Even if the idea germinates in your brain, it becomes jointly owned as soon as it’s exposed to feedback. The original form evolves. Often, this is how teams are built. We run something past a trusted family member, friend, or coworker and our perspective morphs to include their reaction. We seek a second opinion and the future becomes a ‘choose your own adventure’ book.

Change is coming. Always and forever. We don’t know what it will be. We never do, even though we often predict the future with some accuracy. Sometimes the change matches up with what we expect. Many times, it doesn’t. There’s a twist or a turn that is sparked by part of the equation that was in our blind spot or outside of our control. Either way, we have to cope.

The normal, healthy desire to try something new happens at predictable life stages. The most obvious are at the beginning and end of the career path when we’re either exploring or re-prioritizing. The threshold of midlife, however, isn’t driven by exploration or a shift in priorities. It’s more fueled by growth.

We tend to stumble over the same obstacles over and over again. Each stumble has its own features but is likely to follow a pattern unique to us. Maybe it’s the consequences of being chronically late or perhaps the impact of being obsessively on time. Maybe it’s the result of craving order when times are chaotic or perhaps what follows when your pile of clutter grows out of control. Whatever your private theme happens to be, the realization that it repeats offers you an opportunity for growth.

Employee engagement is a great example of a workplace culture feature we try to capture. There are many variables. In the end, retention tells the story. Unless they have normalized the dysfunction of a toxic workplace, most people use their current unsatisfactory workplace as a funding source for their job hunt. If you are disengaged, you are paid to sleepwalk through your job and your engagement energy is devoted to your next gig. Wouldn’t it be nice to know whether your team was in or out before the resignation letter?

Conflict, by nature, is uncomfortable. It’s difficult to see that it has a purpose when tension is mounting. Even if you knew that the friction had an instrumental role in pushing growth, the anticipated pain might not justify the benefit. It’s easier to find a way to make it go away and get back to familiarity. Growth hurts.

Employee turnover is up. You work so hard to recruit the region’s best talent and competitors are happy to poach your superstars for a little more salary or benefit perks. The cost of replacing people runs between 75% and 150% of the annual salary of the traitor who jumped ship. How do you evolve your organizational culture into a magnet where no one wants to leave?

What are the qualities of the coworker-connection with the teammate with whom you have the most trust? Do you know them well? Have you been through a few challenges together? Does your relationship chemistry just create a good vibe? For most of us, it’s all the above. Depending on the size of your work team, your connection to this trusted colleague may be the thing that brings you back to the grind on Monday morning when every bone in your body is aching for a change.

Unprecedented macroeconomic pressures are creating vulnerability in nearly every industry. Public health workers face rising patient acuity with fewer resources. Medical research must be advanced without funding. Education can no longer honor diversity without disabling consequences. Law firms opting not to capitulate to the party line are blacklisted. Retail sellers must decide whether to eat costs or pass them on to their customers. Working class immigrants fear deportation threats. Supply chain ports must prepare for shrinking volumes. Auto manufacturers need to rethink where to buy parts to assemble their cars. Venture capitalists and private equity firms are having trouble finding investors willing to bet on the future. The list goes on. No industry is immune.

In an ideal world, succession is planful. You take the time to anticipate the next stage of growth and design a strategy that meets the needs of that group. Not everything goes according to plan, so you wisely build in contingencies and prepare to pivot on short notice. However it plays out, it is understood that transitions are triggered by endings.

There was a bad decision. It didn’t work out. People are talking. Your reputation has been stained. Now what? Own it? Full disclosure? “Umm…this happened. We’re sorry for the consequences. We wish we could take it back but, unfortunately, the damage is done. Here’s what we’re going to do next.”

We are all some blend of our ancestors’ genetics and the environmental experience we’ve traveled. My mom was a creative and my dad was an engineer. She told captivating stories while he studied the ingredients on a catsup bottle. I got a little of both. But my environment shaped the outcome.