Solving problems that we can’t predict yet will require people with the ability to figure out the solutions without waiting for permission or instructions.

99% of things you and your team will need to do to be successful and to stand out from the crowd in the future are going to be things you’ve never done before.

Your current expertise and experiences will not be enough for the unexplored terrain that lies ahead.

In other words: “what got you here, won’t get you there.”

They say that the best way to predict and prepare for the future is to design it, but this is easier said than done these days.

With disruption coming at us faster than ever before and from every corner, preparing for the future seems the ability of the past.

Instead, you will need to respond creatively in real time and come up with your own map and tools to solve the unexpected problems that the future is guaranteed to bring.

You will have to innovate, take risks, figure new things out, experiment and go out of your comfort zone in order to get the results that will set you apart from the average.

You and your team might not have the necessary expertise or experience yet, so you will need to have people around you who are resourceful, who have the tenacity and the courage to go and ask, go and learn, go and tap their network, go and figure it out on their own.

You will want to have people who instead of saying “I don’t know how” will be saying “I don’t know how yet, but I’m gonna go and find out.”

You will need the A-players; the linchpins.

Linchpins are people with the resourcefulness built into their DNA. They are the people who don’t play by the book because they write a new playbook as they go, and who troubleshoot their way out of problems with the “Yes, I can!” attitude.

These people are indispensable in any organization that has an ambition to be innovative and winning in the unpredictable world of our future.

If you are a leader or an HR /P&C specialist, here is a question for you:

How do you plan to attract these linchpins to come to work for you, and how will you keep them?

Tip: The linchpins want to be appreciated and constantly growing. They want coaching, mentoring and upskilling opportunities as much as they want a great pay for their above & beyond effort.

But what if you aspire to be an indispensable linchpin?

If you want to be successful in unexpected ways and achieve your wildest goals, you will have to stop waiting for a “job description” and start charting your own trajectory.

How?

Stop waiting for someone to give you permission.

Dare to innovate.

Shake up the status quo.

Disrupt yourself.

Whether you are in a company or an individual player, you will change either by design or disaster – which one is it going to be?