Audrey Hepburn was an iconic movie star who rose to stardom in the 1950s. For her performance in Roman Holiday in 1953, she won an Oscar, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Award for a single performance. The same year she also won a Tony Award for Ondine.
To this day, she is one of the few women who have won all major entertainment awards. By the 1960s she was on the path to becoming a star for decades to come.
But then she chose another path.
She decided to quit acting and devoted the rest of her life to humanitarian work. Despite being at the height of popularity she switched careers and worked with UNICEF. For the next 25 years, she worked in some of the poorest communities of Africa, South America, and Asia. In recognition of this, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.
In the world of business…
IBM is one company that is known to depart businesses – often while they are still profitable. IBM moved away from the PC business in the late 1980s to focus on providing IT consulting services to large organisations.
Today IBM is worth over $127 billion.
Pivoting at the height of success
We know of businesses that were thriving, but took too long to adapt and lost opportunities that market changes offer. Leaders have a crucial responsibility of anticipating and steering change within organisations. One of the most challenging aspects of change is getting people to let go and embrace a newer way of thinking and operating.
It starts with you as the leader regularly reviewing and tuning the direction that factors changes in the business environment. Today’s workplace needs leaders to keep the engagement strong and responsive to change, be it in getting the team to work on a new product, developing a set of new skills, or providing new direction to the business.
Being agile allows for easier transition to change. And the best time to start this is when business is on an upswing.
The differentiating factor is your ability as a leader to consistently communicate with your people, shape a culture of continuous improvement, and enable people to adapt to change.
Storytelling adds power to your communication and enhances the ability to influence, inspire and impact.
About The Author
Vinod Krishna is a brand storytelling trainer and consultant at DustyPaths.
He brings 3 decades of experience in leading people, projects, and businesses
to forge new paths in brand storytelling and leadership development.
He is an avid barefoot runner, trekker, theater artist, and photographer.
Connect with him on LinkedIn