Playing With Fire: How to Balance Ambition and Caution to Create Continuous Change

Playing with Fire: How to Balance Ambition and Caution to Drive Continuous Change?

Flickers of light danced on the shards of glass mixed in a slurry of plaster, water, and charred wood. It was unexpectedly beautiful even though my hands were numb from digging through it with my armoured gloves. My brother, Jason Cioran , and I had fallen into the old rhythm that had gotten us through countless dirty jobs together, though none with the emotional piledriver of sealing up the burned wreckage of our childhood home. A stream of jokes and jabs kept the grim reality of what we were doing at bay.? That made space for little joys when we found something that had unexpectedly survived in the wreckage of our mother’s house.??

Fire Slips the Harness?

On seeing pictures of the ruins Brenda Kerton, a friend and colleague, said, “The fire was not kind.” Simpler, yet truer words were never spoken. Fire has been a treacherous servant ever since humanity first harnessed it, always ready to slip loose and burn its master for the temerity of trying to enslave it. I once wrote, “If you aren’t afraid of the fire, it isn’t big enough.”? My point was literal when I wrote it, but I’ve come to see that the same is also figuratively true.??

Burning Ambitions?

I once advised a senior leader in the Canadian government that their ambitions weren’t ambitious enough. If you are going to transform an organization you need to dream big. These goals can be scary, and you must light a fire in people to create change. Ambition is the burning force that drives that change. In our age of continuous and exponential change, we must keep the fire burning bright every day. It propels leaders and individuals to strive for excellence, innovate, and push through the dirty job that is change. Light a fire big enough and you can change the world. If you aren’t afraid of it, prepare to be burned.?

Fear Focuses the Mind?

Every time I light a match I douse it in water. This might seem like overkill. Growing up in a cedar cabin in the woods lit by gas lamps and heated by fire meant it was just prudence driven by a very realistic fear. Unchecked, fear might be the mind-killer. But a little fear focuses the mind on the risks that surround us... or lie within us. Forewarned is forearmed is much more than half an octopus. When we embrace that our ambitions can fuel and burn us, we can make more than smart choices. We are on the road to wisdom.??

I’ve Never Met a Risk I Didn’t Like?

My colleague Peters Ezers once said, “I can never tell when you’re joking.”?

“You should always assume I’m joking.” I replied, “Except when I’m not.”?

This is partly my philosophy of corporate life being a fine game as long as you don’t play it too seriously. The serious part is that we have to embrace a duality to thrive. Nowhere is this more true than with fire. I’ve often said I’ve never met a risk I didn’t like. It’s a joke and a call to embrace risks instead of ignoring them. I’ve always found project risk registers the best way to ignore risks.? File them on SharePoint, ignore them, and point fingers when they come crashing down. We can only manage risks when we embrace the risks, execute mitigations, and move on. Douse the match. Test the software. Seal the breach.?

Fear the Burning Platform?

Several years ago, I wrote about why we need to fear the burning platform as a metaphor for change. I stand by the comments I made then. However, I now see them as only a part of a larger dialogue on change and leadership. The burning platform creates the wrong kind of fear. The fire that doesn’t focus the mind. It runs wild and derails change. But it is more than that. When we see our organization as being in crisis it can readily kindle an unhealthy dissatisfaction with the status quo in the organization that will derail us as leaders. I saw this writ large recently with a colleague whose dissatisfaction had blossomed into a raging fire that burned anyone who came near them. Ultimately, they left their organization. My lesson was to realize that I also have that tendency. Under pressure we all do. It was a keen reminder that we must evaluate our feelings or we risk...?

Burning Bridges?

There is a time and place to burn bridges. Quit your job. Get a divorce. Have it out with a colleague who is derailing you. “When one burns one's bridges, what a very nice fire it makes.” is often attributed to the poet Dylan Thomas, although it does not appear in any of his published works. However, there is an incredible sense of relief when one lets go of their feelings about a job, a relationship, or a dysfunctional situation. The thing about burning bridges is that you get to leave the mess behind for others to clean up. If you plan on staying you either need to be ready or dig through the wreckage or temper your approach. Stretch your collaborative muscles, balance ambition with empathy, and sometimes, hold your tongue. This is certainly not my strong suit, which is why I have a card on my desk that says WAIT (Why Am It Talking) thanks to Mara Svenne . All of which says leaders need to know when to...?

Bank the Fire?

A fire that burns hot burns fast. This is ideal when you need a bed of coals to cook dinner. The same is true when you need to drive change in an organization. A blazing fire is also far more likely to slip the harness and tear through a home... or burn you and your team out. Everyone needs to rest, and when you do you need to bank the fire. Every night when we were growing up my brother and I would bank the fire that heated our bedroom. A bed of coals with layers of ash, small logs, and ash kept the room warm(ish) all night. It kept the coals alive and reduced the risk of an unattended fire. Come morning you rake them aside and the fire was readily rekindled.??

Sustain the Burn?

My wife, Suzy, is a marathon runner. The secret is finding a pace you can run the distance sustainably. Extrapolate from that and you’ll see why Sprint was a terrible choice of words for what is otherwise a good idea in Scrum.? No one can sprint eight hours a day for two weeks straight. Expand this to the scope of organizational change and you’ll see that a steady walk is the best we can hope for. You must light a fire, but only at a level where you can sustain the burn. Set realistic goals, don’t cut corners on principles, encourage work-life balance, and respect that culture will resist your best efforts. Be ready to admit that the magnitude of the task before you is bigger than you imagined.?

Memento Mori?

You can’t start a fire small. It will sputter, smoke, and leave you cold and hungry. You need to build a fire big enough to frighten you. If it doesn’t that means your ambitions aren’t big enough, or you have slipped over the line into arrogance. During triumphal processions Roman emperors and generals would have, “Remember, you too must die,” whispered into their ears. We can’t all have an old man or crone standing by to keep us honest. Self-doubt, or impostor syndrome, is critical, and we must embrace it. Without it you cannot grow as a leader or challenge ourselves when we think we have all the answers.??

What the hand, dare seize the fire??

And its deadly terrors clasp? The act of creation in William Blake’s, “The Tyger” demands courage.? The same is true when we create change. It is foolhardy to seize the flame without knowing that it is waiting to burn us. As leaders, we all must learn to balance ambition and caution to drive continuous and sustainable change. Dream big, seize the fire thoughtfully, and bring people with you to the goal.?

What do you think? How does this reflect your adventures in leadership??