To Adapt, Grow and Thrive, Be Like Water
“I’m just so tired of all this,” my doctor’s assistant told me after I politely asked her “how are you doing.” I could almost feel her exhaustion and exasperation grab me. Her tone and demeanor seemed to be pleading for me to wave my wand and pull a “back to normal” rabbit out of my hat.
She’s not alone by any stretch of the imagination. A quick look at the emails landing in my inbox every few minutes suggests that this never-normal world is taking its toll evidenced by the record number of resignations, skyrocketing rates of absenteeism, and an astonishing number of people experiencing symptoms of mental illness. Pandemic fatigue is definitely taking its toll from the C-Suite to the front line. The antidote many people seek seems to be a retreat “back to normal.” Here’s my anecdotal proof.
At the start of each presentation I made to SHRM and business groups over the last few months, I’ve asked all participants to share their “word of the year.” Inevitably their fatigue is palpable as they type anxious, uneasy, scared, burned out, tired, exhausted, terrifying into the chat.? It’s the same story when I speak with recruiters, HR professionals, and clients. They repeatedly ask, “when do you think this will end?” Everyone is ready to move on and put the pandemic behind us. Unfortunately once the pandemic cloud lifts, our landscape will look quite different, even unfamiliar. While a few people are preparing to move forward and seize a fresh start, most people seem determined to pedal backward with their eyes affixed to the rearview mirror.
Why is change so freaking hard for people? A recent Harvard Business Review article summed it up perfectly: “Our Brains Were Not Built For This Much Uncertainty.” Our brains over centuries have evolved into what the authors describe as “uncertainty-averse.” That pretty much explains my “humans are addicted to certainty” refrain!
But the problem isn't the uncertainty and unpredictability of change alone. Change is also accelerating. The ground we stand on (aka normal) seems to be constantly shifting under our feet. Just imagine yourself standing on a surfboard in the ocean as the waves relentlessly come crashing toward the beach as you try to hold your position and stay in the same place. Impossible! And that is our new reality. Our New Normal will be Never-Normal. We need to learn to ride the waves and stop waiting for a turbulent ocean to turn into a babbling brook.
That bit of news is likely overwhelming and terrifying for a whole lot of people. But it doesn’t mean we need to succumb to the waves of changes. Like the surfer who learns to ride the waves, you too can do that. We all have a choice: Adapt or Stagnate.
We need to stop stopping ourselves. We need to be like water!
Even though Bruce Lee was talking about martial arts, the concept applies to business as well. I joined @Nikki Lewallen on #GutPlusScience to share the importance of adaptability and why this skill is a core component to effective and healthy leadership in 2022. You don’t want to miss it!?https://link.chtbl.com/qOIvuUcp?
The good news, as the HBR authors write, is that it is possible to shift our experience of overwhelm to something manageable. How can we do that??
Let me share a narrative that seems to resonate with my audiences and listeners. It starts with a quote from martial artist/philosopher Bruce Lee shared. (BTW, Strangely enough I’m not a big Bruce Lee or martial arts fan so I thank my friend David Houle for sharing Lee’s quote with me.
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“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”
Bruce Lee
Be water seems like the perfect analogy for success in a VUCA world. Our time on this planet is spent traveling from one “container” to another: home, school, work, church, or temple. We flex our behaviors and mindset depending on whether we’re celebrating our best friend’s birthday in a local pub or interviewing for a new job. We adapt our behavior to different containers all the time. In one moment we might be the boss at work and just a few minutes later, we adapt for prayer or meditation coaching our kid’s T-Ball team or sharing an amorous moment with our spouse.?
If we adapt all the time, why are so many people struggling with change today? The answer comes down to one word: time. Exponential change has finally caught up with us. Life is no longer as simple as it used to be. Like Ernest Hemingway describing bankruptcy, “it happens slowly, then suddenly.” So goes exponential change.??
What accelerating change means for us is that the time we spend in the present keeps getting shorter and shorter. The lines between yesterday and tomorrow blur. Normal won't go away but it will disappear and re-emerge repeatedly and more frequently.
How quickly and frequently? Let me turn to a few experts.
Ray Kurzweil, director of engineering at Google and Chancellor at Singularity University, suggests that the 21st century will be equivalent to 20,000 years of progress at today’s rate. McKinsey & Co. estimates that change is happening 10X faster and 300X the scale, or roughly 3000X the impact than it used to. Let me repeat: The New Normal has become Never-Normal.?
But I digress. Let me get back to Bruce Lee and how “be water” should be our future personal, professional, and organizational strategy. I described “Be Water” earlier this month during a SHRM presentation about adaptability and how to reimagine your tomorrow. Let me share this brief clip with you.
Going forward we won’t always have the luxury to choose our favorite containers or decide how long we can stay. More often than not, we may find ourselves being poured into unfamiliar and awkward containers. But like water, we can learn to take the shape of it and adjust our state of mind as the environment changes ... or find ourselves lying in a formless pool.
It’s your choice. I hope you choose to "be water, my friends."
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Founder and CEO of Potentials, Organization Development Consultant, Executive Coach, Open-Minded Conversations Facilitator and Trainer, Best-selling Author, Writer, Speaker
2 年A great contribution Ira Wolfe. Given the current turbulent environment and pace of change adaptability is essential. I have been saying that we need to take an Open Stance. Having an open and growth mindset and being curious and open to possibilities is essential. I agree that there will not be a new normal and we need to learn to ride the waves. We need community and to support one another as we ride these waves and be adaptable like water.
Building Engaged, People-Forward Workplaces via Meaningful Relationships & Storytelling
2 年Ira Wolfe, your episode on Gut+Science is outstanding! Thank you for helping leaders think about the significance in prioritizing adaptability and having a growth mindset. Your content is so helpful in today's never normal.