The moat around the castle was deep and wide. Those who lived inside the walls of the castle felt safe; they thought no one could or would dare attempt to destroy them. They never calculated the threat inside the castle.
Like a castle, a business has its moats and walls, protecting against those outside competitive forces. Today, the bigger threat to the Kingdom is what is known as Thief-doms. Thief-doms are set up within the kingdom’s walls by individuals who have allowed their insecurities to become a plague, killing their aspirations. Insecure managers cannot see past the walls they built from their complacency, they cannot see what could be through the blindfold of status quo.
Thief-doms will isolate any thoughts of what could be. They jail what could be to the dungeons of their minds for their self-preservation. These knights plagued by insecurities keep shackled to the wall what they believe will make them irrelevant. Employee insecurity, whether rank and file or management, is like the black plaque to all organizations. If not eliminated, it will spread through the castle of your business, killing all thoughts of what could be.
It’s time for the Kings and Queens of the castle to seek out and banish those who lead the Thief-doms within the Kingdom. Today’s opportunities come quickly and yesterday’s patience and stalling based on insecurities will not live in today’s fast world, populated more and more by those who are constantly modifying. Kings and Queens, as you walk through your castle’s dudgeon, release what could have been that is shackled to the wall of complacency by those knights plagued by insecurities.
Organizations must be able to count on their leaders and managers to understand the value of what could be, and leaders should never fear the unknown or the changes that will emerge as something new is created. True leaders understand that what they contribute is only a by-product of what a team contributes. Hubris leaders who focus on their value will never allow others to contribute anything that would jeopardize the delusion of their self-importance.
“Those insecure about their place in the future will fight those who create the future, and never will be a catalyst in bringing the future to the present.”
Clean up the castle using a quill filled with arrows of constantly modifying. Shoot the knights plagued by insecurities, send status quo to the dungeon forever. Leaders today must banish from the castle those who feel that yesterday is more important than tomorrow, the ones who hide behind self-preservation. There is no more patience for insecurities, for self-importance or self-preservation, and none for those too stubborn to modify. The new competitors bet on the insecurities of the complacent. The new competitors leverage their ability to modify quickly; new competitors will change your customer’s experience while your insecurities and stubbornness plague you to continue arguing the merits of the past.
In closing: The new competitor just might be an old competitor who understands the meaning of modifying, and understands the value in the phrase “Currently, this is how we do it.”
