Imagine leaving your job!

A respected and very talented client was recently recruited for a new leadership role with another company. Having made plans to accept the new senior R&D position, he found himself speaking up and taking risks in new ways, reflecting his untapped vision and continuing passion for his current work. Given he was leaving his present position, any lack of support or endorsement of his work at this point by senior management would have nominal impact, if any, on his career.

As he made plans for his transition to the new employer, the economy tanked and the offer was rescinded. He found himself continuing with his current position.

I recently spoke with him. He commented without hesitation that he had significant concern about the affect of some of the "edgy" initiative he exercised in recent months, in anticipation of leaving. However, to his surprise, there was far more receptivity, even momentum, to work which he was previously cautious about leading. He became acutely aware of his limiting beliefs about what was possible, until he thought he was leaving.

Imagine what we might do if we knew there was always some place else to go, something else to do, a calling that is bigger and greater, than the current role we fulfill. This is difficult for most people, if not impossible, when economic instability and job security is very much on our minds. But such courage is essential if we are to realize our full creative potential, not merely for our own sake, but for the innovative, productive prosperity of the organizations we serve.

Chronos, Kairos, and Creativity

International authorities responsible for keeping time precise announced that today, the first day of yet another New Year, we were given an extra second of time. How often we hear in our work that there is simply not enough time! Yet time hangs heavy for many these days - the uncertainty of a failing economy is more than a passing moment.

The ancient Greeks had multiple words for "time". Chronos refers to chronological time - the quantitative nature of time as before and after, time which is always scarce. Kairos on the other hand refers to a qualitative attentiveness, time as significant rather than dimensional. Kairos is a passing instant when an opening appears, offering a unique transformational moment for those who see it.

Too often we gauge our productivity in terms of "chronos" rather than training ourselves to be attentive to "kairos". Recently published research, "Time and Organizational Improvisation" argues that improvisation is an ideal basis for a synthesis of chronos and kairos, "blending conflicting concepts such as planning and acting, discipline and freedom, control and spontaneity."

Focusing on time solely as chronos distracts from the creative power of kairos. I look forward to discovering the kairos of 2009 in ways we have not yet imagined.

Happy New Year!