Leadership in the Liminal Space

The Liminal space is the empty space that sits between a transition. It might be the moment when you or your wife are 8 months pregnant expecting a new reality at any moment, the early moments in a new relationship that could feel like the "one", or the period that as we sit in the midst of lock down and COVID-19 whereby our dreams, expectations, plans, realities, employment and/ or businesses hang in nervous suspension between a place of the known and unknown, will the future be brighter? Or should we fight for the old normal?

How do you lead when no one knows where to go? In Howard Marks' most recent memo "Calibrating" he articulates the moment well: "These days everyone has the same data regarding the present and the same ignorance regarding the future" that pretty much sums up the current state of affairs"

I won't speak to finance or medicine, and I offer no answers, and anyone who does in this current moment should invite caution. The fact is I am 31 years old, and have limited experience, my experience is contextualised a blend between between some unlikely influences. Firstly as a Vietnamese/ Australian immigrant born to a family who came to our country with nothing, informed by my deep Christian dogma and capitalism as shaped by my experience starting our company from nothing to a national company with a few hundred employees. I do not believe the two contend, in fact the blend is beautifully unique, intrinsically me and my hope this morning is that I can offer insights that are my own.

The liminal space is uncomfortable, because it's nowhere anyone in my generation has been, we are the sons and daughters of progress and disruption as the normal. In our normal the growth is synonymous with normal. To not grow is to fail. Pace is paramount, but this is not and has never been sustainable, as our world is propped up through debt and policy making that has manufactured artificial, not genuine growth, growth at the expense of life, be it ecological (climate change) or human (fast fashion). Nothing about the "normal" we created was to quote Mohamed El-Erian "authentic" or sustainable. But we've been forced to a halt, the endless progress and pace has been replaced with pause, how can we adapt in this place?

Fight for Regression to the old normal: Certainly this is something we could do. And certainly seemed the narrative by most world leaders as early as a few weeks ago. Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman contrasts this liminal space with the void created during disasters and the economic policy is not so much stimulus but rather disaster relief. In a sense he's certainly right. After a disaster, usually infrastructure is destroyed be it a fire or earth quake, and we need to step in as the government to support survivors with income so they can rebuild their society back in line with the rest of the country or world thereafter. However this is global in nature, no country is not impacted, there is no mean to regress to, no one is operating in the "old normal". So the ones who recover quickly are left in the liminal space awaiting the rest of the world. It seems when we lead our people through the crisis we end up in the liminal space irrespective of whether we go to the old normal or a new one. So it begs the question if we are in the unknown either way... what future do we want to create if red-tape, bureaucracy, traditions were reset.

Right things... Wrong time are still Wrong: I like many of you watched the online cringe-worthy rendition of "imagine" by celebrities, not only was it terrible musically, it was also out of line with the sentiment that was prevailing 4 weeks ago... we were in crisis. Crisis requires action, abandoning precision for pace as we fight to survive, we aren't ready emotionally or psychologically for "imagination" because imagination requires some sense or stability and stability is the anchor for hope. Our world leaders knew this, as they fight to invent economic policy, change laws to create some stability and buffer the chance of civil unrest, and largely they've been successful. But now that we are here with elements of normalcy, it is a potential invitation for renewed vision.

In the same vain I recall reading a book that completely changed my life, "Doughnut Economics" by Kate Raworth her vision of the future economic system was compelling, it felt right, it felt reasonable. However when I would speak to other CEO's they would intellectually engage, but thoughts are not action. Why would we who are winning in the current system change? I didn't have a rational answer, other than my own moral compass, perhaps influenced by seeing first hand the impact of the "losers". It was a matter of timing, the right things at the wrong time is still the wrong thing. I was ready for Kate's vision of the future, and we have structured our own company in line with many of her ideas, however what would it take for wider society? When you have all that you want, then unless you are the one in a thousand who will fight for something just because it is right, then behavioural economics tells us you need incentive, could this sudden and forceful pause be the foundation for incentive to reformation of our world order? I'm not sure, it feels a reach, but my point is about timing.

