Two weeks ago, we learned that in order to master our rapidly changing, increasingly complex and more volatile modern-day business environment, we need to become more mentally flexible. In the first part of this article, I introduced three of six strategies that you can employ to deal flexibly with complexity. Today, I will share with you the remaining three tips on how to flex yourself to better master complexity.
4. Appreciate the beauty of “Maybe” and “It depends”
Once upon a time, there lived a wise, old Chinese farmer in a poor country village. The other villagers considered the old man wealthy, partly because he owned a horse, which he used for transportation and plowing the field. One day, his horse ran away. All neighbors exclaimed how terrible this was, but the old farmer simply said: “Maybe.” A few days later, the horse returned, accompanied by two wild horses. The neighbors all rejoiced at his good fortune, but the old farmer said again: “Maybe.” The next day, the farmer’s son tried to ride one of the wild horses; the horse threw him off and he broke his leg. All neighbors offered their sympathy for his misfortune, but the old farmer simply said: “Maybe.” The following day, conscription officers came to the village to take young men for the army. They rejected the farmer’s son because of his broken leg. When the neighbors told him how lucky he was, the farmer replied: “Maybe.”
What is the moral of this beautiful little story? Appreciate the fact that for most situations in life, there are different possible outcomes and consequences. Creative leaders exert their right to think, assess alternative points of view and possible consequences of an action, and occasionally respond to a yes/no question with “Maybe.” This keeps you mentally flexible and detached from different turns in the road ahead. Adopt a situational leadership approach (in line with contingency theory) and understand that the best answer is often “It depends.”
5. Learn to become like water
Most business leaders and managers like to force things and people into a certain way. If they encounter opposition, be it from a new market entrant, or a bigger competitor, or a demanding client, or a self-confident and slightly stubborn subordinate, they tend to respond by pushing harder with increased force. Pushing may work in certain situations and produce short-term results, but it tends to produce in others the desire to retaliate and to deplete your energy and resource reservoirs. Pushing is not a creative approach to overcome an obstacle or force of resistance. A better creative leadership approach is to be like water.
Water is constantly moving forward toward a defined destination (i.e., the sea), but it’s very flexible on its way. If it encounters a stronger force, like a big rock, water flexibly seeks an alternate route and flows around the obstacle. Moreover, this approach allows the water to wear down the rock over time, thus ultimately clearing the path. Moreover, water is in a constant cyclical flow: Once a particular water drop has reached the sea, it eventually evaporates again into the air, only to rain down again to the ground, where it joins other water droplets to form a river and start a new journey toward the sea.
Likewise, creative leaders understand the cyclical nature of business, and start the next business initiative and innovation project as soon as a new solution has been successfully released into the market. So become like water: Steadily move forward toward your goals, be flexible on your path in the face of resistance, and always stay in flow.
6. Learn to appreciate paradoxes
Many business leaders and managers feel uncomfortable when confronted with paradoxical situations. A paradox can be defined as a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth, or as a counterintuitive conclusion or outcome. Unfortunately, our complex, modern business world brings forth lots of paradoxical situations and outcomes, and you cannot respond to them with simple yes/no binary responses. For example, many multinationals learned that outsourcing back-office operations (like the service call center or documentary processing of international trade finance transactions) to low-cost countries such as India or the Philippines both led to significant cost reduction (planned outcome) and mounting customer dissatisfaction and customer migration to competitors who still offered these services onshore.
As a creative leader, become aware of paradoxes, and learn how to spot them. Once you’ve uncovered a paradoxical business situation, creatively explore it with the intent to turn a paradox into a unique opportunity for creating meaningful differentiation. For example, in the above outsourcing example, you may set up a smaller local competence center that can follow up with complaining customers. This way, you can offer “local touch and competence” to the few more demanding customers while continuing to enjoy the cost-savings from the outsourcing to a low-cost environment. An excellent way to start familiarizing yourself with the paradoxical aspects of our world is to read the excellent book This Book Does Not Exist by Gary Hayden and Michael Picard.
© Dr. Detlef Reis 2010. This article was published in parallel in the Bangkok Post under the title “Further tips for mastering complex times” on 25 November 2010.