People in Glass Houses…

…should throw stones-and lots of ‘em. Browsing Seth Godin’s blog I came upon this post about this sculpture:

It’s a clock, turned off, not ticking, showing no progress, encased in glass.

When you’re ready to make the leap, to commit, to make something happen, you break the glass. The sculpture is ruined. All you have is shards of broken glass. And a working clock. It’s alive and it’s changing and moving forward.

I liked this metaphor because it’s a lot like what happens in capacity evolution. Everything seems to be going fine and then-it isn’t. Suddenly (or slowly) you or your organization realizes that you’ve been living in a world encased in glass. It was a world you thought would never change. You thought you had it all figured out. Now, as you realize you really don’t, the glass case is shattered. There’s a rush of air, you breathe it in and then, you breathe out, ready for action, no longer prisoner to the illusion of stability and permanence that contained you. It’s new, exciting and frightening. Still, there’s no going back and, you don’t want to. 

There’s so much more going on than you could ever have guessed. So many opportunities, so much to engage, understand, absorb. 

For many of us this only happens once or twice in our adult lives. There’s potential for it to happen a lot more. It means a lot of broken glass, a lot of deep breaths and a lot of learning. 

Have you pushed your self lately, tested your limitations  and tapped on the glass holding you back. Let me know if you need a hammer.

 

Tags: capacity evolution, seth godin