"Caution: High Voltage!" You’ve seen that sign on electrical panels, transformer sheds, or power poles. Sometimes the warning is blunt: "Keep Out: Will Kill."
Transforming 10,000 volts into 220 is a dangerous game for the untrained. It takes an engineer’s knowledge, experience, and tools to tame invisible energy. One mistake brings convulsions, burns, or death.
Here’s a secret: every transformation is dangerous.
Ancient people knew this. Big changes came only through touching the transcendent—a force beyond that could renew or ruin life. Structured rituals, guided by elders, controlled the intensity of meeting the Unknown.
Modern folks have forgotten. They dive into experiments, bold in scope, reckless in fallout. For individuals, it’s things like so-called personal growth seminars, casual psychedelic trips, or shamanic retreats stripped of cultural roots.
Governments increasingly engage in social engineering, destroying "backward" traditions and imposing "correct" worldviews, values, behavior, and even food habits. The result? Wild election swings, protests, riots, and worse.
In business, “transformation” is the buzzword. People think it’s like a sauna visit—pay, sweat, emerge reborn. Reality bites harder:
Initiatives flop, resources vanish, and teams sulk after another false start.
Companies get stuck in limbo, unable to let go of the past, the future keeps slipping away.
Yes, staying still isn’t an option. But to avoid fake progress, paralysis, or disaster, treat transformation with the respect and vigilance our ancestors gave fire 400,000 years ago.
In practice, this means:
Study the risks of the upcoming initiative.
Look for those who have been there and done that.
Remember, landing matters as much as takeoff and flight.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
How can I help you?
If you've long been trying to understand what is limiting you and/or your business and how to finally give important changes a push, then The Catalyst Session is designed specifically for you. Book it here.