Not every tricky situation we face will lead us to a world-changing innovation like penicillin, Amazon, or Uber.
But if we learn to treat our problems as if they contain opportunities we will always bring ourselves five important benefits:
- A feeling of inspiration and emotional engagement:
Looking for opportunities is more exciting, more inspiring than fixing problems. That raises morale and emotional engagement, which improves productivity and results.
As Napoleon said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Simply deciding to look for the opportunities in a situation creates that hope.
. - Deeper understanding:
Searching for the opportunities in a situation forces us to let go of our assumptions about the situation and look for a deeper understanding. That understanding will be useful, no matter which way forward we choose.
. - Greater durability and impact:
When John Cleese was writing sketches with the Monty Python team, his colleagues would often stop when they got to the first punchline. But Cleese would keep working until he found the second, third, or even fifth level of comedy. This was harder work and took longer. But the results he created were stronger, funnier, and longer-lasting.
If you want to generate outcomes that are more remarkable, last longer, or connect at a deeper level, you have at least to look for the ten types of opportunity that lie beyond the obvious solution and the quick fix.
. - More choice, more control, more determination:
By choosing to see not just the ‘problems’ in a situation but to seek the opportunities, you retain control over your own destiny. Because even if you eventually end up choosing exactly the same path as you would have done before, you have now made it your deliberate choice, based on a deeper understanding, and chosen from a wider range of options than before, instead of it being something you were forced into. And even if your chosen way forward isn’t ideal, the fact that you have looked at the alternatives means that you know it is the best option available, which adds vigour and determination to your implementation. All of which puts you back in control.
. - Antifragility:
Looking for the opportunities in a situation is another step towards making us and our organisations what Nassim Nicholas Taleb calls ‘antifragile’.
Objects, people, and organisations that break under stress we call ‘fragile’. Objects, people, and organisations that survive under stress we call ‘robust’, ‘strong, or ‘resilient’. And objects, people, and organisations that use stress to actually become stronger and more inspired, Taleb calls ‘antifragile’.
The first step to becoming antifragile is deciding simply to look for the opportunities in the situation.
Together, these five benefits are at the heart of Inner Leadership: generating more inspiration, building deeper understanding, keeping us in control, and finding better ways forward that will last longer. Ultimately they are about developing the ability to use any situation to make ourselves and our organisations antifragile: able to use change to become not only stronger but also more inspired.
And all this begins at the moment you decide to look for the opportunities in the situation.
Would any of these benefits be useful to you today? Have you looked for the opportunities that exist in the challenges you face today?
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and a set of tools for building inspiration in a time of change.
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Photo By Eduardo Unda-Sanzana via StockPholio.net