Executing Strategy

During recent coaching sessions, it has become clear to me that many people do not  understand that creating a strategy, and having a strategy is not the same as executing a strategy. In particular, I think many leaders need to remember that creating a strategy based on a shared understanding and commitment to that strategy is mission critical to executing the strategy. 

However, once this shared understanding and commitment is in place, I am reminded of something that Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan in their book, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done (Crown Business, 2002), pointed out: “Execution is not just tactics to be delegated; it is a discipline and a system.” And when problems arise, what is missing is the system, not just the discipline. Therefore, in order to translate execution into an on-going reality, four things need to be in place. 

First, you need to build and maintain a healthy senior leadership team. When you read these two books by Patrick Lencioni, namely The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive (Jossey-Bass, 2000), and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Jossey-Bass, 2002), it becomes abundantly clear that a healthy senior team that is based on trust and clarity will make a major difference in how things get done, not just what gets done. 

But, from my vantage point, I think leaders who want to improve execution should also read the following book: Wageman, Ruth, Debra A. Nunes, James A. Burruss and J. Richard Hackman. Senior Leadership Teams: What It Takes To Make Them Great (Harvard Business School Press, 2008). This resource helped me to grasp why certain senior teams were more effective than other teams. As the author explains, there are four senior leadership team tasks, namely information sharing, consultation, coordination, and decision making. What I realized upon reflection was that when I encountered a senior team that was doing a good job of executing their strategy, all involved knew when they were engaged in one of these four tasks. For example, during a team meeting when an agenda item was being discussed, all involved knew if the team was engaged in coordination or decision-making. No one wondered what the focus was during the meeting. 

Now, as a side bar, many senior leaders do not get to build their own leadership team. Instead, they inherit them when they accept the job. For these individuals, I suggest you read the following article: “Leading the Team You Inherit” by Michael Watkins in the June 2016 issue of the Harvard Business Review.

Second, you need to build and maintain a healthy, two way social network that is larger than just the senior team. In the beginning of my work as a consultant and executive coach, I did not grasp the importance of this network. Later, in my career, I realized that it was very important to success, because I realized that two way communication was vital to maintaining perspective. 

One of the things senior leaders need to understand is that most people only share good news with them, or only the news that they think the senior leader wants to hear. Therefore, during the execution of strategy, many senior leaders and many senior teams think everyone loves each other, and they love the strategy. Furthermore, they think that everything is going just fine. This happens, because everyone is telling them so. 

However, in reality, this is rarely the case. The problem is that no one wants to speak up. Many times, the senior team may trust each other, but the middle managers actually don’t trust some, or all of the senior team. This often happens because people learn that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” which actually translates into the complaining person gets fired or demoted for complaining. 

In order to prevent this from happening, the best leaders I know cultivate a wide diversity of relationships through out the company in order to get a more complete picture of what is going on. One senior leader told me he needed to hear more of the “unvarnished truth” rather than the “political truth” he was often told. In short, two way communication from a strong social network makes a major difference. 

Third, you need to build and maintain a regular coaching system. When things get busy or complicated, coaching often gets abandoned along the highway of strategic execution. Over the years, I have listened to so many leaders tell me that they do not have time for coaching. And they have shared with me that they find coaching useless in getting things done. When I hear this, I realize that they do not grasp the significance of coaching when it comes to executing strategy. They also have never experienced good coaching when they were moving up through the ranks into the senior team.

What all involved need to understand is that poor coaching experiences and poor coaching can cripple the execution of strategy. For when we create routine coaching opportunities, we help our people get better at what they are doing. In essence, we build capacity at the operational level and at the strategic level. And with improved capacity, those being coached can communicate better, solve problems better, and help teams execute better. When all three of these things happen over time, trust is built, clarity is maintained, and discipline becomes systematic. And, best of all, strategic execution improves. 

Fourth, you need to build and maintain a regular time for contemplation and reflection. This is the other element that routinely gets by-passed as people and teams rush to get things done. However, effective execution of strategy requires senior leaders and senior teams to stop and ask two important questions. First, is our strategy still working? Second, is it still the right strategy moving forward? We do this, because during the creation of strategy, we make certain assumptions about the company and the market place. But, over time, these assumptions in combination with the rise of unforeseen variables may make the current strategy obsolete or ineffective. Without a regular time for contemplation and reflection, i.e. a strategic review, we may miss the mark and end up caught in a untenable or dangerous situation. 

