How do you face uncertainty and unpredictability?

Halfway through the week, so time for some wisdom to sail us through the rest of it…and I love a good analogy.

Today we live in a very changeable and unpredictable world. You only have to watch the news to see just how changeable it is, sometimes even hour to hour.

A pessimist is typically someone who sees the negative or dark side of a situation, or expects the worst, or only hears words of warning and fear in their own mind.

A ship is safe in a harbour, but that’s not what it was built for, as the adage goes.

An optimist, on the other hand, is someone who sees the silver lining before they see the cloud, if they ever even see the cloud. They look positively on life, and focus on possibilities, solutions and opportunities, and tend to have better resilience.

They expect change to happen, but because they avoid the downside they don’t always consider the risks, and that could be their downfall.

‘Oh it’ll be fine!’ they exclaim, as they sail into hurricane force winds and high seas.

A leader, on the other hand, has to be both pessimist and optimist.

They have to set the course for a positive outcome they believe in, but have anticipated and created a backup plan in the event of the worst.

They need to adjust to changing conditions, weather the calm as well as the storms and shore up when needed.

Too much pessimism and the leader will be risk averse and overly cautious, not driving the company or its people forward. They’ll stay in the harbour, and never set sail.

Too much positivity and the leader could be negligent by ignoring the signs of dark clouds and rough seas ahead and taking the company straight into a storm rather than navigating round it, with no idea how to stop the ship from sinking with all hands on deck.

It’s all about keeping the ship steady, not pushing it beyond what it was built to do.

A shipwreck serves no purpose except to life under the sea and scuba divers.

Balance. Adaptability. Flexibility. Awareness. Competence. Healthy confidence. Realistic. Courage. Creativity.

Just some of the things needed so the leader knows when, if, to adjust the sails, and by how much.

Anchors Aweigh!