Making the most of uncertainty — Mindset
I once had the opportunity of asking the four times Olympic, eight times World champion sprinter, Michael Johnson, a question. Despite having no athletic disposition, I had noticed that his unconventional running style was unique in being very erect and upright; something he had commented upon earlier in our discussion.
My question was simple. “Did he get any stick from his fellow athletes for this self-declared unusual running style?” His answer was simple, genuine and from the heart. “No, I never see the looks on their faces. They are always behind me!”
What a great claim for someone whose records remained intact.
Johnson recently suffered a stroke. What used to take him 19.32 seconds now took 15 minutes in hospital during his recovery phase.
Whilst the standout leader in his field, some of the shared experiences Johnson described are relevant in our personal lives, in business, in commerce and indeed any sector where uncertainty is faced today.
There is no doubt that the world is changing fast, both in pace, scale and variety of change. Leaders, executives and managers all need to be able to handle the uncertainty that this creates for their enterprises.
The Economist recently led with the article “What it takes to be a CEO in the 2020s”. Thankfully, the inevitable “crystal ball” was not described but there were clear pointers as to what may be required to handle both uncertainty and continuing disruptors in the world today. In brief, some of these included:
- Mastering the tricky — across a range of fronts including allocation of intangible capital allocation. How much asset acquisition, how much people investment, how much on R&D and how much to return to the markets?
- Determining the balance of reward and risk — between stakeholders, staff and society.
- Clarity of purpose — through focus, determination and the avoidance of mission creep. Focus is assured by not diluting the skills, talents and reasons of those individuals being appointed in the first place.
Seemingly unarguable, the role of coaches and mentors to help define, explore and apply these factors can leverage leadership talent to ensure that navigation of change, and the all-important delivery, is focused, realistic and achievable securing the goals of investors, staff and wider society.
As for Johnson, his medical episode was a tipping point. His objective clear despite the uncertainty: to get back to the state with which he was more familiar.
With all that Johnson has said and done in his sporting and professional life, the overriding sense of direction for his recovery was “Olympic mindset”. So, what is it?
- Taking encouragement from every step of incremental improvement, however small.
- Doing the very best at a moment in time and building on it — all of the time.
- Setting a goal. He could not be certain of the eventual outcome but believed that the ingredients would lead to the achievement he desired.
And these are built inevitably on hard work, focus and commitment to the process.
Johnson’s list is refreshingly short but it requires in facing fresh challenges, uncertainty and seemingly impossible tasks, to face disruption and change drawing from core competence both innate and learned, to move forward.
Johnson now describes himself as “almost back to… normal”.
He isn’t as fast as he once was but has used his skills, ability and determination to promise his wife he would “recover faster than anyone had done it before”. New records to be set?
There may be some ingredients here of how working with an effective coach or coaching team can help both in and out of the Boardroom.
The Economist — 08/02/2020.
The Guardian On Line — 09/05/2019.
