Growing businesses and trapeze acts

“What got you here won’t get you there” – Marshall Goldsmith

The trouble with performing the trapeze act is, if you don’t let go of one swing in order to grab the next, you lose momentum and wind up going backward, quickly.

The other issue is, the second swing is the scarier one–it’s the one you’ve not got a grip on yet. Worse, not grabbing it will send you quickly downward. And you can’t hold on to them both at the same time, or you’ll go nowhere.

In a growing business, we often know what the next swing is in front of us. We see it as we hurtle toward it if our eyes are open. It may be a new skill, a new challenge, or a new opportunity within the business. But reaching it is a bit of a leap.

“I had no idea you could code” – a team member

How often do you hear phrases like this? If ‘never’, it might mean you’ve never let go–perhaps you’re happily swinging backward and forwards on your first swing.

What are you afraid to let go of? What will you need to let go of, to make the leap and maintain your forward momentum?