The Road Ahead
Late one evening I was channel surfing, finding something to watch which would ease my transition from a full on day to a restful night’s sleep. You know how that can be, where your thoughts keep whirling around in your head and it’s hard to find peace.
Anyway, I found a programme to land on and heard the actor that was playing an FBI agent say that there is a reason the rear view mirror is smaller than the windscreen. That the road ahead is more important than what is behind you. Of course you could interpret that in a comical way in that the rear view mirror has to technically be smaller to work but try to forget all that. The statement really made me think about the point the actor was making.
I don’t know about you, but I can get caught up in endlessly obsessing and replaying past events in my head, hoping for a better outcome in some cases and wishing I could go back and live other moments again because they were so special and fun. The truth of the matter is, try as we might, there is no going back, only forward.
When I thought some more about the actor’s words, I was excited about this. The past can inform us as to how far we have come; we pick up lessons and make adjustments to what we do and say based on these, yet it is our focus on the road ahead, what we do next, that requires our focus. If we keep our eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead, and our minds open to possibilities, we see clearly where we need to head.
If I apply this to our company, I am excited by what we are doing today, the fantastically talented people we work with, the lives we change because of the roles we find people, contractor or permanent, to further their careers which in turn opens up their lives to so many more opportunities. I love the way today we are writing code and designing systems which transform businesses. Where we are heading is new for us.
Every week we have new colleagues join us, take on new assignments, look at new business opportunities such as the acquisitions we have made in the past few years and the partnerships we have put in place, the many new skills we all learn throughout the year gives us personally new opportunities to do new things. We innovate, we shape thinking in governments, in the world of tech through the podcasts and the digital leadership reports we publish. Each and every one of us in our business is making a difference because of the forward focus we have. There isn’t a day that goes by for me without learning about something new and exciting that has happened, or about to happen, somewhere in the 16 countries in which we work.
We have reached the half way mark through our financial year and many teams will be planning second half meetings to celebrate the achievements so far, I look forward to joining you in as many of these as I can. These meetings also look forward at what your plans are for the months ahead, building on the foundations of success.
The road ahead is full of endless possibilities for us all. I will always reflect on where we have come from, I think it’s important to honour and respect the past, after all we would not be where we are today if we hadn’t achieved all that has been done to date. At the same time, how exciting is it to think about how much further we are able to go.
Enjoy the travels on the road ahead.