Fast forward a few years. I was now a first-time manager.
Our boss, the company owner, Mr. Müd, walked in one day with a surprise.
No speech, no memo. Just a stack of boxes.
Inside each box? A Macintosh computer. One for every employee.
“And a printer,” he added casually. “Now you’re your own secretaries. Write your memos yourself.”
The room went silent.
Some stared at the shiny screens like they had just been handed alien artifacts.
I thought of my Lotus 1-2-3 days and smiled, until I realized this was not just about typing. It was about a shift in how we worked.
It was not long before another company, Boehringer Ingelheim, showed me an even bigger leap.
No paper memos. Only intranet. Only emails.
After my initial resistance, I understood: the world of work had gone from “document” to “digital conversation.”
Then came the Blackberry.
Convenient, yes. But painful. It would not open Excel sheets or attachments. Still, it was my first taste of being “always connected.”
And then, Steve Jobs walked on stage, and the iPhone arrived.
The office was not just in our pockets. The world was.
Do not fight the wave of change. Learn to surf it.
Every new tool is a language, learn it before you need it.
The faster you adapt, the more opportunities will find you.
Every leap in technology is a chance to leap in your career.
If you embrace it early, you are not just keeping up — you are leading.
That IS why the best leadership is not about resisting change but mastering it, and why the best management books always underline the same truth: technology shifts are also leadership shifts.
Whether you are exploring change management in practice, searching for the best leadership books to guide your growth, or looking for management books that bridge old lessons with new realities, the message is clear: leaders who adapt early do not just survive transitions, they define them.
So here is the question: if the next world-changing tool lands in your hands tomorrow, will you lead the change, or be led by it?
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