HERE'S TO THE NAVIGATORS

We all get lost at some point - geographically, professionally, emotionally, socially. And for most of us it's an unsettling enough feeling that we subsequently make efforts to avoid it happening again. We map out our life goals and our career paths. We drive around with our GPS. None of these efforts is infallible, but they are all very comforting. Yet in our efforts to avoid getting lost, we lose something of life. There is something to be said for the spontaneity and randomness and adventure that gets sacrificed - things we embraced as kids and then suppressed with age and the fear born of experience. On one level, it's probably a good trade. But it does come at a cost. 

If not literally, it feels like we are at least figuratively reverting to the age when people feared sailing out of sight of land. We cling to the perceived certainty of our places, our plans and our identities. For there be monsters out there in the unknown, made bigger in our telling of tales about those who risked becoming lost and never returned. And to be sure there are many such tales with tragic endings - both for individuals and organizations.

But at the same time, history has always been shaped by those who - in every field of human endeavour - had the courage to lose themselves but also possessed something else: the creativity, knowledge and patience to find their way back. We'd all be less afraid to venture out if we still believed we could navigate by the stars.