"Crisis is an opportunity riding the dangerous wind."

In the book "Turn Toward the Wind: Embracing Change in Your Life" (page 22) the author Dale Hanson Bourke points out that the Chinese symbols for the word "crisis" are identical to those for the word "opportunity."  The symbols literally translated read, "Crisis is an opportunity riding the dangerous wind."

Change is tough.  Earlier in my career the agency where I worked faced a major reorganization.  It would be an understatement to say that my colleagues' mood about the reorganization was largely negative.  They saw the impending change as a crisis in their lives.  For most it meant uprooting their families. 

At first I was not happy about it either.  I was just finishing a year-long executive leadership training program.  My goal was to move into a supervisory position in Headquarters.  However, the reorganization was slated to eliminate three out of the six current supervisory positions.  I was disappointed when agency management decided not to announce the positions, but filled them with existing supervisors.  It looked like I would have to wait for one of the supervisors to retire or change agencies before I would have the opportunity I sought.

But rather than focusing on the negative, I looked for an opportunity in the field.  I knew that meant another move. I was a young single woman in an agency that was still largely male dominated, and I had never held a supervisory position before.  There were a dozen existing supervisors who would be competing for the six remaining supervisory positions in the field, and those selected for the positions would have the additional challenge of dealing with employees' resistance to change.    The odds were clearly stacked against me getting selected.  However, I wanted to communicate that I was serious about moving up into a supervisory position.  I listed out the pros and cons, and after praying for guidance, applied for all six positions.

The Friday before Easter I was called into the selecting official's office.  I was totally taken back when he selected me to serve as one of the field supervisors!