My 3 takeaways from 2021

My family and I are in Breckenridge hitting the slopes. It’s December 29th, we are ready to go home and celebrate the New Year with friends. Exhausted, I’m resting in the sofa. This is apparently how it feels when you start to learn how to ski. Karlien enters the room and tells me that our flight just got cancelled and that we got rebooked on another flight. What should have been a 3h trip just turned into a 12h journey with a stopover in Palm Springs.

We have had worse, it’s just that this means we will arrive late the 31st and most likely will miss New Year’s celebrations. On top of that, a snowstorm is approaching. So, we decide to leave early and head back to Denver and stay the night near the airport.

Normally, I like to be in control and can get anxious in circumstances where I don’t master the situation. For instance, being on skis and not securing my every move makes me nervous. But in unexpected events like this I tend to remain calm and take things as they come. I tell myself I can’t change the situation so no need to get anxious or stressed about it. And you know, with that mindset most of the time things turn out much better than they started. In this case, our close family friend found us the last 4 seats on another direct flight arriving 8am instead of 8pm. In time for the celebrations.

Why am I writing this? Well, during my sofa recoveries after a couple hours sliding down the mountains (use your imagination to visualize what that must have looked like: gracefully and elegant like a ballerina or more like Benny Hill slow dancing?) I took some time to reminisce about 2021. And I wanted to share 3 learnings I’m taking away:

1.?“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”: Satya Nadella used this quote a few years back and although I intellectually understood what he meant, I just experienced what it really means. Back in March 2021 we received a huge investment in sales and marketing resources. The second mayor investment in 2 years’ time to further accelerate our business applications growth. This time we decided to make big changes to our Go-To-Market model and boy did we make a lot of changes. On paper all the right ones, in practice probably too many at once. Although we are still on track, I really underestimated the effect on our people. For someone who prides himself to balance business and people, I clearly focused too much on the business due to my excitement after our company's investment.

In 2022, I will adjust to ease the pressure on our teams.

2.?“Be competent to understand your incompetence”: or like Socrates once said “To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.” My brother had written this quote on his desk while studying Ancient Greek in High School and I was reminded about this during my martial arts trainings. After obtaining my black belt my Sensei told me that my learning was about to start. This year my wife, my kids, my friends, and my team made me realize that I still have no idea. But at least I’m starting to become more aware of my incompetence. Does that make me competent?

In 2022, I will continue my journey to competence.

3.?“What saved you in the past, might destroy you in the future”: I’m reading “Will” Will Smith’s memoires he wrote with Mark Manson. He mentioned a Buddhist parable that has guided him through many transitions. It talks about a man who built a raft to cross a raging river to save his life and has to let go of it when trying to pass the forest. Simply put, if we don’t adapt, we become extinct. For me my raft is my communication style. The assertive and direct (read aggressive) style that helped me in so many situations in the past is no longer effective today.

In 2022, I will continue to work on my non-violent communication.

I don’t know about you, but I’m really excited about 2022. Of course, I am excited, I just learned how to ski ??. And more importantly I’m ready to continue my journey, to connect with you, to learn from you, and to enjoy 2022 with you.

Happy New Year!

P.S.: If you wonder what I looked like on skis