On Firsts...

Ed Sheeran is one of my favorite artists.

A bit more than a year ago, my wife and I went to his concert in Gelsenkirchen (Germany) and we loved it. One man - supported by his crew - entertaining close to 70,000 people. Everyone of us was cheering and sining along.

That day, one of his songs, which I had heard before, caught my attention. In that song (First Times) he sings:

"Ain't it funny how the simplest things in life can make a man?

Little moments that pass us by

Oh, but I remember

The first kiss, the first night, the first song that made you cry

The first drink, red wine, on a step in Brooklyn

I still feel the first fight, and we both made it out alive

And I can't wait to make a million more first times"

Over the past year, I have listened to that song many times... and then suddenly this week I had to think of it again.

In life, there are people who aim for repetition and then there are people who aim for variety. None is necessarily better than the other. Both are needed to make our daily lives work and achieve progress as a society.

Every person has of course elements of both in their lives. Each one of us has their first day at school, at university, at a new job, with a new client, etc.

Each one of us has their first date, their first kiss, first time moving in with someone... maybe a first marriage, and a first child.

But some people in either of the categories I mentioned above have more firsts than others. Some people consciously or unconsciously end up experiencing many more firsts including encounters with people than others.

Just imagine a person who works for the same company for 40 years vs. a person who changes companies every 4 years over the period of 40 years. That second person will have 9 times more first days at work. That second person will also have to deal with change probably much more.

As I was preparing a session for a new role being introduced at one of my clients, I had think of first times.

The people who will move into that new role are by definition experiencing something for the first time. This will be a change - no judgment whether it is good or bad... but it will be something new.

My theory - and I emphasize the term "theory" - is that people who have gone through more first time experiences than others, are better suited to deal with change in general as they have experienced it more often and have built the "change muscle" over time.

I have not done the research on this yet, but if anyone has done that work, please direct me to the right papers/ articles on that topic. I am also happy to be completely wrong on this.

In my own life, I have experienced my fair share of firsts... including switching careers e.g., from medicine to consulting.

With every first time in my personal or professional field I added more "change muscle". This "muscle" includes the willingness and ability to change faster.

I remember, how long I thought about making the switch from medicine to management consulting. Back then, I was much younger, had no kids, and was not even married. From that perspective it should have been a fairly easy decision - especially as it was a reversible one.

Today, when I make strategic decisions as the CEO of my company, I do not only have to take myself and my interests into account, but also my family, my co-workers, our partners, and our clients.

Some of the decisions we make are much more difficult to reverse... yet it has become easier for me to think through the decisions, accept the associated changes, and then execute these decisions.

Covid - in my case - was a huge catalyst and resulted in me dealing with a lot of assumptions about the industry I am operating in and making huge changes to our business.

It became clear to me that I do not need to be in the same room with people to reach them.

It became clear to me that I do not even have to deliver a live session to connect with them.

It became clear to me that there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

It became clear to me that as a small company from one part of the world, we could build products and solutions that allow us to reach millions, if not billions of people all over the world.

Each of these thoughts crossed my mind at some point for the first time.

In hindsight, I believe that with every time I followed through on one of these "crazy" first time ideas, my mind became more open and more receptive to such first thoughts - be it my own or other people's thoughts.

Again, I have not done the research on this... but observing myself and observing many other people that have gone through more firsts than others, I do believe that they are more receptive to change.

Helping others build that "change muscle" is a critical element of change leadership... and with every muscle we need to start with small exercises that help people get out of their comfort zone, but not tear a muscle.

#FromNothingComesNothing