There is a story about a man who was working on an oil platform in the North Sea. He woke up one night from a loud explosion, which suddenly set his entire oil platform on fire. In few seconds, he was surrounded by flames. Running through the smoke and heat, he barely made his way out of the chaos to the platform’s edge. When he looked down over the edge, all he could see were the dark, and cold sea.

As the fire approached him, the man had only few seconds to react. He could stand on the platform, and inevitably be consumed by the burning flames. Or, he could plunge 30 meters in to the freezing waters. The man was standing upon a “burning platform,” and he needed to make a choice.

He decided to jump. It was unexpected. In ordinary circumstances, the man would never consider plunging into icy waters. However, these were not ordinary times – his platform was on fire! The man survived the fall and the waters. After he was rescued, he noted that a “burning platform” caused a radical change in his behaviour.

Each of us might have faced a “burning platform” at some point in our lives which opened new doors! In a rapidly changing world, it is absolutely critical that we are ready to face the “burning platform” so that we survive the jump. Learning new skill sets, building a parallel career, taking up diverse assignments are some of the ways to stay relevant and survive the fall.

What are you doing to stay relevant?