Stepping into Uncertainty

Journal

LEADERSHIP SUSPICIONS

A while back, I was invited to a leadership workshop/event/extravaganza by a client who is, well was, a big fan of this particular leadership guru who shall remain anonymous for professional reasons although I may allude to him for anecdotal reasons. The marketing material for the event effusively promised that this leadership Thought Leader would reveal stunning new insights into the pitfalls of leadership and how to fix them, entirely based on scientific evidence and the latest research into neuroscience.

I always get slightly suspicious of, and also intrigued by, any marketing material that contains multiple mentions of the prefix neuro-, even more so when all these neuro prefixes are accompanied by clip-art graphics suggesting that the brain is a computer or is filled with cogs and springs like some intricate Newtonian machine. In reality, the human brain is a complex imaginal system, continually simulating the outer world and validating those simulations with sensory information from the outer world. The mechanistic approach to leadership, however, is very seductive as it suggests a high level of certainty and determinism where all you have to do is follow a few simple steps, usually listed as the seven things that all highly effective leaders do before 6 AM in the morning. and then all of a sudden, you’re a highly effective leader.

SUSPICIOUSLY WRINKLE-FREE

Anyway, as we made our way into the bustle of the foyer outside the auditorium, we were enveloped in a huge crowd of people all apparently keen to avoid the pitfalls of leadership and lots of attractive young people imploring us to sign up to this latest leadership course. And then some Tibetan temple bells rang, and like Pavlov’s sheep, we shuffled past posters and banners depicting a suspiciously wrinkle-free Thought Leader and filed into a large and expectant auditorium. We settled into our seats, the lights went down and then to the rousing swell of Also Sprach Zarathustra, a single spotlight flicked on as the Thought Leader bounded onto the stage, wearing a three piece suit and a Madonna style microphone that made him look as if he had recently escaped from a call centre staffed entirely by clothing catalogue models.

As well as being slightly suspicious of marketing material that contains multiple mentions of the prefix neuro, I'm also a bit suspicious of individuals who market themselves as Thought Leaders. This might sound like I am just a suspicious person, a bit like Detective Sergeant Albert Chisholm, but thought leaders rarely have to apply their thoughts in actual reality. Although their thoughts may make sense in an idealized and rarified theoretical space, theory and practice are often quite different. The big challenge for Thought Leaders is actually transforming their mental meanderings into successful practice across the boundary between the ideal and the real, across what we call Edge of How, when working with the Human Edge.

ALL KNOWN LEADERSHIP PITFALLS

Standing in the spotlight, in the centre of the stage, the Thought Leader solemnly intoned ‘Welcome followers, today we are all on a journey!’ To which I muttered ‘I wish I was – on any form of transport away from here’, which earned me a gentle nudge in the ribs and a hissed ‘just give him a chance’. He then proudly announced ‘your brain is a computer and today we are going to upgrade your leadership software to prevent all known leadership pitfalls. We are going to open up new pathways in your brains’. Although this pronouncement seemed to be enthusiastically received by most of the audience, the Thought Leader could probably hear my eyes rolling from many rows back in the auditorium.

Humans have always used the most complex technologies in the outer world as a way of describing the complexities of the inner world. Increasingly complex technical analogies have been used to describe the brain as human technology became more and more complex. Over the centuries, our brains have been analogised as water wheels, telegraphs, telephone exchanges, and now computers. This gives rise to an actual psychological pitfall where it is assumed that we can engage with the brain in the same way that we might engage with the specific piece of technology. This leads to the fallacy that the brain runs some sort of Human Operating System that can be consistently updated to change our behaviours and outcomes, Joe 90 style.

JOE 90'S DAD

Our own version of Joe 90’s dad continued to bound around the stage, excitedly proclaiming, “I’m not just upgrading your brain’s software today, I will also be installing applications to run a growth mindset, emotion regulation and behaviour change that will make your mind pitfall free. Remember,’ I lead’ is an anagram of ideal – our software download to your brain will make you ideal leaders and you can use the same processes with your teams to make them ideal followers”.

Through the medium of an unusual contemporary dance style of power posing and arm waving, the Thought Leader continued to pronounce more anagrammatic utterances, culminating in ‘neural’ is an anagram of ‘all newer’ and then we were asked ‘are you ready to have our exciting ‘all newer’ neural software downloaded into your brains? Most of the audience responded enthusiastically although there was a notable exception. There is then followed a seemingly endless stream of what could be best described as neuro-drivel, packed with unsubstantiated claims and illustrated by ’your brain is a computer’ graphics.

A LEADERSHIP PITFALL

For all the Thought Leader’s upbeat theatrical positivity, the neuro-drivel he spouted was depressingly negative, all about dysfunctions, self-blame, mind traps, pitfalls and perfectionist criticisms. Idealism can often have that negative perspective where everything is wrong, simply because real life isn’t always perfect. The torrent of neuro-nonsense continued at breathless pace by an increasingly breathless Thought Leader, until possibly dazzled by the spotlights, or perhaps by his own brilliance, and in a leadership pitfall that he had not previously anticipated, the Thought Leader tripped over the edge of the stage and accidentally downloaded himself into the audience. Although he appeared to have temporarily lost his once commanding position on the stage, his Madonna microphone was still fully operational, faithfully broadcasting a quite unleader-like stream of swear words. As his cursing faded away, it was followed by an anguished wail of ‘this is completely fucking up my cortisol levels, can someone please give me a hug so I can generate some oxytocin’.

