More on the topic of chairs

Not long after I had written two posts: the one about t superbosses and the one about wishing to sit in the manager's chair I came with the idea to combine the two posts. Because it struck me: if you went to a job interview with one of Sydney Finkelstein's excellent managers with the point of view that in five years you would like to sit where the manager now sits; the hiring would most likely take it as given - why should she be interested in candidates who aren't ambitious? So I'm convinced that the superboss will take her candidate as far as possible and get as much as possible from the person in the process. The question mentions five years as a measure of "a long time", and much may have happened that could be of great value to the company before "long time" has passed.
Yes, it is more likely that the excellent leader calls on her employees to wish for the boss's chair, rather than to refrain from thinking so.
(Translated from Mere om siddepladser, originally published May 15th, 2016)

On the topic of lions

Some time ago, I was presented with a figure like the one enclosed in this post, accompanied by the explaination that it showed the way in which a person's ability within a subject area evolves over time: in the beginning, while acquiring the ability, the person is a "young lion" - ​​ambitiously pursuing more and more knowledge, getting better and better at doing what the person does, and constantly striving towards higher goals.
At one point, one becomes satisfied; one will become, so to speak, a "mature lion" that exists well with what one has acquired - but does not do anything to maintain and develop the skill set, so that it slowly goes downhill - until one at last becomes an "old lion", and one's skills really start to deteriorate badly.
It's an interesting point, as the transition between states has nothing to do with calendar time or age. It is quite simply a choice (or perhaps a deselection, but in any case: a result of a priority) when you change from young to mature and eventually to old lion. The person who showed me the figure was of the opinion that Warren Buffett showed in his competencies all the characteristics of a young lion - and if you can do it at the age plus eighty, most of us should still have the chance to prioritize correctly. It is merely to make a choice - and decide that on the points that matter, you will remain a young lion.
(Translated from "Noget om løver", originally published January 31st, 2012)

On the topic of big dreams

In relation to the death of Muhammad Ali a couple of weeks ago, I ran into a quote which might (or might not) be a Muhammad Ali-quote. I have seen it attributed to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia, as well; she said it in a speech to the graduating class from Harvard in 2011. Deep down, however, it is of less importance who originally said that:

If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.

- I am certain that it is true. Because if our dreams become so small and unambitious that they are mostly there for cosiness, then we have dragged them so far into the comfort zone that we should have been living them long ago, while starting to dream more ambitiously. Otherwise we have just arrived in a situation, where we do not dream. We have simply fallen asleep. (Translated from Noget om store drømme)