For in the end, having a strategy and executing a strategy are not the same thing. As Bossidy and Charan note in the aforementioned book, “the leader who executes assembles an architecture of execution.” The above four elements are the foundation for the architecture of execution. It just takes clarity, commitment, and discipline to make it a reality. 

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

Stumbling Through Savannas Of Suffering

This morning I have been reflecting on the following quote by renowned Jungian psychoanalyst, James Hollis, Ph.D.:

“No matter how well intended we begin, sooner or later we all spend good portions of this journey stumbling through savannas of suffering, where in we nonetheless find tasks that, when addressed - even in those dismal, diminishing circumstances - enlarge us. Going through suffering, rather than denying or anesthetizing it, knowing that if we hang in there, it will bring us choices that can either enlarge us or diminish us, and that when we are least in control, we still retain the freedom of choosing what matters to us.”

When I step back and think deeply about this insightful quote, I am reminded of two things. First, as an old Buddhist saying states: “You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” When we are stumbling through savannas of suffering, we need to choose to show ourselves some love, kindness, and grace. We also need to remember our own strengths and talents. We also need to hang in there, and make choices that enlarge our capacity to act with integrity. 

Second, I am reminded of the following quote by the late Irish poet, author, and priest, John O’Donohue: “… the deepest things we have inherited have come down to us across the bridges of meaningful conversations.” When stumbling through savannas of suffering, I think it is important to make time and space for meaningful conversation over good food and/or good coffee. We need supportive, one to one connections. We also need community, where we remember that we are not the first, nor the last, of the people who have visited and stumbled through a savanna of suffering. 

There are days now where I believe Hollis’ quote should be read at the start of every meeting or pondered over breakfast once a week. Then, as his words seek deep into our heart, soul and mind, we will rekindle our inner strength to keep moving forward, step by step. For when we do this, and retain the freedom to choose, we will grasp this other insight from John O’Donohue: “A day is precious because each day is essentially the microcosm of your whole life. Each new day offers possibilities and promises that were never seen before.”

This week, and during all the coming weeks of summer, we need to find and embrace the new and precious possibilities and promises that are yet to be discovered and experienced in each new day. 

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

A Singular Moment of Clarity

As we move through this tumultuous spring, I am hearing a great deal about people experiencing a combination of unrealistic personal expectations related to their home life, and unrealistic professional expectations related to their job. At the same time, these same individuals are experiencing unexpected and unexplained shifts in their role and responsibilities at work, which also significantly impacts their personal and home life. This, in combination, with a general lack of behavioral consistency and predictability by their supervisor/manager, coupled with regular set-backs, and debilitating criticism has resulted in a total lack of trust and confidence in themselves, their team, and their supervisor. In short, a great many people are struggling, and are looking for answers, insights, and perspective. 

From my vantage point, all of this signals, on one level, that individually and collectively we are living through a sentinel event, or a series of sentinel events. Referencing the world of healthcare, there are two kinds of events, namely an adverse event and a sentinel event. An adverse event is any unwanted incident causing a patient harm, ranging from minor to severe. A sentinel event, on the other hand, is a specific, severe subset of adverse events that results in death, permanent harm, or severe temporary harm. In particular, a sentinel event signals the failure of a critical system or systems, and results in an immediate and thorough investigation, namely a root cause analysis. 

With all of this in mind, we need to understand that all sentinel events are adverse, but not all adverse events are sentinel. Sentinel events, in particular, are so serious that they “sentinel” (warn) of major problems. Tasha Eurich in her book, Shatterproof: How to Thrive in a World of Constant Chaos (And why resilience alone isn’t enough) (Little, Brown Spark, 2025), writes, “… sentinel events are unmistakable warnings that force us to confront the true toll of our shadows, prompting a shift in strategy to prevent anything similar from happening in the future.” She further explains that a sentinel event can result in “a singular moment of clarity where we chose to become an active participant in our own lives.”

What I am hearing about on a regular basis right now is a diversity of  people coming to a singular moment of clarity, and then choosing to become more active rather than reactive to the choices being made around them at work, and also choosing to become more active rather than reactive about how they want to live their life as a whole. Instead of settling for a whatever perspective to living, they are coming to an understanding that they need to create a life that meets their needs at work and at home. For some, this begins with a deep re-evaluation of whether or not they should continue working with their current employer. It also includes a great deal of reflection about their physical, emotional, and mental health. 

