Next December I shall be 80 years old. I tend to look backward and find out what lessons life taught me to share with the readers. One important lesson is that obstacles do not come alone; they come with hidden opportunities. The greater the obstacles shall be the greater their opportunities shall be as well.
I may claim that my top and most recognized achievements resulted from obstacles that seemed first hard to surmount but then proved they were the gateway to outstanding achievements. This is not only my experience. Many great discoveries resulted from great obstacles.
- Benzene Ring Structure– In 1865, German chemist Kekulépublished a paper in which he described benzene as consisting of a ring of six carbon atoms, each bonded to a hydrogen atom. This was a breakthrough because all known chemicals until then had open structures and none in a ring form. Glory came to Kekulé because of this achievement that we recognize even today.
- The Butterfly Effect– The metrological model Lorenz developed to simulate weather confused him because the results seemed chaotic and abnormal. He did not give up and soon realized that small changes in his model diverged the results drastically. He then coined the butterfly effect which we all recognize now and extended its use to varied activities in our lives.
- Fractals– Mandelbrot found it difficult to understand the strange self-similar structures that were unfamiliar. He seized the opportunity and then elucidated that there are bodies with non-integer dimensions calling them fractals. The impact of his findings are overwhelming our lives today.
- X-Ray Discovery– physicist Rontgen was the first person to observe X-rays, a notable scientific breakthrough by making the invisible visible.
The above examples show clearly that obstacles and hard-to-explain events and discoveries can be the prelude to great achievements.
Why mention those achievements?
It is because I can see that obstacles and challenges shall be pouring on us in the coming days. Not only on the scientific level but also on the managerial and leadership levels as well.
Our VUCA world is throwing challenges at us. In a VUCA world employees may feel lost because of the Volatility of change, the surrounding Uncertainty, the increasing Complexity, and the fogging Ambiguity.
This contrasts with what employees want. They want certainty and clear directions while preferring staying in their comfort zone rather than coping with volatile changes.
- Employees want certainty but VUCA increases Uncertainty
- Employees want stability but the volatility of change is ever-increasing.
- Employees seek direction but compounding uncertainty makes it difficult for leaders and managers to show direction.
The sky is raining obstacles. Obstacles do not come alone. They come with hidden opportunities.
- Opportunities for developing new managerial models.
- Opportunities to develop new risk models
- Opportunities for improving or even coming up with new prediction models
- Opportunities for creative ideas to make great breakthroughs.
There are many more opportunities.
Opportunities are as good as we do not have them if we do not search for them with faith that they are hidden somewhere.
I agree! We are human beings, and for this very reason we tend to stumble over the same mistake several times: the only way to avoid it is to learn from experience.
The educational power of error is a unique and powerful tool. The problem, therefore, is not stumbling, but knowing how, why and what consequences this accident brings, not only to avoid repeating it, but also to benefit from it if it were to happen again.
The lesson I tried to convey when I taught was the following:
Change begins within us: To overcome difficulties, we need the ability to see what we can do instead of focusing on what we are not capable of. The problem should not be avoided.
Difficulties should be faced in the face, without procrastinating.
Learning to change your point of view by trying to reflect on the situation in a logical and proactive way.
Look for the bright side by facing the difficulties that come our way, we will learn a lot about ourselves and how we relate to people and everyday problems, and this in itself is a personal enrichment that should not be underestimated.
If we learn from this, what initially seemed like a problem will be a springboard towards new opportunities, with resources that we previously kept hidden or did not know we had.
Maybe it is not everything in orer to transform difficulties into opportunities, but I think it is a good step forward.
I hope to read other suggestions on this extremely interesting topic because today I see too many young people who passively face difficulties while they can discover that they are a great school for their success.
Thank you!
Aldo, Your comment is gorgeous, splendid and insightful.
Following your introduction which is great you suggested. Change begins within us:’
This is very true. We shoeld show readiness to accept problems with a welcoming spirit. For those who do this they realize that opportunities come with lessons, and invitation to find creative solutions.
This is the bright side of obstacles. You are very correct. Looking only at the dark side of problems clouds our minds from seeing the associated possibilities and what we learn from them to become stronger.
