Treasure Wild Ducks
I learned the concept of Wild Ducks on IBM. I was on a team where it didn’t feel it was applied by the local management (actually it was the other way around), but it was encouraged by the worldwide leaders.
The concept is very simple, and was explained with a video. If you feed a wild duck (regularly), -and it leaves the flock- it becomes domestic. A wild duck is a person with unconventional ideas, someone who challengue the status quo. It was a interesting concept applied to the IT industry, treasure those employees that love to change the things. It is a more interesting concept applied to a self-professional life.
Most of us can relate to this concept: you leave the college, you want to change the world, be the best, use the best practices, innovate, create. You challenge your boss because you think you have new ideas, you have the energy to create new companies based on “new” ideas. But as the time passes, and you got more experience that start to change. You don’t want to change the world, but change YOUR world. You don’t need to be the best, just better. You want to use the best practices, but sometimes if just works it’s enough. Innovation is good … if you have time. Create is awesome … but you don’t want to spend all your nights on it. You are not a wild duck anymore, and is sad.
If you are like me, you have the luck of have passion for your job, and be a domestic duck is a difficult place to be. So, can’t really a domestic duck convert itself on a wild again? Maybe you are thinking the same as me, this is the simple “getting out of the confort zone”, but is not a wild duck a more sticky and romantic concept?
Yes we can, and hopeful nobody will push you out from the confort zone. If somebody else push you, it’s forced, and most of the time it is traumatic: you’re fired, you need to relocate, you’re forced to move of role. If you push yourself out of the confort zone you will have the motivation of do it again and again.
And please do it, if you want to change your country, your city or your family you need to start for yourself. You need to be forced to learn a new skill, talk a new language, adquire a new concept. You need force yourself to be a better person thru challenging circunstances. Try that old project on a new programming language. Write a blog in english. Apply to be speaker on a conference, organize a conference in your university. Move to another country.
And that’s what I did, I moved abroad, and it was the most challenging professional experience in my life. It was something good for my family too. It worth it, I don’t regret having done it, in fact I encourage more people to do it, at least for one year or some months. It’s a cultural change, something that will enrich your mindset (and your Curriculum Vitae!).