‘There’s no need to reinvent the wheel’- that’s a sentiment we often hear being said in one context or another. And that’s a truthful statement by all means.
For who could conceive of the need to invent the wheel all over again when there are wheels already lying around? That’s a simple enough logic.
But then, unfortunately or not, not everything in life is a wheel.
Reinventing is in many ways like creating a new world- exciting & challenging at the same time
Reinvention- choice or necessity?
There are aspects of our existence which could indeed be improved by acts of reinvention. In personal life, this type of reinvention may fall under the broad term of ‘lifestyle change’ in an organization, and could be a choice which you could make: Either you could reinvent yourself- by bringing about drastic changes in your diet, clothing, hobbies etc., for instance- or you could continue in the same track as you are on now.
The bottom-line is that you are at liberty to choose not to reinvent most of the times. In fact, drastic reinventions may see ourselves getting alienated from many people who may not like the new version of you. Whether it’s worth alienating those people in the pursuit of reinvention is a question that you should ask yourself before setting on a route change. And if it’s the perceived cost of such an endeavor is high, you could simply opt not to reinvent at all.
But that’s unfortunately a luxury which leaders in organizations don’t always have.
In fact, there are times when reinvention is necessary for the survival of the organization. This is something that’s increasingly true in contemporary times. Part of the reason is the flexibility that digital technologies bring to operations. The accessibility of such technologies is also a factor.
Combined, these two factors would make disruptions more common in most fields. To stay ahead of such disruptions, reinvention then becomes necessary for you.
But then, does that mean every time some disruption happens in your industry, you would have to partake in a reinvention? Wouldn’t such a process be a constant drain on resources and time?
The answer would be a resounding yes.
But that’s not to say that you shouldn’t make the innovations necessary in the organizations to remain competitive in the face of disruption. But let’s not call this reinvention. For it is nothing but change management- a necessary and challenging process but different from reinvention of the kind we are talking about here.
Reinventing with vision
The reinvention we are concerned with here is one driven by vision. It’s something that would help the organization stay competitive not just in the short run but also in the long run.
The reason why this sort of reinvention is so important is that it could help change the course of an organization for good, in such a way that many a disruption wouldn’t affect you too badly because your path would be distinct, unique, and in many cases inimitable.
The reason for this uniqueness is the vision itself- which is True Personal Vision.
It’s the vision that could be found in your own self and nowhere else. It provides a destination to guide your organization towards. And the uniqueness of the vision means that it’s something that you and only you could realize, leaving the competition behind in the process.
The problem is that even that innate, True Personal Vision often lies buried inside our mind, thanks to our lack of focus on our own self. This absence of looking inwards is a sign of the times, you could say. For even as our present age is called the age of information, a better term could be ‘age of distractions.’ And these distractions- compounded by the usually hectic schedule of someone in a leadership position in an organization, makes you lose focus on your own True Personal Vision.
Temenos Vision Lab or TVL is a unique session developed by Temenos+Agility to help you realize your True Personal Vision. Using proprietary tools, TVL is conducted by some of the best leadership coaches in business with extensive experience in conducting transformative sessions.
