Let me tell you about my little mate Malcolm.

Malcolm is a Dorper Ram. He has been our primary stud ram for the past three seasons and has been a diligent worker, siring over 300 offspring over his time with us.

Clearly he has been a very productive asset for our farm. But here’s the problem. Malcolm has reached his “use by date” as our current breeding stock almost entirely consists of Malcolm’s daughters.

The harsh reality for Malcolm is that he is no longer useful.

Thinking of Malcolm I reflected the same situation happens with our careers. We aspire to and are recruited into a role. We do it well for a number of years. We heroically cope with the constant changes that confront us in the work place. But eventually there comes a point where we can’t or don’t want to continue changing. There may be  motivational, physical or competency factors relating to this. But the undeniable reality is that we are beginning to overstay our usefulness.

It happens to us all and there is little point fighting the inevitable. Once we are no longer useful the way we used to be our choices are clear –  we have to adapt and become useful in a different way, or useful somewhere else in the same way.

In Malcolm’s case he could have become useful again as a lamb roast. Fortunately, for him, he is now doing his thing on another farm.

By Chris Gandy – Chris is a Director of Cause & Effective. He specialises is helping NFP Boards find the right CEO for their organisations