Picture this: you’re seated at your breakfast table, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafting through the air, ready to dive into the comforting routine of your morning. You’re expecting the usual spread—a plate of success stories, perhaps, garnished with a generous helping of bulletproof tactics. Yet life, with its quirky sense of humour, dishes out a generous serving of uncertainty alongside it.
Uncertainty, the unexpected guest at our table, often arrives with a side of anxiety, fear, and even panic. But here’s the thing—as daunting as it may seem, uncertainty is not just an unwelcome intruder. It’s part of the natural ebb and flow of life and, believe it or not, it’s something we’re evolved to handle, navigate, and even welcome.
Now, let me introduce you to two buddies who are already seated at the table with us, even if we don’t immediately acknowledge their presence: strategy and culture. These two are not just guests but also both part of the furniture and an integral part of our being. We might lean on strategy when the going gets tough, but it’s culture—that deep-seated set of values and beliefs shared by individuals and groups—that truly helps us digest and navigate through uncertainty.
I’d say we’ve read much more about tactics and strategy than about culture in our sector, so today it’s time to balance the scales a bit (!).
Individual Values: The Personal Recipe for Success
At an individual level, what really sustains us through these uncertain times are our values. To name a few:
- Critical thinking: It’s essential to keep gathering information from various sources, seeking advice, and learning from both experiments and personal experiences, always maintaining a broad perspective. How do you ensure your decisions are well-informed in the face of uncertainty? Critical thinking always comes in the learning and innovation sandwich.
- What makes you genuinely good: Identifying what brings you real joy and fulfilment is crucial. This happiness is not a destination but a journey, fluid and ever-changing. Have you taken a moment to reflect on what truly makes you happy beyond surface-level pleasures?
- Kindness: Never underestimate the power of being nice. It takes courage, will, and definitely more energy. People are not assets; they are fellow travellers on this journey, each with their own story and struggles. A reflection to be done on another day would be whether you really know the power of fully focusing yourself on listening to what you get back when you ask, “How+are+you?”. I was glad to see a post published by Giny Boer, CEO of C&A, in which kindness is part of her leadership trident.
- No addition, no admission: I’m sure you’ve heard this before, it’s just another way of resonating with the quote: “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened” – often attributed to M. Twain.
Strategy, values, and work. We’ll deal with what’s within our control, we’ll do it as best as we can by taking care of what we can do. Everything else? It’s merely an inefficient drain of energy.
Beyond Individuality: Sharing the Galley
When we move beyond the individual and start working in teams, the dynamics change. It gets enriched and definitely funnier. The best teams are not just collections of skilled and talented individuals but groups of people who genuinely enjoy tackling challenges together, finding joy in both the highs and the lows. This is where company culture comes into play, enabling and facilitating how individuals collaborate and navigate through uncertainty together.
The first triumph against uncertainty?: Knowing that every effort will be made to reach a safe harbor.
Culture, as Peter F. Drucker so aptly put it, “eats strategy for breakfast.” This doesn’t mean strategy is irrelevant; far from it. It means that in the face of uncertainty, it’s the shared values, the collective mission, and the culture of an organisation that will guide its ship through stormy waters.
Embracing Uncertainty: The Breakfast of Champions
Uncertainty, then, is not something to be feared but embraced. It’s an opportunity to cernir—sift, through our values, to reassess our goals, and to strengthen our culture both as individuals and within organisations. It prompts us to review not just our strategies but the very foundations upon which they are built.
So, as you sit down for breakfast, expecting the familiar but greeted instead by the unknown, remember: uncertainty is just another ingredient in the rich stew of life. It’s something to be navigated, understood, and ultimately embraced.
In the world of digital marketing, where change and innovation are important constants, this approach is not just beneficial; it’s essential. We’re all navigating somehow unpredictable waters, but with strategy and culture as our compass and rudder, we can not only survive but thrive. And yet, I still get that look when I call it fun.
As we come full circle, returning to our breakfast table, we realise that embracing uncertainty is not merely a necessary aspect of life; it’s what enhances it. It’s about how we grasp it, own it, and lead it. Transforming the unknown into a source of strength and inspiration marks the true essence of success, both in our personal and professional lives.
Today we’ll have uncertainty for breakfast. Enjoy!