Rather than waiting for a “severe subset of adverse events that results in death [of self, marriage, or critical relationships], permanent harm, or severe temporary harm [to self, marriage, or critical relationships],” these individuals are pausing to reconsider how to move beyond the current dysfunctionality that surrounds them, and the resulting default choices that are happening within them, in order to make smarter and healthier choices from a whole life perspective. In essence, they are moving from the illusion of control to the reality of needing to create inner/outer alignment.

When I have visited with individuals who find themselves in this situation, I encourage them to find the answers to the following three questions:

- What will make your life better this week? This month? This quarter?

- What can you do to maximize your mental and physical health?

- What are the things that bring you meaning and fulfillment at work, and in the rest of your life?

I recognize that by answering these three questions, other questions will emerge. Nevertheless, these three questions are a good beginning. 

Lindsay Leahy in her book, Take It All Apart: How to Live, Lead, and Work with Intention (River Grove Books, 2024), writes: “We lead with who we are, so to be a good leader, whether in our families, workplaces, or communities, we have to do the deep exploration and healing work to become our best selves.” And she continues, “We can’t step into what’s next if we’re still holding tightly to what was.” 

Choosing to create a new and better life is big work and hard work. It takes faith, commitment, and discipline. But, when a singular moment of clarity arises, and we choose to become an active participant in our own lives, amazing and important things will follow. 

So, this week, and during the next 90 days, listen to the unmistakable warning signs all around you and within you. Then, choose to do the work of discovering a new and better path for living and working. 

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

Leadership During Times Of Prolonged Uncertainty - part #6

Knowing Does Not Equal Doing

As we help all involved move forward, and as we understand that the past is constantly influencing the present and how we perceive the future, leaders must help people over come their blind spots, and learn to see the whole story of what is happening on many different levels. In order to do this work, which will change how people think and work, we must recognize that there are at least five different kindness of blindness within organizations moving through prolonged uncertainty. 

First, there is temporal blindness when we see the present without the understanding how the past is impacting it. Second, there is relationship blindness where we do not understand the social networks that are happening all around us, and their impact on individual and collection execution. Third, there is strategic blindness, which happens when we don’t see our strategy as a whole organization. This also includes a lack of understanding that having a strategy, and executing a strategy are not the same thing. Fourth, there is context blindness, which happens when we can see the whole organization, but we can not see the environmental context within which the whole organization is working and moving through. Fifth, there is spatial blindness where we see parts of a system but we do not comprehend how the whole system works. 

When all or a majority of these different forms of blindness are taking place at the same time period, the result is macro-myopia, namely a failure in being able to grasp the big picture connections that are happening all around us. As a result, we become like the legendary blind people describing an elephant as they each grasp a different part of its anatomy. Then, we mistake the parts for the whole, and we lose perspective and miss the context in which key or isolated events occur within uncertainty. 

At the same time, one element within macro-myopia is scale blindness. Some days, we miss the big picture, because we are concentrating on the details. Other days, it is vice versa. And some times, in the midst of prolonged uncertainty, leaders choose to rapidly scale up a solution in order to solve a problem. 

From my experience and observations, this “one size fits all” solution can be the foundation for so many problems. This is in part because many do not understand how scaling works. As Robert Sutton and and Huggy Rao in their book, Scaling Up Excellence: Getting To More Without Settling For Less (Crown Business, 2014), write: “Scaling requires grinding it out, and pressing each person, team, group, division, or organization to make one small change after another in what they believe, feel, or do…. When big organizations scale well, they focus on ‘moving a thousand people forward a foot at a time, rather than moving one person forward by a thousand feet’.” They then share: “Effective scaling depends on believing and living a shared mindset throughout your group, division, or organization. Scaling is analogous to a ground war rather than an air war because developing, spreading and updating a mindset requires relentless vigilance. It requires stating the beliefs and living the behavior, and then doing so again and again.”

When we grasp this perspective that scaling is a ground war, not an air war, and that the goal is to move forward collectively one foot at a time, then creating a shared mindset is mission critical to success, and dealing with the aforementioned different kinds of blindness is very important to this process. For in the end, the best leaders understand that knowing something is not the same as doing something, and during prolonged uncertainty, doing the right things for the right reasons, and at the right time will make a huge difference in the short and long haul. 

Drop By Drop

“A river is made drop by drop,” notes an old Afghan proverb. It reminds us that significant achievements can come from on-going, small and consistent efforts. It also points out that patience and perseverance in combination with incremental progress really does make a difference. In short, big results are always the sum of small actions. 

