Willingness to Let Go

It sounds intuitive that when faced with uncertainty, the biggest challenge is setting the right strategy. In fact, most failures to adapt result from a leader’s inability to let go of what has made them successful in the past. Kodak invented the first digital camera, but Kodak’s executives decided not to do anything with it for eighteen years. Blockbuster had three chances to buy Netflix. ⠀

Successful CEOs are experts at letting go, whether by letting go of past strategies, business models, or personal habits. ⠀

Many leaders begin their careers as passionate craftsmen but at times need to let go of the very practices that drove their success to adapt to an ever-changing world. 

Changing any habit is difficult, but changing habits we love that fueled past success can be incredibly challenging and counterintuitive. I’ve seen many leaders eager to transform their organizations yet defiantly resist letting go of past systems and models for newer and more efficient ones because they get too comfortable with the familiar. To their detriment, they stop evolving and stagnate while their hungry competition moves forward with more innovative and updated approaches. ⠀

Great leaders are insatiably becoming better, different, and more informed. In this act of constant adaptation, they are becoming more comfortable with discomfort, which ultimately secures their future success.