The longest plans are indistinguishable from destiny.

Two things are going on right now in my life.

First, my company has grown 24x in the last 24 months.

Secondly, I am rereading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.

Now you may be asking, what do these things have in common? 

If you did, you are probably a normal human being.  If you didn’t and you know exactly what I am talking about, then you, my good person, are my people.

For those of you who have no idea where this is going, let me fill you in.

The Foundation Series spans thousands of years, and the main protagonist is a man called Hari Seldon.  Humanity has colonized the stars, and our population is uncountable. But he uses “math” to discover that civilizations is about to collapse and bring in the dark ages and puts into motion a plan that will take thousands of years to…

… reduce how long the dark ages will last.

Ok, not the happy ending most books these days give, but hey, it’s good.

So what does this have to do with a business, you say?

It displays the difference between a leader and an employee.

It is employees job to focus on the day, the week, or maybe the quarter.  They focus on tasks.

It is a leader’s job to think in years, decades… or for the most ambitious ones, centuries. They focus on direction.

This is not of course, to say that most of us who run organizations can do this.

This thought was just top of mind since just recently, the leadership team I have has started hitting its stride, and while we are facing the challenges that come with a fast-growing company, I realized just a few days ago that I did not realize that many “tasks” were on my plate.

At first, it felt weird. 

My reflex was to start looking for more tasks.  Because being busy means I am productive as a leader, right?

But then I thought back to The Foundation books.

That is not how the “hero” in that book succeeds.  He does not focus on the small tasks.  He focuses on the big picture and the impact made years or millennia down the road.  

This is giving me a new perspective.  I am taking a step back and trying not to jump into the daily tasks.  I need to see the big picture and keep the destination in mind as we move forward.

This is not what I have done as a bootstrap entrepreneur over the last 20 years, so it is foreign to me.

But I will try…

… right after I answer the last 5 emails in my inbox… and then maybe code a new app to help make our marketing reports better… and make a new marketing funnel…

🙂