Stepping Up (As a Managerial Leader)

Many thanks to all who reached out after last week’s missive. The idea that we live in unprecedentedly discombobulating times has resonated with many.

I recently spoke to a global HR team about living in the VUCA world, so I am sharing my thoughts and experiences with you this week.

By VUCA, I mean Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. The term was coined by the United States Marine Corps commandant in the 1990s. VUCA was intended to explain the upended world that occurred after the fall of the Berlin Wall for the military, who had relied on a formulaic enemy in the form of the Soviet Union.?

My point to the group was that, while the principle is the same, we are ten times past that VUCA world. Even five years after COVID shut down society and sent everyone home, we are still seeing the effects.

In previous missives, I wrote about the seething anger we saw after COVID-19. It was like the line from the movie Network: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” In effect, in those days, not so long ago, we were feeling betrayed and confused.

But now it is much different; we live in a very uncertain age. Yes, there was lots of uncertainty in the past, but in a discussion with Jason on the Forrest team today, we discussed whether this is worse than the days of COVID. It think it will be different for all of us.

The issue for me is that it is hard to describe how I am feeling. I mentioned last week that I felt distraught because so much was out of my control. A lot of my disquiet comes from this thinking.

How about others? Where do they stand in all this??

Many are struggling with this issue. What should we do if the Gallup statistic that 78% of employees feel lonely in the workplace is true?

At the end of my presentation, the crowd asked what was necessary to overcome the feeling of VUCA. I had explained the issues and provided a prescription of sorts, but, at that moment, it hit me that one important solution was missing in our world.

It is the demonstration of leadership. We refer to it as Enlightened Leadership. It is about being authentic, digging deep into ourselves and believing our role is for the greater good. It is about being a servant in that we are leading others for their good, not our own desires, and, finally, it is being transformative in changing those “dark satanic mills” into great places to work and be.

VUCA is growing in power and holding sway over us because our leaders are self-absorbed and do not exercise enlightened leadership. For them, authenticity is doing what is good for them, servanthood is making others indentured servants, and transformation is changing people to meet their personal aspirations.

In the darkness, the leader has to step up. I remember days as a young, inexperienced, exhausted, insecure leader, reaching those points where it would be easy just to go away and escape it all. But, for me, it was the realization that I had a job to do, a role to perform, and people depended on me. That enabled me to step up. Sure, I made mistakes, and things didn’t go according to plan, but I had to push through.

So, in this VUCA x10 world, we need to demand our leaders step up, hold them accountable, and step up ourselves. Leadership is about the greater good, no matter how much we want to focus on ourselves.

If I can add any insight, it would be that this, too, shall pass. Like in those first few weeks five years ago, we were uncertain as the world shut down. Now we have come out the other side.

It will be different this time, but it will pass.