I recently came across this challenging little sentence in an article by Luc Gallopin:
“As far as mastering today’s world is concerned I think we would be better off with the skill of ‘not knowing’ or ‘ignorance’.”
Well, that got the grey cells active! In this age when we are exhorted to set goals for everything from when we will reach millionaire status to what time we will spend with the kids each day, surely ‘not knowing’ has no place? Perhaps this idea of knowing what we want to happen is especially prevalent at this time of year when those New Year’s Resolutions come out again – goals for the next year.
You might, by now, expect me to have a slightly different take on goals! Oh, I do not deny that they have their place – how else would we know what to buy at the supermarket if we did not set out to get butter, milk, bread etc? (actually I very rarely take a list as I like to be guided by what takes my fancy as I wander around), how could we be certain of submitting that report on time if we did not know ‘when’ the right time was, etc.
I want to put a case for not knowing, for leaving things to just happen; and I want to preface it by asking you to think about those great things that might have happened to you when you did not have a SMART goal – falling in love, watching that spectacular sunset, learning to walk or talk (interesting how much children manage to learn/do without even a mental concept of ‘goal’). Just imagine setting the goal “By 23rd February 2013 I will have fallen in love with a 5’10” blonde Australian woman”, how ridiculous (even though it might be aspirational!).
But ‘not knowing’ is subtly different to not having goals, after all Columbus set off to discover the East Indies (his goal) without having much idea of where or how he could find them perhaps that’s what enabled him to find the Americas instead. He clearly subscribed to the apocryphal quotation:
You cannot discover new oceans unless you are willing to lose sight of the shore.
Losing sight of the shore involves being prepared to give up foreknowledge. Yes, you might have some idea of what you want to achieve, but be prepared for stuff to just happen and take advantage of happenings. We cannot know the future, so all we can really do is set off into the void with some generalised desired outcomes and be prepared for whatever happens.
In my book THAT is the essence of great leadership; having the humility to acknowledge that you do not know, the passion to achieve something and the wisdom to recognise and use whatever opportunities come your way. Good leaders are comfortable being uncomfortable.
Thanks Geoff for your very timely and thought-provoking article – incredibly relevant to us at the moment.
Geoff
A powerful message in “Synchronicity” by Joe Jaworski for me was ‘being open to ………’ which seemed to me to support what you claim – that we cannot know what opportunity may walk through the door, unless we are open to it.
Geoff,
Otto Scharmer’s U-theory too provides meaningful insight into being open to new possibilities and hence support your claim. I also like(prefer) the concept of ‘allowing’ rather than ‘attracting’ opportunities that may come our way. It leaves me with a sense of being fully present in the moment and accepting of what comes my way of being ‘good enough’ in the moment of intervention.
Hi Yolanda and thanks for the reference to U-Theory, it was a new one to me and having now read a bit about it I can see the link you make.
I am fond of both ‘allowing’ and ‘attracting’ ideas – indeed, I have done quite a lot of work because I put my desires (to work on particular types of projects) ‘out there’ – only to find that someone somewhere heard about me and offered me work that I might not otherwise have known about. So, it’s both of them for me.
This is a thought provoking article…we are so target focused that I agree we can miss “the moment” and opportunities that we might not have already planned for.
We need to spend more time in reflection and allowing our minds to be receptive to what might/could happen rather than structuring every minute of the day with tasks.
If leaders did more of this, what might the results be?
I agree with you proposition that we need to leave/schedule time for reflection (and forward-thinking as well). Task, task, task fills our time and is often seductive to those with a ‘production’ mindset, but leadership involves seeking/creating novelty and that is usually off-plan – or as they used to say “All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy).
Thanks Kathryn