It turned out that my personal life wasn't going to be the only construction site that required attention this year. The company I've been with for 7 years had been without a CEO for a couple of months and the "new guy" was only joining in March. It became more and more difficult to drive change in the organization - and that's the one thing I was supposed to do in my position. The uncertainty, the waiting game, and the politics seemed to paralyze the organization like a deer in the headlights. Getting anything done suddenly required double the effort for half the results.

Weeks went by. Then months. The new leadership team formed and with that new opportunities opened up on the horizon. I was tapped early on to start discussions about a new role. But discussions dragged on. At times, the new position sounded super attractive. Then, usually a week or so later, it looked like things were moving into a completely different direction and I was going to see an incremental or lateral move at best. In addition, the role I occupied was being made redundant as part of the restructuring. So that potential new opportunity that wasn't really defined yet suddenly became the "only option", unless I was going to look for something else completely. So much for driving change - now change was driving me.

A sobering moment when I realized that it actually meant quitting (or better: letting myself be made redundant) with no real back-up plan, if the new role turned out to be below expectations. But it was also a great chance to realize that I had enough clarity on motives, interests, and purpose to look at that uncertainty a little more relaxed. I became confident that I'd find my way to something new and exciting if it came to that. Well, there was no need for it so far, as I was promoted into that new role we had discussed early on.

Now my biggest concerns are around how to get the job done and what I need to get better at to be successful in it. That back-up plan will, once again, be future Renato's problem.