I’m a frog, jumping over roads and rivers on my mission to save my five little colorful froglets. That’s fun! As a kid, I was busy playing Frogger on my family’s computer. I need to cross the street – whoops, didn’t see that truck coming –, jump on crocodiles and catch some flies. Perfectly normal day for a frog.
Next level: I double jump to get even higher and further, memorize routes of multiple lawn mowers, birds, and other predators – and my little baby frogs are far further out than before. I get hit, crushed, and flattened. I continue jumping, learning new routes, and jumping once again – with slightly better timing.
“Life is like a computer game”, a coaching client once discovered. Yeah!
You improve skills, collect resources and experience points, fight the opponent and win – you level up. Great! But then the next level begins. An even more complicated and complex challenge with new rules and new players. So you learn again. You broaden your repertoire, find allies, collect more experience points, test new moves, and develop new strategies. You level up!
And so it continues.
As a leader, you’ll never feel ready. But you need a new repertoire.
The version of you that won the last level can't beat the next one.
Your next level is already loading.
PS:
Just to be clear, next level ≠ promotion.
Through a psychological lens, as human we move through stages of development. Each stage needs a different mindset and skillset to “beat the level”. And by “beating”, I mean to feel fulfilled, succeed in a sustainable way, and thrive.
So you might be on such a threshold right now – without a single thing on your CV changing.
Christine Paulus
ENGLISH | DEUTSCH