An opportune time for renewed vision: "Never waste a crisis", the now mainstream quote of Winston Churchill, but his point is right. If we are post crisis leaned gently into passivity we will regress into victims of our circumstances. By luck these may sit with us or against us, but leaders owe more to their people. It is an invitation into active vision. To do research, to try our best to predict the future, and articulate it in a simple, clear and compelling way that allows our people to find their place in the new normal. There is no "right" or "wrong" I don't want this to be about morality, the ethics of this are unanswerable at this point, but as leaders you owe it to your team to utilise this liminal space to offer purpose, and the potential for them to find a place in the new normal.

Recommendations: What can we learn?

So with the above as foundation and context let me offer 3 observations for all leaders be it a team fo 5 or 500:

Stability

Stability as mentioned above by our governments are important to prevent civil unrest, but its equally important with your teams in preventing cultural unrest. How to go about this? You need to do the work in yourself first, prevent your own internal unrest. I heard a quote recently from a friend "some of you are being re-introduced to yourself". This is certainly true for many of us in the fast paced old normal. We haven't done the important not urgent work, we have been bombarded with urgent important and unimportant work for 30 years of growth. We don't know who we are, we have been passively shaped by our environment. But in the liminal space we are introduced to ourselves, do you like what you see? If not, change it, if so, then articulate it. Either way clarity is the gift you can give to those who follow your leadership. Your team need to know who they are BUT they also need to know what that looks like re-contextualised in the potential new normal.

Make an 80% plan that will change

I call it the 80% because perfectionism will kill you in this time, read as much as you can, but set a deadline to make a decision. Then always asterisk your decisions with your team... this will possibly change given new information. To do this will a few things are foundational:

1. Firstly decide how much information is enough before you'll make a decision. How I do this is select 3-5 resources I respect that align with my values, once i've read all those, I make a quick 80% decision.
2. Secondly meet with your key execs and define what your decision looks like in the new normal. What processes need to change? What people need to be reassigned? What expectations needs to be managed? What communication is required and with whom? Most importantly how will we measure if these changes are right and are they permanent or temporary?
3. Thirdly organise to re-evaluate. Once the metrics are defined ensure they are visible, and ensure you have a time to re-assess. You should match your pace with the changing landscape, early on our team did daily, we now do weekly.

Be bold and courageous

We will be tempted to cast a vision that simply repurposes the old normal. I'm not sure that's wise or well informed. The world has changed... forever. Bloomberg has updated that we are now 100% in recession, the question is only whether it becomes "depression". The psychological, behavioural and societal impact of this on a generation who has known nothing other than growth is sizeable. The impact on world views as people are "re-introduced" to themselves will be significant. You would be naive to presume that change won't be substantive. Our vision should inspire, and match the gravitas of the disaster and the time in the liminal space.

I would encourage us as leaders to take this opportunity to break our old categories. What traditions have we held onto? What red-tape? What policies have lost relevance? If you could start again knowing what you know now what would you do differently? This is the effective reality... we are starting again. For me as a 31 year old CEO, it is an opportunity for me to remove and resolve many legacy issues. Nothing is off the table, and journey is exhilarating, likened to the start up. Are our values right? Are our people right? Are our processes right? (*where right is measured against our renewed clarity). For our company our "why" remains true as ever "moving people to their best quality of life", but movement is different, people are different, and life will look different.

There are compelling visions out there for the economy and wider society whether you lean left or right. I tend to sway between either. I read just recently a blog by Julio Gambeto, although I agree and disagree with many elements of his writing, his tone best articulates what I mean here, his questions are indeed passionate and audacious, and his morality clear, at least in an unstable world you know where he stands.

What new future will excite you, drive up your passion whilst giving momentum to those who you lead? Dream big, don't repurpose the past, the past is gone and in this liminal space, may you do the very important yet previously not urgent work of leadership.