A keynote at Agile Testing Days by Olaf Lewitz
The final keynote was by Olaf Levitz whom I first met 4 years ago. Olaf’s talk was about change and the main message was that CHANGE STARTS WITH ME!
He asked us to think of everyone we would like to thank at the conference… I had quite a list. I realised that I had actually said thanks to many people during the week, but there were more I needed to thank!
He spoke about real options and what they mean.
“Options have value. Options expire. Never commit early unless you know why.” From @papachrismatts
When you have a choice, you can say no. When you say yes, then you are responsible for your actions. I loved his story about the business owner who is never in the office. He told his staff: “One day you will have the need to call me for a decision. When that happens, lie down, wait for the feeling to pass and then email me with what you’re going to do”. Brilliant!
He also spoke about TEAL organisations and how evolution means Letting go of control not putting more of it in place. I think I’m going to have to buy the book “Reinventing Organisations” and get to grips with this teal business 🙂
So the next time you find yourself complaining at work, think to yourself – was I forced to join this company? Did someone hold a gun to me head? If no, well then you made a choice. Now you have another choice: Are you going to be part of the problem or be part of the solution?