“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” – Lao Tzu

I’ve had a number of conversations lately with leaders whose organizations are going through some chaos.  There are lots of reasons for that chaos – changing industry, changing personnel, etc. – but each of them is dealing with turbulence of some kind.

What’s been most interesting to watch is how each of those leaders handles that chaos.  They are all at least somewhat experienced, and each of them seems to have pretty good intuition about the direction in which their businesses are headed.

None of them are thrilled with that direction, and that’s where their paths diverge.  Some of them are predicting that things aren’t going to go well, and they’re watching that happen.  Some of them are predicting that things aren’t going to go well, and they’re trying to do something about it.

Leaders like to talk about troubles they see on the horizon, or barriers, or even opportunities.  But for so many leaders, it never gets past the talking stage.  They may have a list of things they could do, but it ends up being a list of things they don’t do.

It’s not enough to be able to predict the future.  It’s not enough to have a pretty solid feeling that you know where things are headed.  It’s not enough to have a clear idea of what your next steps should be.  You actually have to take the steps.

It’s scary to change directions, or try new things, or take some action because you anticipate some future event.  Your picture of what the future holds may not be accurate.  Your solution or action may not be the right one.  You may try to do the right thing and fail.

Act anyway.  The only guaranteed way to fail is to do nothing, to not act in the fact of change or chaos or barriers.  You may do something wrong, or you may not do something well enough, but it’s still better than doing nothing.

What chaos or barriers are you facing but not acting on?  Be honest with yourself.  There’s a pretty good chance you have at least an idea about what to do.  Stop hesitating and get to work.