It is not about Santa Claus.
It is about the story.
An experiment is coming to an end. More than 5 years ago, I embarked on a mission to change a company and with a bit of luck an entire industry. The timing seemed perfect. And it so happened that I left a global firm to join a local family business. Never did I truly believe in the prospects of success of my mission. I did fall in love with my story, though. Surprisingly, I wasn’t the only one.
It’s all over now. I am moving on. Is that also the end of the story? Does it have to be? Let’s explore.
Most if not all of us believed in the story of Santa Claus when we were little. It just seemed right. Growing older and developing a more critical mind, we started challenging some of what our parents told us. Santa Claus had to be on everybody’s «grow-up list», but surprisingly or not, most of us went easy on him. He managed to muddle through rather long until we just couldn’t refer to him anymore without making a fool of ourselves. We loved the story.
We still do. This is why we let the story live on even if we managed to get the facts straight in the meantime.
Changemaking happens when people fall in love with a different version of the future. (Seth Godin)
I have come to realize that large parts of the story I and others have been believing in wasn’t really an accurate reflection of our day-to-day worklife. The change we were trying to put in place was mostly just happening in our mind, a strong belief in the possibility of success. As Seth Godin rightly put it, we had fallen in love with a different version of what we could possibly accomplish for our clients and ourselves in a not so distant future.
I am now struggling to hear and more importantly feel the story we have been telling ourselves for so long. It might just be me. Not the end of the world, rather an opportunity for a new story to emerge.
Not every story needs to live on.