During a period of prolonged uncertainty, leaders need to focus on numerous small, and consistent actions over time. They must adapt to change, and uncertainty. Still, when leaders do the aforementioned fundamentals well, we can navigate our way through this time period.Then one day, uncertainty will pass, and we will, individually and collectively, be prepared for what comes next. 

But in the beginning, drop by drop, a river is made. Same goes for us and our work as leaders. Step by step, progress is made. Then, with patience, these small actions create something substantial, and effective, even in the midst of prolonged uncertainty. 

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

Leadership During Times Of Prolonged Uncertainty - part #5

Focus On Operational Excellence

Next, we need to focus on operational excellence. Now, most people focus on the word operational when those two words are put together. They really want to get things done fast and efficiently. Others will focus on the word excellence. For these individuals, this translates into things being done perfectly, all day and every day. But very few people actually understand what operational excellence means. 

For the answer, I always turn to the work of Tom Peters and his 1982 book called In Search of Excellence. In this seminal work, Peters defines excellence as “a workplace philosophy where problem solving, teamwork and leadership result in on-going improvements or continuous improvements in the organization.” And all of these improvements focus on meeting the ever-evolving needs of the customer. So, when the two words, operational excellence, are put together, the goal is to create a work environment that is continually improving how it mets the changing needs of its’ customers. 

With this in mind, recognizing that we are operating during a time period of prolonged uncertainty, we need to have the capacity to plan and the capacity to execute. The late Stephen Covey said we needed to “begin with the end in mind.” However, this end point was not a fixed location as much as an on-going movement in a specific direction, i.e. the union of vision and strategic intent. 

As we strive to make operational excellence an integral part of the daily systems, culture, and mindset of those with whom we work with on a daily basis, we need to understand the difference between two key concepts. First, we may need to work on individual competencies of all involved, i.e. a specific person’s knowledge and skills required to fulfill specific role requirements. Second, we may need to work on organizational capabilities, i.e. the collective abilities of the company required to execute a business strategy. While some days, we may work at the competency level and other days at the capabilities level, the key is to do both in a consistent and disciplined manner. 

Next, we need to utilize or create two systems to support operational excellence, namely an intelligence collection system and an innovation support system. As Marcus  Buckingham and Ashley Goodall in their aforementioned book write, “The defining characteristic of our reality today … the speed of change.” Given this factor, we need to differentiate between a planning system and an intelligence system. As they explain, “The thing we call planning doesn’t tell you where to go; it just helps you understand where you are. Or rather, were recently. We aren’t planning for the future, we planning for the near-term past…. Plans scope the problem, not the solution.” Then, they note, “When we understand the characteristics of an intelligence system, as distinct from a planning system - accurate, real-time data, distributed broadly and quickly, and presented in detail so that team members can see and react to patterns in deciding for themselves what to do - we begin to see them everywhere.” 

I think the thing that most leaders miss about the difference between a planning system and an intelligence collection system is that the latter one helps the former one work better. As a leader and their team utilize the information from the intelligence collection system on a regular basis, they then leverage the information to be better prepared within a VUCA environment. They also create the capacity within the planning system to consider various possible scenarios, ensuring that the company is better prepared for unforeseen variables which could jeopardize the current strategy. In short, the intelligence collection systems access the power of constantly being prepared, no matter what happens. 

In order to achieve this level of preparation, Buckingham and Goodall propose a three step process to make this a reality. “First, liberate as much information as you possibly can…. Second, watch carefully to see which data your people find useful… [i.e. they are] sorting the signal from the noise…. Third, trust your people to make sense of the data.” This combination of steps then becomes a force multiplier in the midst of uncertainty, namely it dramatically increases effectiveness, influence, and results over time. From my perspective and observations, a widely utilized, intelligence collection system results in constant tinkering and experimentation rather than singular legendary acts. During prolonged uncertainty, this again is a force multiplier. 

We also need to be able to think fast and slow, referencing the work of psychologist and economist, Daniel Kahneman. During uncertainty, many leaders are choosing to just go fast and faster, thinking this will solve all of their problems, technical or adaptive. However, in the world of counseling, there is a phrase that offers a unique insight: Addiction makes you need more and more of what is not working. And right now, we are witnessing an addiction to speed. 

