While enjoying my summer holidays, I was going back in my mind a decade or so.
I noticed two interesting things.
First, many of the the issues which were important at that time, are no longer on my radar. Did I really stress out over that project? Were these the most important business problems at that time?
It shows that the world is not only changing, but we adapt and change with it. Yet, these changes are so natural and often gradual that we may not notice we have changed as well.
This leads to my second insight: Many core beliefs, assumptions and truisms no longer ring true. I no longer follow certain leadership philosophies. I even consider some of my past cherished beliefs about business, leadership and management somewhat naive.
I also realized that in some areas I have exchanged a healthy curiosity for a set of dogmatic beliefs along the way: I have moved from being a student to becoming a follower.
Exchanging curiosity for certainty is a comfortable position, yet it can be deadly for high-performance judgment.