There's one line in particular that resonated with me the most while reading Grit.
It sounds like this:
Imagine two runners spending the same amount of time running, but one of them goes 20 times further.
🏃......................................🏃..
I'm not even saying you have to run in a particular direction, but why run in circles?
Any time we quit, we move backward as well as forward. We have to build new relationships. We have to get used to the new working environment. We have to train for a new product or service or processes or tools.
It's not without its benefits! Typically that's better pay and, increasingly, an opportunity to redirect along a path more aligned with your life goals.
But imagine you make the decision to quit every few years. That's a lot of backwards motion.
It's especially damaging for highly-skilled, highly-specific professions, the kind that require significant expertise and experience.
You don't want an engineer with one year of experience in 20 different applications designing your airplanes.
Road trip! 🚗
It's the high-wage earners that get me worried about the Great Resignation, and frankly, the future of American innovation.
We're all in big trouble if only a small subset of the population has the ability to design airplanes, treat cancer, build skyscrapers, develop telecom, or any of the other innumerable impactful and challenging roles we play.
I'd rather see us try to remake our workplaces from within than leave them altogether. If we're capable of these kinds of achievements, surely we're capable of building a better business.
