“So Sarah, you’re leading your organization through this big, complex transformation. Does that feel daunting?”
“It is! Oh my gosh, it’s so daunting!”
I distinctly remember my first conversation with Sarah, a capable leader who would become a longtime coaching client. Sarah was tasked with changing how her organization built software. She worked for a large and successful manufacturing company that used a host of legacy systems and processes. To compete in a rapidly changing competitive environment, the CEO and board of Sarah’s company recognized the need to rebuild their systems, and they tapped her to lead the transformation.
Common Traits of Successful Leaders
Like Sarah, almost every leader I work with has made it to where they are by having a solid foundation of technical skills. Sarah has a finance background, thinks fast, and is good with numbers. When we started working together, she told me she feels most comfortable working in a spreadsheet. Other clients shine as lawyers, engineers, or coders. They are all good at coming up with answers to problems. I bet you are, too!
Complex Problems vs. Complicated Problems
On the one hand, the ability to solve complex problems is a superpower. But, as you progress on your leadership journey, it can also be a liability. Leaders like you are asked to solve increasingly complex problems. Complex problems aren’t just bigger versions of complicated ones. They can’t be easily broken down into smaller, simpler problems. They have unpredictable outcomes even if you deeply understand the underlying principles. They lack a single solution, and the problems change as we tackle them, so they require flexible problem-solving approaches that account for emergent patterns.
The “Golden Age of Complexity”
All of this means that we can’t deliver a neat, tidy solution. These problems are beyond the ken of any single person or team to solve. They are chaotic (in the sense that small, impossible-to-track details matter). They require others to co-create a new reality — a bold and daring act.
In Meltdown, we wrote about the arrival of the Black Death in the middle ages. In October 1347, a fleet of ships carrying infected sailors arrived in Sicily. Many sailors were already dead; others were coughing and vomiting blood. The epidemic — which would go on to kill tens of millions of people — moved rapidly along new shipping and trade routes. It spread through populations newly concentrated in cities. But we wouldn’t develop the technologies of epidemiology, antibiotics, or sanitation for centuries. We didn’t even have a theory of germs! This mismatch between challenge and tools led one historian to call the middle ages “the golden age of bacteria.” Today, we are in a golden age of complexity.
Challenges in Modern Leadership
I suspect that most of you are rooted in organizations that want to solve problems faster — when slowing down and deepening our understanding is what’s needed. Consequently, we face pressure to move faster, technologies that demand that we’re “always on,” and organizations that frequently shift priorities. Many of us work for bosses who model management-by-telling instead of leadership-as-listening.
The Importance of Vulnerability and Openness in Leadership
True leadership is fundamentally an act of vulnerability and openness. It’s about being curious about our impact on others so we can understand how we can serve them. We need space, time, and new ways to help us think and lead. Not many of us learn how to build solid relationships, facilitate meetings, work with strong feelings (our own and others!), delegate tasks, accept feedback, or work with an executive assistant to free up our calendars for our most important work.
Overcoming the Challenges: Sarah’s Transformation
So if you feel daunted, I want you to know that it’s not your fault. You are being asked to do a lot while facing forces and trends that are outside of all of our controls. A few weeks ago, Sarah and I wrapped up our work together. In leading her organization’s transformation, she herself transformed. Even as she was promoted to a more senior role with more visibility and more significant challenges, she told me that she’s never felt more confident.
She’s still a spreadsheet whiz, but she’s more comfortable wading into ambiguous problems that can’t be solved with Excel. She’s building stronger relationships with those around her. She’s learned to use curiosity to shape the direction of her organization and succeed in her role. And she’s led her growing team through a challenging reorganization with poise and composure.
Sarah’s journey makes me feel hopeful, and in the near future, I’ll write more about some of the specific approaches she took in our work together.
But what about you? Which of the challenges above resonated with you?
