Nah.  Break on Through the Other Side.

An excellent song.  

Also, something important to consider and manage:  When do we take our foot off the gas?  Stall out on our aspirations, individually or organizationally.

This is on my mind because I hit a fitness milestone yesterday.  Awesome, but also attention worthy, because it’s the same milestone I backslid from not once, but twice last year.

I suppose there are reasons (excuses?) for this, but I’m not sure in this case it’s worth analyzing much.  It’s more important, at least on a personal level, for me to be aware, not lose focus, and not give up.  It’s well documented that previous attempts at something difficult are predictors of future success.  And in this case I have high confidence, since in the past I’ve actually done way better on this.

It’s a bit more complicated with teams and organizations, isn’t it. 

When we’re driving change, what are the ‘break points’ where change programs stall out?  Where do the immune response mechanisms that are inertial and squelch innovation and improvement get triggered?  What’s the ‘right’ amount of change in an interval of time that an organization can support?  When is the situation so grave that you have to violate the perceived change capacity of a organization to save it from itself?

These are all worthwhile for us to reflect on thoughtful as leaders.  It’s often hard to do the ‘thoughtful’ part if we’ve drunk too much of our own Kool-Aid.

But like my steely commitment not to blow it again this time, it starts with a moment of self-awareness.

-Chris