There are sentences that accompany us throughout our lives. Not because they sound particularly spectacular, but because they are spoken at the right moment. Honest, clear and with attitude.
A few years ago, I was at a point that many of us know: Ten years in the company, a lot invested, but internally at a dead end. My sponsor was about to leave, changes were imminent, and I felt frustration. I began to look around, to examine offers, to weigh up possibilities.
During this phase, one of the business line leaders approached me. He had sensed that I was searching inwardly. His advice was simple but precise:
“Running away is not an option. But if you can take a developmental step, it’s worth thinking about.”
This sentence has been burned into my memory. And as an invitation to examine my decisions on a different level.
1- Don’t act out of frustration. Those who only run away remain inwardly bound to what they leave behind.
2- A step is worthwhile if it means development, if it allows me to grow, opens up new perspectives, challenges me.
3- The value of this advice lay not only in the content, but in the way it was expressed: honest, with integrity, without an agenda.
Since then, this compass has accompanied me. Is what I am considering a developmental step or just a way out?
This advice has helped me to make decisions not out of fear or frustration, but out of clarity and responsibility for my own path. And it reminds me that it’s the simple, honest sentences at the right moment that shape us.
And with you? Was there any advice in your career that still accompanies you today, like this sentence for me?
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I am Bernd Scharbert and I like to accompany and advise when it comes to preparing difficult decisions in business or on a personal level. If this resonates with you, let’s talk.
