Futurist Bob Johansen, in his book Leaders Make the Future, made this unsettling statement: "In my 40 years of forecasting futures, the direst forecasts yet are in this book". He then goes on to describe a VUCA world--a global business environment of escalating Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.
VUCA, in my opinion, is here and increasing it's rate of acceleration, even as we attempt to contend with it. Adaptive challenges, ones that have a set of interdependent challenges that are seemingly unsolvable, are seeking to be solved and must be (Heifetz, 1998). An adaptive challenge is one that can't be solved from within the same level of consciousness or operating system that created it.
What does a VUCA world filled with adaptive challenges require? I'll bet he says "leadership". Yep, conscious and collective leadership! Leadership sourced from a higher level of consciousness and upgraded operating system. Mastering Leadership says this, "Only when leaders do their heroic inner work will the kind of collective leadership emerge that can positively change the trajectory of events now unfolding. Nothing short of a profound shift of mind is required. Higher-order consciousness and wisdom are related."
The only way out of a VUCA world is through and there are no shortcuts.
Questions for reflection:
Are we facing reality about our leadership or ramping up a delusion about our impact and effectiveness?
What is the current challenge asking of you and forcing you to learn?
What if you knew with certainty that you are the cause and never the effect of what is happening around you?
Where am I resisting vulnerability, learning and change?
Will I remain effective if I make fundamental changes within myself?
It's a lot like stepping into the unknown, but daily. Like you're on a ship to another far off land. Hoping for it to be a land of promise but understanding the possibility of a land more worse off. The journey will prepare or punish you, but you just, keep, going. Going back, although familiar, also feels like failure. Giving up. To be safe, is sound. But to be sound, isn't safe. It requires a deepening plunge into the being in order to become. The difficulty for me mostly, seems to be living among those who chose stagnation in lieu of my movement. The joy of the uncertain journey takes others in support. But the willingness to venture out is…