Still, we can choose something different than speed as the solution to everything. Instead, we can create time and space to think slowly in order to think through the second and third order implications of our decisions. Once we begin to slow down our thinking, we will realize something very interesting. As Robert E. Quinn explained, “Excellence is a form of deviance. If you perform beyond the norms, you disrupt all the existing control systems. Those systems will then alter and begin to work to routinize your efforts. That is, the systems will adjust to try to make you normal.” But this will never be understood if we are moving at light speed, hoping to catch up and adapt. 

Instead, we need to recognize that “existing control systems” can limit excellence. Therefore, we need create people who have the competence and the capacity to catch this when it is happening, and not let excellence be drowned by normalcy. I like how Brene’ Brown understood this when she wrote,“They worked from commitment, not to compliance.” Leaders, who realize that commitment, not authority or compliance, is the key to working through prolonged uncertainty, also understand that it is the foundation for operational excellence in the short and long haul. 

Respect Transition Management

When working and leading during a period of prolonged uncertainty, we can often feel caught between what was and what will be, unsure of how to proceed. When I have coached people during this unique situation, I often remind those involved of two key points that Margaret Wheatley noted in her book, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time. (Berrett-Koehler, 2005). As she pointed out, “... humans usually default to the known when confronted with the unknown,” and “new leaders must invent the future while dealing with the past.” Within both of these insights is the recognition that we all have defaults, conscious and unconscious, and we are always dealing with the past when moving through uncertainty. As William Faulkner wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Therefore, we need to understand the differences between change management, and transition management.  

The late William Bridges in his book, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change (Perseuss Books, 1991), writes that change management is outcome focused with the hopes of helping an individual, group, or company to achieve a particular goal and/or moving them to a particular destination, i.e. think closer to the vision. It also is very situationally influenced and deals with external issues and problems. Transition management, on the other hand, focuses on the psychological, internal, and emotional process of change. As he explains, “Transition is different. The starting point for transition is not the outcome but the ending that you will have to make to leave the old situation behind.... Transition starts with an ending..... finishes with a new beginning.” 

During a period of prolonged uncertainty, a combination of change management and transition management is happening, all at the same time. The difficulty is that few leaders are aware of, or respect the importance of transition management. In particular, they do realize that the letting go of the old ways of working, and the subsequent loss of confidence and clarity that comes with this is very hard to do. Grief is real, and always present during uncertainty. 

With the goal being a shared understanding and commitment by all to move forward through the current difficulties, a leader, who respect transition management, needs to do three things. First, they must understand that loss is a subjective, personal experience while leadership is objective and goal oriented. And when loss is subjective, it often surfaces as resistance to doing things differently. When this happens, leaders need to reframe resistance as a form of feedback, because what people are actually resisting is not change as much as the loss of clarity, connections, confidence, and control. We also will typically see grieving behaviors such as anger, bargaining, anxiety, sadness, disorientation, and depression during periods of prolonged uncertainty. 

Second, once this surfaces, leaders need to define what is and what is not over during this period, recognizing that people will naturally default to the old ways of doing things rather than embrace new ways of doing things. We are just wired that way. Therefore, leaders need to treat the past with respect, i.e. the old ways of doing things, and, at the same time, communicate what is the line of continuity through the period of uncertainty. In essence, people need to understand and believe that what really matters the most is not being lost in the midst of their struggles and challenges. 

Third, when caught between what was and what will be or might be, communication is critical to success. This starts with active listening. Leaders need to understand what people are experiencing rather than react or defend what is happening. In simple terms, they need to understand how others are seeing the process, not simply focus on what they are seeing and doing. 

As part of this communication process, Bridges points out that during transitions people need the following four things. First, they need to have a sense of purpose, i.e. an understanding of why are we doing what we are doing right now. Second, they need to have a clear mental picture of what we are seeking to achieve as we move through the transition. From my perspective, if the picture can not be clearly painted, then leaders need to articulate the mindset we need to hold as we move through uncertainty. Third, we need to know the plan, which includes clarity about priorities and the goals. Fourth, we need to know our part, especially our role and responsibility in working the plan that has been proposed. 

Respecting transitions during prolonged uncertainty is important and an on-going discipline. It takes time and energy. It also requires operational leaders to be competent in problem solving, communication, and delegation. And it requires strategic leaders to be competent in interpersonal skills, decision-making, and adaptability. But in the end, both kinds of leaders need to discern the difference between change management and transition management, recognizing that how we treat people today will significantly impact how they handle current events, and any future events moving forward. 

