So, what is your attitude?

For some, these messages are threatening and gloomy, but for others these same messages are full of opportunity. Either way, if you can hear these rhythms , if you see their reality, then you have three choices: isolate , stagnate or navigate .

An Isolator

Isolators create a world of denial. They look to build artificial barriers that will protect them from change. They seek to maintain all the features of the status quo. They want success to stay defined as it is now. They advocate the closed society and, for some with money and power, this pathway is a real possibility. The danger for Isolators comes when the barriers are breached. As with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the new order comes sweeping in, taking with it all that was good and all that wasn t.

A Stagnator

Stagnators see the change but are paralysed in the present. They have lost the knowledge, the will and the ability to embrace change. They seek to create a spiritual desert where nothing changes because they can t see the choices or, if they can, these choices seem to be out of reach. The effects of stagnation are debilitating for the individual and society as a whole. ^{[ 4]} Stagnators fail to move because they can see no way to navigate safely to the future.

A Navigator

Navigators seek to find a way to a desired future destination. They use imagination , innovation and creativity to define the opportunities, to go with the change and they carefully pick their way through the perils . Navigators live in a world where the chance of being bruised is just part of life. For them the feeling of movement is what provides stability and safety. For Isolators and Stagnators, comfort and stability come from clarity of positioning in the present. Somehow Navigators heads are wired differently to others. They seek out and network with other Navigators because they want to live in a world of learning and mutual support. Most importantly they take personal responsibility to lead.

This is a world in which we all need to either become Navigators or be prepared to follow their lead.

Table 2.1 provides a quick diagnosis for Isolators, Stagnators and Navigators. If the diagnosis is not to your liking then the challenge is to make the transition. It is both an internal and an external journey.

Table 2.1: Seven questions for would-be Navigators

Questions	Isolator	Stagnator	Navigator
1. Is the idea of discomfort an opportunity or a threat?	Threat	Threat	Opportunity
2. Am I the first to challenge the current rules for success?	Never	Maybe, if I am not benefiting from the status quo	Always
3. Do I think about the world in terms of moving or of positioning?	Positioning	Positioning	Moving
4. Do I see the status quo as the safest or the least risky place to be?	Safest	Safest	Often as the most risky
5. What is my approach to change?	Prefer it to be incremental and to be done carefully	Reluctant	Find it desirable especially when it is exponential
6. If I think about strategy at all, how do I see it?	It s all about planning but you can t plan in a fast changing world	It doesn t work	It s about those few ideas which drive thinking
7. Are imagination and innovation optional for me and my organisation?	Optional	Dangerous	Essential

^{[ 4]} Dialogue from the film The Matrix , as quoted in G Yeffeth (ed. ), Taking the Red Pill: Science, philosophy and religion in The Matrix, BenBella Books, Dallas,Texas, 2003, page 91.