Sometimes change happens to you, and sometimes you invite change into your life. I recently did that when I decided to bring a sweet 9-week old puppy to my household, and it’s turning into a deep-dive personal experiment in adaptability and resilience.

Making new choices, especially those aimed at improving ourselves or our work routines, can feel like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. In the tumultuous world of leadership where change is the one thing you can count on, adaptability to new and emerging challenges is key.

I just logged Dip 252 in Lake Ontario. When I did my first dip with a group of friends as part of a large community event in November 2002, I thought. “Ah, I’ll try anything once!”. No one could be more surprised than I was to discover I wanted to do it again. And again, and again.

Change is here to stay and it’s stressing a lot of people out. We are all trying to adapt as best as we can, but some of the normal “go to” strategies that used to work aren’t helping like we might expect. Put together a global pandemic, the proliferation of artificial intelligence and rapid change into the mix and the need to re-think productivity is more important than ever.

Ever been really committed to a goal, but found yourself facing unexpected hurdles, unrealistic deadlines and you’ve been seemingly ghosted by your collaborators?