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

Leadership During Times Of Prolonged Uncertainty - part #4

Reduce Your Cognitive Load

Nevertheless, there are days at work when we are overwhelmed by the magnitude and number of problems and issues that come at us hour by hour. On these days our entire bandwidth is full, and still people and problems keep showing up at our doorstep. Decision fatigue, cognitive overload, and problem solving exhaustion are real. Furthermore, attention fatigue, the constant hyper-vigilance that comes from monitoring everything and everyone, is also real. 

Marshall  Goldsmith in his book, Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts - Becoming the Person You Want to Be (Crown Business, 2015), writes: “The social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister coined the term ego depletion in the 1990’s … He contended that we possess a limited conceptual resource called ego strength, which is depleted through the day by various efforts at self-regulation - resisting temptations, making trade-offs, inhibiting our desires, controlling our thoughts and statements, adhering to other people’s rules…. People in this state, said Baumeister, are ego depleted.” 

For leaders, I would translate ego depletion into decision and attention fatigue. When we act from this place, we typically default to two courses of action. First, we make careless choices or, second, we surrender to the status quo and do nothing. Now, it is one thing to engage in depleting activities, but there’s another dimension to this problem, namely how we behave under the influence of depletion. As Goldsmith points out, “Doing things that deplete us is not the same as doing things when we’re depleted. The former is cause, the latter effect.” So, rather than default to these choices, we need to find new solutions to these persistent problems. 

One solution is to reduce our cognitive load. Gary Keller with Jay Papasan in the book, The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results (Bard Press, 2012), point out that in the world of decision-making, some processes and systems are automatic rather than controlled. For example, 6 + 6 = 12. Once we have learned basic math, the answer is achieved with little or no mental exertion. This is an example of automatic decision-making. On the other hand, if we are presented with a more complex mathematical problem, this will require us to engage in controlled decision-making, where something takes greater effort and requires us to go through a series of steps before a conclusion or answer is achieved. The goal then is to move more things into the world of automatic decision-making. 

As a small business owner, I have experienced cognitive overload and decision fatigue. When this has happened, I had to leverage more automatic decision-making. As a result, all computer problems, website choices, printing needs, business travel decisions, and business taxes were handled by other people. While I know this reduced my company’s profitability on one level, and that I more likely could have done all or some of these things myself, I came to understand that when I was focused on doing this level of work, I was not focused on serving my clients in a timely and effective manner. As an Russian proverb states, “If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” So, in order to build on my strengths and talents plus reduce my cognitive load, I focused on doing more controlled decision-making. As Keller wrote, “What’s the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?” My answer was to build collaborative relationships with other people so I could build on their strengths, and do what I did best and what I was passionate about doing in the long run. And this made a world of difference. 

Tell More Stories

There is one more element to coping with prolonged uncertainty that few people choose, namely to tell more stories about resilience, adaptability, and transformation. I think most people don’t make this choice, because they feel powerless in the midst of uncertainty, and are unable to cope with the intensity that comes with uncertainty. Still, I believe it is time to tell our stories, but, also, to listen to the stories that others have to tell. 

What we forget when we feel stressed and overwhelmed is that people are profoundly shaped by past experiences. As I have often pointed out, the past, on one level, is prologue. It not only shapes our lives, but routinely generates our unconscious default choices and actions. 

Furthermore, our past has the potential to be the foundation from which we build a new beginning. Or our past can be a burden that needs to be released in order that we can create a new way of living and working. Either way, our past is part of our current journey.

So, when we choose to tell our stories about these past experiences, we have the opportunity to gain new insights and fresh perspective. We also can share the lessons learned from these past experiences. And as a result, these stories can shape other peoples’ perspective and understanding as much as if they had lived these past experiences themselves. 

Still, many people do not know which stories to share. For the answer to this good question, I turn to the work of Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall, and their book,  Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019). They share three excellent questions that, from my perspective, are a good starting place during a time of prolonged uncertainty. Here are the three questions: “When you had a problem like this in the past, what did you do that worked? What do you already know you need to do? What do you already know works in this situation?”. Each questions helps us approach this complex and dynamic period from various angles, taking us from past experiences to current choices. As the poet Mark Nepo reminds us: “The deeper purpose of memory is not just to preserve the past but to care for things that have mattered until they can come alive again.” And surely, given current events, we need to care for things that have mattered until they can come alive again. 

© Geery Howe 2026

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change