Tenacious Starfish, Pacific Coast of Canada

In recent weeks, the world has been reeling in the wake of multiple tragic, harrowing, and/or paradigm-shattering events. Worse, there has been almost no time between incidents to integrate what it all means, nor to assess where we might (or must) go from here.

We are imperiled in a way that is unprecedented in human history. People everywhere are expressing fear, anger, and bewilderment. Some are retreating, paralyzed and avoidant. Some are numb. Others are galvanized, impassioned and activated.

Or all of the above.

These are dark times, and it’s hard to see. We are forced to make our way tentatively, not knowing what we might disturb or discover as we grope around. Darkness demands that we step out of our reliance on sight, and fly by instrumentation.

Like many of you, I’m trying to find others who are energized when flying by instrumentation, rather than insisting on full visibility to move forward. I was fortunate to come across Chase Jarvis’ interview series, CreativeLive (www.creativelive.com/30-days-of-genius), which features some of the world’s top creative and entrepreneurial minds. As I watched the series, I had a number of “a-ha!” moments; vague thoughts and feelings that had been swirling for awhile suddenly became crystal clear. And with that clarity came a call to action.

As an executive coach and OD consultant, I’ve noticed that there are, broadly speaking, two sorts of people/organizations: the kind who fiercely defend the status quo, and the kind who lean into ambiguity. For some years now, I have been attempting to help individuals and organizations deal with their resistance to change and its inherent uncertainty. Those who are dedicated succeed, but only limited gains can be made where a sincere stake in transformation is absent.

One of my “a-ha’s!” was the full knowing that challenging times like these call for entirely new approaches. We have to “boldly go where no one has gone before.” The events of recent weeks have confirmed that the old ways are not cutting it, and, that resistance to what wants to emerge is futile. There is no going back to the way things were. This is the way things are.

Resistance is not always bad, but all too often resistance comes from entitlement, selfishness, fear, and lack of vision. In recent years, I’ve tried to use my skills and experience to influence people and organizations away from entrenched ideas and onto new terrain. Although I have had some successes, my work of late has felt professionally stultifying and personally draining, far more often than I would like.

Resistance is surely a choice, but it is one that wastes precious time. And if I am judging correctly, we don’t have all that much time to turn things around, in our selves, our teams and organizations, or our world. Transformation is needed, urgently.

When times are dark and things are rapidly changing, we are called to leave the safety of our comfort zones, to be vulnerable and uncertain, and willing to fail in hopes of succeeding in the future. We are not assured safe passage. But the cost of defending an unsustainable status quo, literally and figuratively, is death.

If we hope to create a viable future, we must–as individuals, teams, organizations, and nations–step into the void. As Marshall Goldsmith said, “what got you here, won’t get you there.” Yes, traditional skills and past experiences are important, but the bottom line is this: no one has ever faced what we are facing. We will not find solutions to today’s problems by looking backward, or doing what we have always done. We must be brave enough and bright enough to abandon what’s not working, and to discover what could. We have to “build the bridge while we are walking on it.” This is inherently risky, and, it is the only viable way forward.

If ever there was a time to be “woke,” it’s now. I myself am committing to “be the change I wish to see in the world.” I have decided to work exclusively with clients who are purposefully eschewing fear-based, mindless, or habitual ways of conducting business and life. No longer satisfied with simply reacting to and managing change, I will be working with people and organizations whose mission is to transform our world. Transformation can only be achieved by a curiosity about change and an ability to tolerate ambiguity. I’m not satisfied with trying to drag the entrenched into the 21st century, and I hope you aren’t either.

We must ask more of ourselves. In the words of Theodore Roosevelt*, it is time to  “dare greatly.”**

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* It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

**Thanks to Brené Brown for reviving and popularizing this quote in her book entitled, “Daring Greatly.”