If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less.
General Eric Shinseki, Former US Army Chief of Staff
Like a lot of young people these days, I wanted to be a lawyer when I was young. I worked hard to get into law school and succeeded in becoming a successful practicing lawyer - one of only 5% of my class that did so. After two years of practice though I found myself hankering to make a more direct and immediate impact than going through traditional legal channels would allow.
While looking at alternative careers in business or non-profits, I came to realize that one thing was true of all truly successful organizations. They were able to create "self-leading teams". I'm not talking about things like quality control circles or cross-functional action teams. What I'm talking about are teams that are essentially fire-and-forget, reducing the need for hierarchies. The three main inputs to creating these teams were a clearly thought out strategy, a communication system that made the strategy easy to understand and enduring, and an ability to create a group and self image in people that made them proud of who they were and what they were contributing to.
Armed with this insight, I set out to conquer the world ... or at least to carve out an interesting place for myself in it. Where has my path lead me? Human resources supervisor, training and learning consultant, regional and national director, communications advisor, presenter, organizational development consultant, change manager, volunteer, advisor to senior managers and C-level executives, and happy about my progress to date (though I'd still like to get back to that world-conquering thing some day if I can find the time).
Next steps? Publish, speak more, learn and help others. Above all, strive never to be irrelevant.