Читать книгу Driving Eureka! - Doug Hall - Страница 33

A friend of 25 years told me recently that he has “Timed Out.” He went on to explain, “The world has changed and I’m no longer relevant or respected.”

Timed Out is a concept that the Innovation Engineering Pioneers and myself just don’t get. Timed Out is something that happens to you when you stop learning and growing. Timed Out is something that happens when you’re dead!

With the Timed Out mindset, great wisdom is prematurely lost to the organization. Yes, the world has changed. However, what’s needed is for those with 30-plus years of experience to fully engage in gaining a working understanding of the new opportunities that technology makes possible. Then they need to commit themselves to mentoring the next generation of leaders, just as they were taught when they were younger.

A mindset of Timed Out is sad. Worse than that is the SELFISH mindset. It exists across all industries—for-profit, nonprofit, large companies, and small ones. It goes something like this: “I have two/four years until retirement. I think I can make it without changing.” Or: “I am close to being eligible to take early retirement. I don’t want to do anything that will risk it.”

This mindset is SELFISH. It causes deep, deep resentment among younger workers who still have marriages, young children, and/or big college bills to pay off in the future. They feel betrayed as the older workers, whom they have looked up to for years, suddenly are exposed as frauds in their minds. Hmmm . . . and we wonder why younger generations are not engaged?

The Innovation Engineering Pioneers believe that the internet, with its transparency and increased cycle speed, is a GREAT THING. It creates separation between those who are dead and those who are alive. It rewards those with the courage to create differences that matter. It makes it easier to connect with new customers around the world.