Evolution: A Next Stage Mindset
Tennis icon Serena Williams announced this week that she will step away from the sport. Many around the world gave a collective groan, feeling a sense of loss already. That is simply because they admire what she has accomplished as one of the most heralded tennis players in the world—23 Grand Slams, 4 Olympic gold medals—and love what she represents as a powerhouse athlete. We will miss her awe-inspiring talent and dynamic presence. At the same time, we must say bravo Serena, you have earned the choice to step away from the sport you’ve dominated for twenty plus years.
As I watched the tv report, what resonated most with me was Serena stating that she doesn’t look at this moment as retirement, but as “an evolution.” To evolve is to change or develop gradually, in essence, to become clearer or more detailed—more defined.
Serena has been sowing the seeds of her evolution from tennis for some time—developing her own fashion line, a jewelry line, and a venture capital firm, Serena Ventures (SV), where 78% of the companies they invest in are owned by women and people of color.
From Serena’s perspective, this evolution is a moment of transition—one that another industry powerhouse woman can relate and readily attest to.
Tracie Keesee, Co-Founder, Center for Policing Equity
Preparation for Transitions
Dr. Tracie Keesee has been through several transitions in her storied career—as the first African American commander in the Denver Police Department, then as both the Deputy Commissioner of Equity and Inclusion and the Deputy Commissioner of Training for the New York City Police Department (where Greg and I met her), and currently as the co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity (CPE), which works around the nation promoting police transparency and accountability by facilitating research collaborations between law enforcement agencies and empirical social scientists.
When she retired from the Denver PD, after twenty-five years to go to New York, a personnel staff person said to her, “Ya know, 45% of the people who retire from the police become alcoholics.” Other than being a stunningly depressive statement, it prompted Tracie to think about how we mentally prepare ourselves for big career changes, not just retirement.
Tracie asserts that we don’t have the kind of transitional conversations with ourselves or with those we manage and, additionally, we don’t prepare or support ourselves for those kinds of changes. She decided to address this as part of her role at the NYPD. With major transitions no longer taking place just at retirement, and, for many of us, happening every few years, Tracie felt it was important enough to initiate conversations with people, from 23 to 80 years old, about how to make significant transitions.
We can appreciate both of these women for embracing a conscious mindset of expansive growth, encompassing more than just the next title or income-level increase.
Evolving is what allows us to shapeshift, unfolding into the next embodied expression that serves our maturity and advancement. As leaders, sound reflection on these evolutionary moments helps ensure that we are not only serving ourselves, but others also. That stance, one of a responsible leader, is what makes it a defining moment.
