The word I focus on the most, though, is resilience. Years ago, when I moved out of consulting into my first operational job, I walked into an IT leadership role in the handset segment of Motorola when they were repositioning as a mobile device and consumer electronics business. I had to shift from focusing mainly on strategy to managing a mix of strategic and operational challenges like major business downsizing, growth cycles, process and system changes, tech innovation, M&A and divestitures, competitive pressures, and occasional politics.
Each time I’m confronted with something new, I think back on that Motorola experience, which set a watermark for me on how to handle a lot going on at once. Ever since, I’ve been increasingly comfortable with unpredictability.
My job now is to help my team get to the same level of comfort with change when needed, so we can stay focused on what’s next and deliver value. Our team needs to think in an innovative way, collaborate with each other, and discuss and debate when we need to. But once we pick a direction, we move together and support each other, and when we see the need for course correction, we do this as a unit. Keeping us moving as a team is where I spend much of my time.