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Leadership and cost of success

The cost of success....

Last weekend, I had a coaching session with one of my clients
A senior leader in the banking domain, well respected both within and outside his organization
He currently manages a multi-million dollar portfolio with teams spread across 3 continents
In short, someone who is highly successful and at the top of his game
His challenge – BOREDOM
..Because he is so good at what he does
..Because he has a great team in place and
..Because he has been consistently delivering beyond his business targets
He now feels bored
There is no challenge in his current role
From his perspective, there is nothing really to look forward to, nothing much to achieve
Whatever had to be achieved has been achieved ( or so he thinks )
To him, everything now seems to be so monotonous and matter-of-fact kind
In my coaching experience and interacting with leaders across the globe, this is actually NOT uncommon with highly successful leaders....
The cost of success can be boredom
This might sound ironic - success should be exciting, right ?
It is, but beyond a certain point, it may not be exciting any more
Because at that stage, if you are really good at what you do, everything comes naturally to you
You can deliver great results without stretching yourself
You have built a strong team under you
You do not feel excited any more
There is NO challenge
THE EDGE IS MISSING!
There is very little effort you need to exert in getting things done
You can almost sleepwalk and do your job effortlessly
Now all this might be helping your business, but the reality is….
It is NOT helping you
You are NOT growing any more
And you sometimes wonder – “What should I really look forward to?
Here, I want to draw out a distinction here – boredom v/s busyness

Do not confuse between the two
You could be an extremely busy person, but you could still end up being bored
In the face of back-to-back meetings and presentations, all you might be doing is “more of same” - doing the same thing over and over again
The most interesting part….
You THINK you have achieved everything there was to – but that is your belief
Because the truth is….
There is a lot more you can achieve, but you have NOT thought about it
You are so caught up in your past success..

You have made yourself unconsciously so comfortable..

There are possibilities which you DO NOT see today
It is NOT that the challenges and opportunities are not around
They are all around you, but you have stopped challenging and pushing yourself
That is the fact
Look….
Being successful is a great thing ( of course success means different things to different people, but we are not getting into that discussion )
And boredom is a genuine price which you might end up paying
But it NEED NOT be that way
What you need to do is….
..Stretch your imagination
..Get out of your comfort zone and create new possibilities
..Pursue new challenges
..Take some risks
Get your edge back !!
If you are not getting that sense of boredom today, you will end up facing it at some point, until and unless you keep the edge alive
Either ways, here is something for you to reflect upon as you plan for 2022 and beyond :
1) What is the ONE thing which has kept you going all this while, but is NOW missing ?
2) If you did not have any resource constraints, what more would you like to do in your current role ?
3) What is that ONE idea you have at the back of your mind, which you have NOT shared with the world so far ?
4) In order to keep your edge, what risk are you willing to take in 2022 ?
I would be interested to know what came up for you, as you read and reflected on this email
And yes, if you want to get your edge back, drop me a note !

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