anneli rufus

Standing Still (or Stuck?)

In her book Stuck: Why We Can’t (Or Won’t) Move on, author Anneli Rufus conjures up some provoking ideas about how individuals, groups or organizations can get in the rut that becomes “stuck.” Clearly no one sets out to get stuck. Certainly no organization wants to become a victim of the here-and-then approach to success, right? Alas, it happens all the time. Rufus suggests that there are some clear ways that we can get stuck, including focusing on the ideals of the past and grinding away at habits (even when we know they’re not moving us forward).

Within organizations, there is a clear call to innovate, move into the future and cut a new path. With the call so clear, how do we find ourselves stuck? There is a certain power to being aware of how where we come from, where we are now and where we want to go. Keep that blend of the time perspectives–essential to staying “unstuck.” Rufus writes:

We can’t airbrush the present. This ache right now, that whimpering child, this bill are all too real. Nor can the future be made to stop dwindling….Time is our worst enemy, and only in our visions of the past can we control time. Only in our visions of the past does time stand still. This is how we get stuck.