Navigating Through Ambiguity, Tension, and Paradox

Great performance was once the hallmark of a successful company. But great is no longer good enough, and companies need a new playbook. Beyond Great , which I co-authored with Arindam Bhattacharya and Nikolaus Lang , is that playbook, exploring nine strategies that can help great companies contend with today’s complex forces, along with six imperatives for leaders as they work to take their companies beyond great. In this article, I’m focusing on the imperative to be ready to navigate through deeply uncertain times.

If the reality for business leaders today is a world of constant disruption, how can they best navigate it? How can they develop the ability to guide their organizations through the current environment, without falling victim to its unpredictable challenges?

A good way to start is to follow the first five imperatives I’ve written about in this series: lead with a conviction to positively impact society , shift from a command-and-control approach to one that aligns and empowers , be more open-minded toward ecosystems , develop a continuous learning mindset , and embrace always-on transformation by leading with the head, heart, and hands .

The sixth imperative—develop a new ability to navigate through ambiguity, tension, and paradox—depends on the first five but goes beyond.

As leaders implement the fundamentals discussed in our book Beyond Great, they will find themselves confronted with a number of significant paradoxes. As a result, they must steer the organization to learn to rethink and experiment while grounding it in elements of the business that are stable and unchanging. They must compete ferociously with peers while collaborating with them as never before. They must push their companies to be both global and local. They must cultivate fluidity and stability.

'Great' during the 20th century meant pushing hard on one element of a binary and excelling. To go beyond great, leaders must feel comfortable handling both elements of the binary. Beyond-great companies can take charge of their own destinies and master this volatile global business environment rather than remain imprisoned by it.

How? At BCG, some of my colleagues refer to this imperative as the need to gain an uncertainty advantage , and they point out that success doesn’t require complete reinvention. Instead, leaders have to improve their ability to see coming trends before others, make decisions and take action according to those coming changes, and bounce back when there are unanticipated shocks.

Gaining Stakeholder Support

This work of setting the direction is critical, but it’s actually only half the battle of navigating through the depths of uncertainty.

A business leader today cannot act as a commander, making key decisions on his or her own, but instead plays a role that almost resembles an elected official. They need the support of their constituents, which include a full range of stakeholders—shareholders, customers, employees, ecosystem partners, governments, and communities—all of which need to have a say in the direction being set. And for many leaders used to calling the shots, this shift to ensuring engagement with stakeholder groups can be one of their biggest challenges.

The first step is to make sure that management is aligned internally—up, down, and across the organization. Without that unity, it will be impossible to take action in a clear, cohesive way in the face of rapid change. As some of my colleagues detail in a recent article , there are five proven actions that can facilitate alignment:

• Make sure every leader understands how they contribute to broader organizational goals.
• Create mechanisms that cascade ideas upward—and across.
• Encourage bad-news sharing to foster open dialogue.?
• Expand the pool for strategic input.
• Double down on two-way board mentoring.

Next, to win the most “votes” from constituents, leaders need to do the following:

• Put themselves in the shoes of their stakeholders and actively seek to understand their needs, desires, and aspirations—along with their concerns. Empathy is king.
• ?Institute a new kind of board, which serves not just shareholders but all stakeholders, and make sure that board has teeth.
• ?Conduct polls to ensure they have an accurate and timely pulse check into where there’s support, where there’s resistance, and why.?
• Address the concerns of the various stakeholders through action.
• Ensure they have the courage of their convictions when they do take action, including what is mission critical and what is not.
• Conduct ongoing communication campaigns, ideally in the form of dialogues, with representation from the various stakeholder groups.

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The goals of today’s leaders should include introducing the change necessary so they can leave behind a strong legacy of growth, financial success, and meaningful social impact. And as I explain in my TED talk , it can be invigorating instead of exhausting to make that kind of change happen and adapt the business for a constantly evolving world.

As you consider the legacy you will leave behind, I suggest you focus on all six of these leadership imperatives, so that change can become an empowering, energizing task for all: galvanize your people to pursue a broader social impact, as well as shareholder returns; become more collaborative and less directive; treat others in your space as collaborators, as well as competitors; exemplify a growth mindset; become a transformational leader; and embrace ambiguity, tension, and paradox.

The journey beyond great is wonderfully fulfilling and enriching for everyone involved. And it all starts with you.

Discover more about the rules for success in the?Beyond Great ?book.