An inflection point is often thought of as the biggest disruption an industry can face. One might occur, for example, when incumbents get rattled by competitors exploiting new technologies. Andy Grove first introduced the term to business strategy as “an event that changes the way we think and act.” But these intensely challenging moments not only happen in companies and industries, they happen in careers, as well. They are points when — for whatever reason — the conditions we work in or the expectations placed on us are so fundamentally altered that, if we don’t adapt, we will fail.
3 Ways Executives Can Manage Challenging Moments in Their Careers
When executives hit career inflection points, it is common for them to feel inadequate. Coming up with the right answers to their problems becomes more challenging. As seasoned leaders, they use skills and strategies that yielded great results in the past, but that don’t solve the new problems of the present. To adapt to change, they need to stop investing so much energy in coming up with better answers and start asking better questions: Where should my focus be ? What does it mean to provide leadership in my organization? But people in positions of power often struggle with this because they’ve been encouraged to be fonts of accurate answers — not posers of catalytic questions. Seeking out an executive coach can be a tremendous help. Executives facing career inflection points should look for a coach who can help them do three things: Surface the questions that drive their day-to-day decisions, reframe their questions to make room for new solutions, and build their capacity to start asking better questions on your own.