Seven Disciplines of A Leader

11Discipline 7: Renewal and SustainabilityThose Who Practice Renewal and Sustainability Avoid Common Pitfalls

Kathryn was a woman wise beyond her 24 years. She understood that life itself is a state of flux where everything you're familiar with can change in a matter of moments, and often does. She was intimately familiar with the maxim that the only thing permanent in life is change. That knowledge had fueled her journey from a work farm in Ireland to the United States and her job as an agrarian specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She counted her blessings daily.

Hands-On Advice: Expect changes in your life and welcome them.

If you fight them, you will lose and risk being left behind. But if you embrace them and shape them for your benefit and the benefit of your organization you will succeed.

I once watched and enjoyed a movie—a comedy called Things Change, starring Don Ameche and Joe Mantegna. It's the story of how a gangster on probation teams up with an old Italian-American shoeshine boy and creates havoc as circumstances (things) change. Without revealing too much of the plot, it demonstrates that the need for renewal and sustainability can be crucial, so much as to actually save lives (and careers).

The point of the movie is that nothing is truly permanent; things change and they can change for the best or they can change for the worst, but guaranteed they will change, and that renewal and sustainability are requirements to make positive changes last. ...