As well as trying to misguidedly hack their brain’s software, the misguided and misled often try to hack their brain chemistry. Oxytocin has been mistakenly described as the ‘hug hormone’ or the ‘trust hormone’ in Paul Zak’s 2011 TED talk and various other happy-clappy articles and books. This so-called ‘moral molecule’ has been promoted as a way of building trust in teams by having them all regularly hug each other. Like many simplistic approaches to understanding human behaviour, however, subsequent oxytocin experiments have failed to replicate the initially claimed results. You can’t hack your brain chemistry into a suitable cocktail of cortisol, dopamin, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins in the same way that you might order your favourite half decaf soya frappuccino, hold the nuts.

OXYTOCIN-FUELLED ANTS

A group of his shiny faced young disciples hugged him as they lifted him up off the ground and like a small phalanx of oxytocin-fuelled ants with the prize acquisition of a slightly stunned beetle, they beetled out of the auditorium through a fire exit. There were some more garbled transmissions from the recently departed dear leader, one of which sounded like ‘no, they’re not getting any refunds’. The auditorium remained dark and the audience just sat there, in the dark as to what was happening and what they should do. The process of leadership can often become quite theatrical, where an appointed leader feels that they have to play a particular part in some self obsessed drama. When that happens, the people following the leader become an audience rather than actively participating in a bigger and more valuable story.

Perhaps some of the audience felt as if they were halfway through a software update, they just had to sit there until it had been completed, rather than risking it only being half downloaded. like some borked Windows Vista update. [Moss Windows start-up?] Beyond the Thought Leader’s misplaced idealism, the reality was that the audience was now leaderless, transfixed by an empty single spotlight on the stage. From a psychological perspective, a leader is a person who steps into uncertainty and invites others into opportunity. Others may or may not follow you, but by stepping into uncertainty, you open yourself up into new opportunities and possibilities. As you make that step into uncertainty, you usually have an idea or a glimpse of where you want this leadership journey to take you. Our word leader comes from the old Norse leitir, meaning being inspired to go on a journey. You may inspire others as a leader but first you have to inspire yourself to take that first step into uncertainty.

STEP INTO YOUR OWN UNCERTAINTIES

The step into uncertainty that I wanted to make was somehow to get out of the auditorium to the cafe. The main auditorium doors were still closed, guarded by the Oxytocin Ants, so I looked around for less certain and less obvious methods to step across the Edge Of How. A few rows behind was an unmarked door with a faint glimmer of light showing around its edge. I whispered to my client 'Come on let's go I think I see a way out of here'. She hissed back “Just stay still and wait for something to happen”. And that’s what following participants often do, just wait for something to happen in a situation, instead of taking action and actually happening to the situation themselves. I felt that too. I felt that uncertainty. Part of me wanted to stay and keep my client happy and not cause any disruption and part of me wanted to go. It is a common fallacy that leaders need followers. Often as a leader, you have to step into your own uncertainties and see where that journey takes you. There is always a moment of uncertainty as you step across the edge into the unknown and unfamiliar.

Anyway, I chose to step into that uncertainty, picked up my bag and started scrambling over seats until I reached the unmarked door. I didn't know where it might lead but I pushed gently against it and found it opening into a familiar stairwell that led down to the foyer. I stood in the doorway and this new source of light illuminated the auditorium, a shining path of certainty, Inviting the audience into the opportunity that lay beyond. My client stood up as well, shaking her head and grinning and climbed over the seats to join me. As I propped the door open with a handy wedge, a backward glance showed everyone in the audience was following us. By the time we reached the foyer, none of the organising team were anywhere to be seen and it seemed like through some strange Lorenzian imprinting process, my client and I had become the de facto leaders, so we suggested to the assembled throng that they should make their way to the theatre cafe and all claim a complementary free coffee to be charged to the Thought Leader’s account. It was the least we could do.

THE THOUGHT LEADER’S DOWNFALL

The experience had profoundly changed my client’s perspective on this particular Thought Leader, shifting it from ‘the man is an absolute genius’ to ‘what an absolute twat’. and that seemed to be echoed by the shifting perspectives of our fellow complimentary coffee drinkers who all appeared to be exploring various versions of the Thought Leader’s downfall ranging from the the ‘how the mighty have fallen’ narrative to ‘why didn’t he just look where he was going?’. The Thought Leader didn’t look where he was going because he thought he didn’t need to, safe in the certainty of his thought bubble. a theoretical space where all his steps were certain. His brain was running the latest software, everything was predictably planned out and nothing could go wrong in his ideal world. And that’s where he met his downfall, where the ideal met the real. Where the overly idealised met the suddenly realised.

Being a leader isn't about how many followers you have or ensuring that your brain is running the latest leadership software. A leader is not someone who views their brain as a prediction machine that can have its software upgraded. A leader is a human being who steps into uncertainty and invites others into opportunity. Others will accept that invitation into opportunity because the leader is creating a safe space in an uncertain situation, creating a sense of psychological safety. Developing new technology and generating value often requires that step into uncertainty. And as we step into uncertainty, we make situations more certain for those who choose to follow us. We can stay in certainty, predictability, stuck in fixed viewpoints or we can choose to step into uncertainty. And in that step, as we step into uncertainty, we become leaders.