Right now, I am visiting with many different leaders from many different organizations. Over and over, they tell me that when they sit down to figure out where to focus and what to do during 2022, they find themselves in a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. First, they recognize how raw they are feeling from the constant, and daily battle with the endless stream of adaptive problems. They also are caught in the howling chaos of everything needing a decision and yet no decision ever being the final decision because the inputs that define the problem keep changing. The combination of feeling raw and not getting any closure has generated deep frustrations and a lack of confidence in themselves and lack of confidence in their teams. In the midst of this never-ending chaos, they are all seeking a pathway to clarity about how and where to go.
The following three steps will help deal with this level of complexity and uncertainty in 2022. They sound simple, but they are not easy. They require discipline and commitment. Over time and with patience, they will make a difference.
Step #1: Change Your Inputs.
As Ryan Holiday wrote in his book, Stillness Is The Key (Portfolio/Penguin, 2019): “The space between your ears - that’s yours. You don’t just have to control what gets in, you also have to control what goes on in there.” Many leaders are caught in the “CNN Effect,” namely an endless, twenty-four hours a day, media cycle of new information. The result of this constant stream of pendulum swinging information is that leaders are hyper-reactive and drowning in analysis paralysis. The solution is to limit your inputs and to seek information from a more diverse collection of sources. When we change the inputs, i.e. the channels we focus on, we are able to slow down, think carefully, and stop reacting.
Step #2: Seek Perspective.
When feeling raw and overwhelmed, it is time to get together with your mentors, allies and confidants. Seek their wisdom and counsel on how to move forward. In particular, ask them what they are doing to stay centered in an uncentered world. You will be delighted and amazed with the diversity of answers. Many of them will give you fresh insights of how proceed in this whirlwind of adaptive challenges.
Step #3: Get Outside And Go For A Walk.
“Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness,” writes Kierkegaard. “I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.” When we choose to step away from the computer and it’s endless stream of e-mails, we reclaim our ability to think proactively. When we take time to see the clouds move across the sky, feel the wind on our face, and observe the changing of the seasons, we are resetting our internal capacity to manage stressful situations and complex problems. As I learned from my late mother, “there was never a night or a problem that could defeat a sunrise and hope.” Getting outside for a walk is the first step to making wise choices.
The coming 90 days are not going to be easy. Wild and crazy things will happen. Challenging questions and complex solutions will have to be considered Still, how we respond to them is our choice. Start today by choosing to be more centered and grounded at home and at work. As Andy Grove, former CEO of INTEL, wrote, “Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.” Same goes for leaders and leadership. Today is the first day to make some improvements.
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