Leaning into an Unpredictable Future
Change is inevitable, but how we accept and respond to it reveals not only who we are as individuals and as a society today but also who we will become in the future—a future we have yet to encounter.
The wise amongst us focus only on impacting the things we *can* change while accepting the changes beyond our control.
The tech-philic amongst us wants to use the latest technologies to understand what happened yesterday, oversee our work today, and manage our work in the future.
The efficient and effective managers amongst us want to make a plan, take considered action, and prepare for a future we can’t predict.
Yet it’s not enough to be wise, tech-philic, or efficient. It takes more than the newest technologies and the most experienced managers and leaders to deliver solutions that support the Greater Good. It takes HUMANS who:
Seek what is faithful and wise.
Support what is fair and reasonable.
Empower and support those in need.
Connect and collaborate to achieve our goals.
It takes humans who think through the WHY, the WHAT, and the HOW questions around change.
WHY must we be optimistic and hopeful, despite the overwhelming challenges?
Choosing to be optimistic and hopeful despite the overwhelming uncertainties and challenges is the only way that progress can be made.
Be confident that taking a passionate, optimistic, hopeful, and strategic stand might make incremental progress toward a larger end game. That small step, that ripple of energy in an ocean, may not be enough in itself, but it’s a start and the only way we can collectively shift the narrative and make a difference.
WHAT
What we choose to do is a marriage between what we’re passionate about, what the market needs, and where our skills lie. This sounds simple, but it isn’t.
We don’t dare hope that the three *can* come together.
We don’t reach for the intersection between the three - the passion, the market, the skills.
We don’t create opportunities for the three to flow together.
I challenge you to reflect on how the three shall meet in the middle to benefit yourself and those you touch.
HOW do we plan for upcoming changes?
Be inquisitive and open, yet centered and strategic.
Ask the right questions of the right people and be open to some surprising responses, for it will help plan for changes ahead. But before you ask those questions, be strategic based on the desires of your company, team, product, and what you yourself want, and consider how to achieve those goals.
Be confident and bold yet skeptical and agile.
Boldly and confidently follow through on well-made plans while remaining skeptical that the data content and information will consistently align with the plan. Hence, agility around the plan is necessary as the plan gets updated regularly through feedback loops.
Be responsive and reactive, yet strategic and plan-ful.
Address what’s in front of you while keeping a strategic, plan-full eye on the future.
Being inclusive and collaborative, yet independent and connected.
Balance the need to include others, to work with others while remaining independent and centered on strategic overarching goals.
Nobody can predict or plan for the future, but if we all step in and set the bar high for truth and wisdom, for fairness and goodness, perhaps we will see positive incremental progress, no matter how small, with the ripple effect of empowering and enabling those within our sphere of influence.