Be Urgently Patient

Act with a sense of urgency, but be patient for the results

Imagine building a straw that stretches from New York to Chicago, except this straw needs to push water uphill through a desert. Oh, and you're using 19th-century technology. Sounds impossible, right? 

Well, that's essentially what C.Y. O'Connor accomplished with the Kalgoorlie pipeline in Western Australia. This 530-kilometer feat of engineering genius defied the naysayers, traversed an unforgiving landscape, and quite literally created an oasis in the desert. 

Now, fast forward to our AI-driven present, and we're faced with a challenge of similar magnitude, albeit in the realm of human potential...

The Kalgoorlie pipeline, a marvel of engineering, didn't gush forth the moment the valve was turned. After years of construction and anticipation, the initial trickle might have seemed anticlimactic. 

Yet, with patience, the life-giving flow eventually reached its destination. 

Similarly, as AI takes over the grunt work in our businesses, we're faced with the challenge of reopening our human pipelines of creativity and imagination. 

But here's the rub: after decades of conditioning people to work rather than think, we can't expect a torrent of innovative ideas to flow the moment we flip the switch. 

Just as the Kalgoorlie pipeline needed time to pressurize and flow, our mental aqueducts may initially produce only a dribble of creativity. We've spent years training our workforce to be task completers, not thought leaders. 

Now, as AI steps in to handle the routine, we're asking our teams to suddenly become wellsprings of innovation. This transition won't happen overnight. 

Like the pipeline stretching across the arid Australian landscape, our journey from doers to thinkers will take time, patience, and persistent effort. But make no mistake, the potential is there. 

We just need to give it time to build up pressure and flow. So, as we turn the valve on human creativity in this AI age, let's remember: the initial trickle isn't a sign of failure, but the beginning of something transformative. 

Our job now is to keep that valve open, clear the blockages, and patiently nurture the flow until it becomes the lifeblood of our organizations.

"The old adage of you're paid to work not to think will soon be replaced with you're paid to think, and while you're here, if you have to do some work, that's ok." - a Clarism

It's time to lead different.

Together we can...

#EvolveTheWorldOfWork

Dave Clare, Chief Evolution Officer

Circle Leadership

WEEKLY CLARISM

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