Not every tricky situation we face will lead us to a world-changing innovation like penicillin, Amazon, or Uber.
But simply treating our problems as if they contain opportunities will always bring us five important benefits:
- A feeling of inspiration and emotional engagement:
Looking for opportunities is more exciting, more inspiring than fixing problems. It raises emotional engagement and morale, which improves productivity and results.
As Napoleon said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Simply deciding to look for the opportunities in a situation creates that hope.
. - Deeper understanding:
Searching for the opportunities in a difficult situation then forces us to let go of our assumptions about the situation and look for a deeper understanding. That deeper understanding will be useful, no matter which way forward we ultimately choose.
. - Greater durability and impact:
When John Cleese was writing sketches with the Monty Python team, his colleagues would often stop when they got to the first punchline. But Cleese would keep working until he found the second, third, or even fifth level of comedy. This was harder work and took longer but the results he created were stronger, funnier, and longer lasting.
If you want to generate outcomes that are more remarkable, last longer, or connect at a deeper level than your competitors, then learn to look for the ten types of opportunity that lie beyond the obvious solution and the quick fix.
. - More choice, more control, and more determination:
By choosing to see not only ‘problems’ but to seek the opportunities in a situation, you retain control over your own destiny. Even if you then end up choosing the same path as before, you have now made it your deliberate choice, from a wider range of options, instead of something you were forced into. And even if your chosen way forward isn’t ideal, the fact that you have looked for the opportunities means you know it is the best option available, which will add vigour and determination to your actions. All of this puts you back in control.
. - Antifragility:
Looking for the opportunities in a situation is another step to making us and our organisations what Nassim Nicholas Taleb calls ‘antifragile’.
Objects, people, and organisations that break under stress we call ‘fragile’. Objects, people, and organisations that survive under stress we call ‘robust’, ‘strong, or ‘resilient’. And objects, people, and organisations that can actually use stress to become stronger and more valuable, Taleb calls ‘antifragile’.
The first step to becoming antifragile is simply deciding to look for the opportunities in the situation.
Together, these five benefits lie at the heart of Inner Leadership: generating more inspiration, building deeper understanding, keeping us in control, and finding better ways forward that will last longer. Ultimately they are about developing the ability to use any situation to make ourselves and our organisations antifragile: able to use change to become not only stronger but also more valuable.
All this begins at the moment you decide simply to look for the opportunities in the situation.
Would any of these benefits be useful to you right now? Have you looked for the opportunities that exist in the challenges you currently face?
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and tools for building inspiration in times of change.
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Photo By Eduardo Unda-Sanzana via StockPholio.net