Happy New Days!

The other day a good friend and colleague asked when the appropriate time might be to stop wishing people “Happy New Year?” I think it begs the question of why we extend this wish in the first place.?

I have no issue with people expressing well wishes as a friendly greeting. And certainly, the sentiment is kind and perfectly lovely, even if offering the gesture is generally nothing more than a superficial nicety. But what is the significance of our turning of every 12th?calendar page that calls for this custom? (How many still use physical calendars with pages to turn?) Is it a sincere effort to ward off bad things that might happen in the future – or just a novel way to remind us all to update the proper numerical year on the checks and letters we write???

I realize you may feel I am overthinking this – and while that might be true, the point I want to make is more about how this reflects upon how we think and behave as leaders.?

People often speak of finding balance – when we really should be looking for meaningful continuity.

I believe commemorating and celebrating the New Year has to do with the way we choose to compartmentalize our lives. We might think of work life as separate from home life. Work friends might be different from other friends we have. And we see our various roles as leaders, mothers and fathers, friends, neighbors, or parents as having distinct qualities and demands – even though we are just one person acting in each of these roles. People often speak of finding balance – when we really should be looking for meaningful continuity.

It’s no surprise that we separate our days into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. It makes the accounting of time and history more manageable. It may even help us better focus on the uncertainties of the future, offering the comfort that the things most unknown might be far away in some measurably distant future. But it still doesn’t explain why we demark the change of years with all the revelry, celebrations, and well wishes. Why not simply say, “Happy New Day?”

I must confess that the procrastinator in me really appreciates the compartments of the future. I can comfortably put things off until tomorrow, next week, or next year knowing that this makes the present seem more pleasant and the future more palpable. The adage,?why put off until tomorrow what you can accomplish today, is easily contorted to,?why put off until tomorrow what you can put off until next week? Compartmentalizing life can either help us accomplish what matters or avoid doing so. And because I am hard-wired to accomplish things that matter, I choose to subscribe to the seemingly more noble adage,?live each day as if there is no tomorrow.

There is, however, a problem with ignoring tomorrow. We dream and make plans. We imagine a better tomorrow and then work to make it happen. We budget for things yet to come and prepare for what we want to accomplish.

The British psychiatrist, scholar, and effusive author, Elliott Jaques, brilliantly observes in his book “Requisite Organization: Total System for Effective Managerial Organization and Managerial Leadership for the 21st Century” that you can gage a leader’s capabilities by virtue of their ability to think into the future, noting the demarcations as “timeline horizons.”??He notes that the requisite organization is replete with actors with varying horizons as the key to sustainable success. Successful organizations require people who can remain focused on the very short term for executing tasks at hand, and the organization is best served at the top by leaders who can see far enough into the future as a requisite for developing effective guiding strategies. Jaques didn’t see the future in tight compartments but as spans of time in a limitless continuum. Great leaders are those who have the prowess to grasp the magnitude of an ever-expanding universe – where distance and time amount to the same thing, as they aim to shape the future.

Peter F. Drucker wrote, “you cannot predict the future, but you can create it.” The future is truly comprised of infinite possibilities, and the men and women who effectively lead organizations do so by focusing on the future they want and creating a shared vision among those whose job is to create it.?

Most people will overestimate what they can do over a short period of time and underestimate what they can accomplish over a much longer one.

Most people will overestimate what they can do over a short period of time and underestimate what they can accomplish over a much longer one. Time alone is not the driver of what we accomplish in life. Moreover, time serves our commitment to preparation, determination, and persistence.?

Dr. Lee Thayer would playfully argue that nobody can accomplish what is impossible. He would point out that no one has ever done anything that cannot be done. And yet, all outstanding human achievements were at one time deemed to be things that were not possible. His point was that people do things for two reasons: they have to, and they can. Leaders discern what is necessary and then endeavor to make those things possible. And then turn that possibility into reality by causing people to see what truly is possible and determine for themselves that it is necessary. Or, as Dwight David Eisenhower noted, “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”

It is useful to consider that it is entirely appropriate to understand that a new year is always a year from now. Every day truly offers the potential of a new beginning.

The future is the business of leadership. You can only lead the future – because none of us have any control over the past. We may not have absolute control over the future either. But you can control how you think about the future, how well you prepare for what you might expect, and how committed you are to seeing through what you imagine is necessary and possible.?

It is useful to consider that it is entirely appropriate to understand that a new year is always a year from now. Every day truly offers the potential of a new beginning. It is up to you to see that potential – and choose to be who you need to be – and do what you must to accomplish what matters most.?

What I do wish you are many moments of overwhelming joy in the coming days, weeks, months, and year ahead – knowing that all you accomplish that is significant and meaningful will bring deep satisfaction to you – and joy to the world.