Change, Of Course

Gary Burnison is CEO of Korn Ferry and the author of Love, Hope & Leadership: A Special Edition.

The more attached we are to the way things have been, the more fearful we’ll be of what those things might become. And yet, we know that with change comes the hope that things will be better.

Years ago, life seemed so simple—our fears were known. Today, so much seems unknown.

Everything is accelerating, faster and faster—Moore’s Law is calling and wants its pace of change back.

It’s all change, of course. The choice is in how we respond.

Just over the past few weeks, amid the Los Angeles wildfires, I’ve heard a full spectrum of reactions from clients and colleagues. They’ve ranged from “today was rough” to “I have faith that tomorrow will be a better day.”

Isn’t this the role of the leader? With humility, empathy, and a willingness to listen, we can all move beyond our fears to a better tomorrow.

And that brings us to a change of course.

If only things worked like an Excel spreadsheet—on time, on budget, complete clarity. But that’s not what the world brings us. Life is situational, tomorrow is not guaranteed.

Think about the earliest days of the pandemic, when we questioned the durability of life and even our own mortality. It was something we certainly never expected or asked for, bringing heartache and loss of life. Myopically and trivially, it also brought lasting change in how we consume, how we are entertained, how we produce—and even how we work. Just the other day, a young professional who works remotely confided in me, “I’m doing better than ever. And the amount of unproductive time is gone.”

How did we, as a society, navigate such change? Through love, hope, relating, and understanding—as well as agility. Now, with this as our foundation, we can become more comfortable transforming the unknown to the known—our fear to hope.

And so, we anticipate, as best we can, what lies ahead. Rather than trying to be visionaries predicting tomorrow, we put our energy into accurately perceiving the reality of today. Along the way, we navigate—course-correcting in real time.

Through every challenge and circumstance—the good, the bad, and everything in between—we are building resilience, whether we know it or not. We may not feel it in the moment, but rest assured, it’s happening.

As leaders, we recognize that we have to act. There’s no waiting for the circumstances to change or the circumstances will change us. Because here’s the thing—no matter what is changing right now, no doubt it will change again.

Leadership today is not a sprint and probably not even a marathon. In today’s reality, it’s an Ironman Triathlon composed of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, followed by a 26.2-mile marathon.

In the words of the Spanish poet Antonio Machado, we make our path as we walk it. “Wanderer, your footsteps are the road, and nothing more; wanderer, there is no road, the road is made by walking.”

Indeed, this becomes our change of course… one foot in front of the other.

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