I repeat this from your comment because it warrants highlighting. ‘If we learn from this, what initially seemed like a problem will be a springboard towards new opportunities, with resources that we previously kept hidden or did not know we had’.
Thanks my friend; your kind words are appreciated.
Brother Alan,
You covered a lot of ground and I am amazed how you explained the challenges and obstacles our VUCA world is imposing on us as well as the opportunities that VUCA gifts us with.
This is a master piece comment and you further enriched it with very advanced thoughts in your comments on my share of this post in part on LinkedIn.
I am deeply moved the quality of your comment.
(The problem with AI currently, in my opinion, is that precious little scientific discipline is being applied to experimentation.)
These same strategies could be applied to management and leadership and even our own personal development -choose when to buffer (volatility), learn, (uncertainty), get specialized expertise (complexity), or experiment, conduct your own research, (ambiguity).
Ask what is the obstacle? That way a path to action will be clearer. Ask what is the opportunity? Then step change may be possible?
What is the opportunity in volatility? Stability? Standardization? Collaboration?
What is the opportunity in Uncertainty? Perfect information? Recategorizing what information is critical? Collaboration?
What is the opportunity in Complexity? Simplification? A model or Rubric, or algorithm? Expert network? (Collaboration?)
What is the opportunity in Ambiguity? Experimentation spread across multiple sites? Networked information sharing? (Collaboration).
I’m sensing a theme. It may be what just what I’m thinking about right now, but we’re stronger together seems an idea worth considering.
Thanks for the insight.
Brother Ali
Another penetrating post. Obstacles do often contain opportunity.
Someone once told me that the Chinese character for crisis was formed by combining the characters for danger and opportunity.
When Nate Bennett and G. James Lemoine first coined the VUCA construct (HBR February 2014) they intended it’s application would be in strategic planning i.e., decide the nature of your obstacle to planning and respond accordingly.
If Volatility in price, or demand makes planning difficult build slack into the system in terms of inventory or cash on hand, make sure available data is up to date, and foster a quick action culture.
If Uncertainty is the primary issue you face – basic market principles of cause and effect are estab;ished but changes in your marketplace are as yet unclear, e.g., a new competitor’s product is launched but customer uptake is unclear, Then beef up data collection, analysis, and distribution.
If Complexity is your issue -many markets, each with its own regulatory and princing – then invest in specialists and network learning across markets.
If Ambiguity is the character of your market -we don’t know what we don’t know -Completely new products, markets or applications – as is the situation with AI at the moment then experiment – in the scientific method sense of the word -question, data collection, hypothesis, experiment to test, draw conclusions, test and verify -then form a new question. (The problem with AI currently, in my opinion, is that precious little scientific discipline is being applied to experimentation.)
These same strategies could be applied to management and leadership and even our own personal development -choose when to buffer (volatility), learn, (uncertainty), get specialized expertise (complexity), or experiment, conduct your own research, (ambiguity).
Ask what is the obstacle? That way a path to action will be clearer. Ask what is the opportunity? Then step change may be possible?
What is the opportunity in volatility? Stability? Standardization? Collaboration?
What is the opportunity in Uncertainty? Perfect information? Recategorizing what information is critical? Collaboration?
What is the opportunity in Complexity? Simplification? A model or Rubric, or algorithm? Expert network? (Collaboration?)
What is the opportunity in Ambiguity? Experimentation spread across multiple sites? Networked information sharing? (Collaboration).
I’m sensing a theme. It may be what just what I’m thinking about right now, but we’re stronger together seems an idea worth considering.
Thanks for the insight.
A
Alan Culler Brother I am in awe of how you extended the meaning of VUCA by not only expanding on its real meaning to the right mindset as well as your exploration thoughts on the opportunity of each one of the VUCA presents us with.
I really have nothing to add except my strong approval of what you said. It makes sense and actually you showed the opprtunities that the obstacles of VUCA have along with them.
A most relevant, insightful and commanding comments I received on my posts for the lasts few years.
I am totally amazed with the high quality of your insightful comment.