TORC

Crowd attempting to tilt commuter train in Perth to release passenger's leg

Recent incidents in Dublin & Perth, involving rail pasengers getting legs caught between train & platform, should heighten our awareness to that ubiquitous warning: “mind the gap”. 

And, not just in the literal sense, as it relates to trains; but more widely too, as it relates to so many other aspects of life.

For the image of the gap has become such a universal construct for depicting deficiency/underperformance in so many spheres.

And, by extension, of course, its onward filling/closing/bridging offering a common roadmap for all types of remedies & resolutions in human endeavour.

For instance, gaps provide much of the oxygen for economists and sociologists, who daily bombard us with their  think-tank concerns relating to: skill-gaps,  income-gaps, gender-gaps, generation gaps, digital-literacy gaps, etc., etc.

A “gap in the market” is what whets the entrepreneur’s appetite; while “the market in the gap” is what  paradoxically causes his/her financial backers to usually bite.

Chasing down gaps & missing links is central to the work of detectives & diagnosticians, astronomers & paleontologists, alike –  and, to all other shades of scientific researchers too.

And, when it comes to operational matters, a gap analysis is the normal first port of call for the efficiency expert.

His/her fellow traveller, the accountant, is not immune, either: as evidenced by a clever headline from The  Journal of Accountancy: Closing the Gap in GAAP.

The same recipe permeates all manifestations of personal performance/ development/achievement.

In the words of Earl Nightingale, one simply has to:   “bridge the gap which exists between where you are now and the goal you intend to reach.”

Shaw took a different tack, of course, with his line: “all progress depends on the unreasonable man”.

Still, no doubt, even that unreasonable man (or woman) is likely to reap some added  benefit, should he/she be inclined to also … mind the gap!

PS.  For related Torc training programmes, please click on the pertinent link here:
1. Thinking, Judging & Decision-Making
2. Leading with Resilience & Optimism
3. Leading with Innovation & Creativity 

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