Fast Water

Fast water on The River of your life. You know what fast water is. Big change, no time. Things come at you, and at you, and at you. There’s little time for reflection, no time for rest. You can’t get a lot of information or all the resources you’d like. You just have to act and act now. Again and again and again. Oh, and be sure you get the right results.

So how do you handle fast water as a leader? Do you enjoy it and get restless when the current slows down? Do you hate it and look for ways to avoid it? A little of both?

I suggest you look for a few answers in an unlikely spot—history. You might think that the past has ZERO to tell you about fast-moving change. After all, did Abraham Lincoln have a smart phone? Of course not, so what help is he to me in 2015?

But he did have a new, revolutionary form of data that could travel hundreds of miles instantly in real-time. The telegraph.

And he did have a new form of transportation that was turning the world around him upside down with speeds no one had seen before. The train.

And so too he did have to cope with a completely new form of imagery that brought people face-to-face with scenes they hadn’t imagined in their best dreams or worst nightmares. The photograph.

So you see, we’ve seen the new before. The new has always smashed into the status quo. People have always struggled to make sense of change that seemed unprecedented in pace, intensity, and implication. Leaders have always been challenged to, as Nike would say, just do it.

Let me help you strengthen your leadership. Let me help you find the truth about fast water in history. Remember, a key part of Lincoln’s achievements as a leader came with his use of the telegraph, the train, and the photograph, none of which existed for him as a teenager.

If you’d like to schedule a chat with me over the phone about my forthcoming book on Lincoln and leadership, click here. I’d enjoy hearing questions, thoughts, or remarks you’d like to share. I’ll bet you’ll find something else in common with Lincoln.