The Curse of Complacency

Photo by Oleg Demakov on Unsplash

Attaining leadership - in a business, in an organization, in any sphere of life - is a difficult task. It demands a lot of us and absorbs us as we pursue the path. At times, the task feels beyond us, and yet we persevere and work towards our ambitions. So when we get there, it feels like an achievement. Because, of course, it is.

The thing we forget, though, is that we haven’t actually reached the end of the path. On the contrary, it’s just the beginning. So we can’t afford to take our foot off the gas, no matter how tempting, no matter how much we ‘need a break’. 

But it sure as hell is tempting. And that’s the issue, because, as I’ve come to believe, the biggest threat to leadership in any market is complacency. Not the competition, not the government, not market forces. They all play a role, for sure, but how we react to them, how we consider their impact, how we position and adapt ourselves is what really matters, the primary determinants of our leadership longevity.

The point is that achievement is not a destination, it’s a stepping stone, a point along the way. And journeys, especially meaningful ones, don’t really come to an end. They twist and turn, they morph, and in return, they demand the same of us. Or they leave us by the wayside. 

That can be a difficult thing to accept, especially given what it takes to get to “the top”, so to speak. But the sooner we accept it, the better.  

Perhaps that’s the real lesson: that maintaining leadership means, in a way, never accepting that you actually have it in the first place.