Canaries & Disruption

Here’s two secrets about systems. One. You can’t actually see them. Two. They need disruption. Sounds weird and possibly quite scary, I know. Systems are like water to fish. Completely invisible. A fish doesn’t know what water is. They just know it’s around them at all times and they’re too busy to consider how it may be affecting them. A system isn’t something you are looking at. You are actively squinting through it, like the glasses you forgot you were wearing until someone walks up and takes them off your face.

In the high performance world you love our shiny gadgets and wearable voodoo like devices. You are cosplaying as modern day wizards conjuring meaning from our sleep quality, biometric gobbledygook, and gps breadcrumbs. It is control theater at its finest.

You rarely take a moment to stop and ask what the data is really showing You. Too many believe the idea that they are a meat sack needing optimization so they can pump out an inordinate amount of performance data but they forget that it leaves them with the same amount of meaning as the 90’s motivational cat poster. Hang in there.

Change doesn’t start with a perfect fool proof plan. It starts with your ability to be present. The best coaches I know (at every level) don’t just show up with drills and data. They bring an atmosphere with them. The barometric pressure in the room changes when they walk in. The vibe shifts, like a DJ changing the remix and dropping the beat at the perfect time at the party. The best create a Sanctuary of Safety that allows people to be human.

It’s expected that people will have bad days, meltdowns, highs, lows, and all the other messiness that comes with life. And in these environments you know one bad day won’t exile you to the land of the unworthy. It’s a bit like spiritual jiu jitsu. The more practice time, the more you roll with the higher belts, you begin to learn when to push and when to protect. These lessons are crucial in your personal development because if you don’t have people you feel safe enough to roll with, you will keep playing to the expectations of the masses.

For me the question that pushes through the noise in my brain is how do I invite real disruption to the systems I am a part of? If you are honest, it’s most likely already in the room. It’s hiding in plain sight blending in with the locals. It is the injury you’ve been treating in secret. It’s the doubt you would never consider speaking to the team. Its in the hesitancy to call out the failure of your leader because you’re too damn scared.

Disruption isn’t a blip or a glitch in the system. It is a guru of growth.

But you usually treat it like hypocrites treat mirrors. You keep it around the house for decoration but never stop long enough to actually look yourself in the eyes.

What if you did stop long enough and allow disruption to teach you something. You will almost always assume the worst will come from disruption. This is a natural tendency. But, what if disruption could reveal where you are crushing it? It is not a blemish we need to cover. It is a glimpse into the mind of the prophet. So don’t be like the characters in the ancient texts telling the prophet to shut up and go home because the truth stings. You should probably listen.

Disruption will come. It’s not a question of if but of when. Your level of discernment and ability to listen to the heart of disruption is paramount. Stepping into a posture of curiosity and learning is difficult, deep work. But you are fully capable of turning what used to feel like jabs setting up a combination into true growth.

And those people you’ve labeled a villains. The brutally honest coworker who’s tired of watching you try so hard to fit in with your fake politeness. The new guy who accidentally bucks the system because he didn’t know the rules yet. Maybe, they aren’t your enemies. There’s a high likelihood they are the canary in your performance coal mine. But if you were honest you could admit that your fear makes you want to drown the canary so you don’t risk hearing it’s warning.

In order to grow you have to become more skilled at taking the jagged teeth of disruption and allow them to slide against the narrative you’ve been telling yourself. The sparks that fly off the grinding will spark fire. This fire is what you need for change. It is commitment that looks like chaos to the uneducated. When the heat of the spark shows up, raising the temperature just enough to cause molecules to be restless, bonds loosen. Then oxygen slides into the room like a smooth accomplice offering a better deal. A more intimate bond. And in that moment the old structure is gone and new bonds create an excess of energy.

This energy must go somewhere. So it is released as heat. As light. A glow flickering morse code whispering in the crackling silence, this can’t go back to what it was before.

Without the friction to create the spark, your life, the culture of the team you lead, your family, your friendships will calcify into compliance. You don’t need to be some polite, well spoken, robotic version of yourself. You’re meant to be free. To be real. You’re meant to be fire.

So.

Perhaps it’s time to call out the invisible.

Say what has remained unspoken for too long.

Make room for the courage of the rebel and the questioning of the philosopher.

Because in a world pushing you to be addicted to feeling like you’re in control by abiding by the rules of the system, the most radical act may just be to welcome this disruption so you can feel, listen, speak, and truly see.