts and actions (rather than conceding our future to fate) we no longer
feel the need to scurry about seeking control wherever we can get it.
“What
you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.”
Mother Teresa
