Resolve Matters More Than Ever

Resolve is fun and difficult!

Four years ago, I wrote a rather glum blog in the aftermath of the election of 2016.  I struggled with plenty of feelings and the realization I had a skewed vision of my fellow citizens.  In that darkness of the soul, I over-ate and did some reflection.  Today, the election results are different, but I do not feel any big jolt of joy.  Instead, I feel a deep sense of resolve.

I said the following in 2016, “Even in darkness, we can find resolve and purpose.”  Today, I feel more committed to that sentence.  We are in the middle of a terrible pandemic, the economy is deeply dysfunctional, and political polarization creates a toxic brew of resentment.  Fixing these challenges is daunting.  I have naïve faith that collectively, we can overcome these difficulties.  I feel this way because it is up to people of good faith to do the hard work to help unify the country and deliver value to its people.  People like me.

I joined the agile reformation because I felt there was a better way to work.  The toil and struggle of working on technology projects could be fixed and agile with four values, and twelve principles showed the way.  It was easy to learn the ideas of agile but carrying them out in the real world is complicated.  You cannot host a meeting with a slide deck and expect people to start leading their businesses differently.  Agile requires technical excellence, servant leadership, psychological safety, and putting in the extra effort.  

The goal of agile is to make the workplace more satisfying, sustainable, and sane.  If people like myself can make work better for others, then we can slowly begin to neutralize the poison which exists in society.  People who can support families and who work in healthy environments are less likely to support authoritarianism.  I am working to make the world a better place, one cubical at a time. 

We are still in a dark time.  The world is not going to fix itself.  It requires smart people working hard to create reasonable solutions that people can embrace.  It is not going to be easy.  Agile and servant leadership will provide direction and purpose.

I look forward to continuing to lead change and help make work better one step at a time.  I am proud to be part of the reformation, and I hope you will continue to follow me as I share nuggets of wisdom I gather along the way.

Until next time.