How often do you find yourself reflecting on the path not taken? Maybe it’s with curiosity, regret or perhaps relief. On a personal level we are of course faced with many choices and decisions and in each moment, we hopefully do our best to consider all the consequences and impacts – on us and others.
What about in the world of business? As leaders, what time do we spend reflecting on the quality of our choices from the wider perspective of our values and beliefs and the impacts on others? We are all working within the container of our own evolutionary path and the same is true for organisations. When we consider the culture, values and practices underpinning any organisations we can get an insight into the way they make choices and reflect on impacts.
As we see so clearly with the benefit of hindsight and history, the things that were acceptable in the collective consciousness in the past are no longer acceptable today – whether that’s the way we treat people in the workplace, the way we treat the planet or the levels of self-interest of all stakeholders. The bar has shifted so the choices we made ‘then’ hopefully in some cases would not survive the light of day today.
But that all depends on whether we have evolved and whether we have reflected on our own individual progress as well as the collective progress. It also depends on the degree to which we ‘invest’ in expanding our consciousness and awareness so that we challenge ourselves – individually and as collectives within organisations – to make better choices.
As a young executive in the 80s my worldview was very different to the one I have now. I know I would make different choices today if I were facing some of those same situations even though I couldn’t have made different decisions back then – my consciousness wasn’t sufficiently developed. It’s only by being prepared to self-evaluate, reflect and strive for better outcomes from our own choices that we can advance the quality of life for all.
The path not taken can be cause for regret, but its real value is to help us understand the quality of our journey, our evolutionary path and the impacts we are having today.