A generation currently lives for about 85 years. My own mother, now 91, brings the average up and it looks like she won't be leaving us anytime soon.
I thought about that when I read that building a cathedral in previous centuries also took about a century. Imagine: you are born, grow up and die, and all that time you look at a construction site.
Then the construction misery on the Amsterdam North-South line is not so bad. A child born in 2002 in Amsterdam – the city where I live – can take a seat in the brand new metro as a student.
Building complex structures takes years and may cost a bit.
Once it is there – or lies, as in the case of the North-South line – you hear no one complaining anymore. It has been paid for. It was worth it.
I don't have any children of my own. That gives me freedom. It is limited, because I certainly do feel responsible for other people. I have stepchildren and I had a foster child, and as a teacher I am a supervisor of students.
Over the past 15 years, it has become popular for promising leaders to hire a coach.
These include psychologists and occupational experts.
But also lawyers and athletes.
Bull breeders and education experts
A judo teacher and an HR manager.
An ex-junkie. An organic farmer. A former minister.
These experts have undoubtedly been good at their job. As lawyers or as bull breeders.
Many of them sell themselves as suppliers of simple answers and quick results. They downplay, they don’t shy away from any prejudice or they are actually there to pay their rent. They miss important signals. They don’t understand deep-rooted psychological reflexes and ingrained thought patterns. They have never seen the inside of a board room.
Entrepreneurs and enterprising employees with a problem like quick results.
There are no simple answers to complex issues.
You don't build a cathedral in seven months.
Half-hearted coaching can make a bad situation worse.
Build your business.
Build yourself.
A lifetime.