Optimism and 10 Other Useful Words in Times of Crisis

For those who know me, it’s no secret: I’m a vitally enthusiastic and optimistic person. From my first professional experiences, I learned two lessons very early. The first is that what is important in life is not what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you . In other words, the important thing is the attitude you take towards new circumstances, and how you react to them, whether it is an unforeseen adversity or fortune, a change you did not expect in your personal life or a new uncertainty in your environment. The second lesson I learned is that positive thinking has immense power to generate energy in difficult and uncertain times for organizations.

Over the years, experience has confirmed these two lessons for me on a daily basis, to the point that they have considerably influenced my leadership style. On more than a few occasions I have been able to see the knock-on effect of enthusiasm and optimism. I’m talking about that positive attitude that, in the face of challenges, tells us: “we can change things and achieve impressive goals”. As leaders, we don’t know what we can achieve until we try.

That is why I am convinced that, in times of uncertainty such as the present, positive thinking is a good antidote to “passion killers”, those small routine experiences that save our energy and gradually destroy our passion. A clear example: the phrase “have you seen the new stock market crash?” that greets us every morning at work, in the taxi or in the elevator at home, has today become a “passion killer”. To combat it, we must spread our optimism.

Optimism allows us to see the positives in any situation, and gives us the opportunity to take advantage of every possibility to improve ourselves. Positive thinking is based on our personal confidence and belief in our abilities to learn and overcome the most difficult situations. It’s not about seeing everything in a rosy light, but about working in the best possible way to overcome adversity.

Both the optimist and the pessimist are right: it is simply a glass half full of water. What is really important is that each one of us chooses, and with our choice – in a positive or negative key – we build our reality.

I hope that the ten words that follow will help you see the positive aspects of any situation, and encourage you to take advantage of every opportunity to improve yourself.

1. Observe. We are in a moment of profound transformation. We are moving from a linear and predictable society, based on logic, to a society of the unpredictable, with a new way of thinking and a new approach to life. That is why it is necessary that you dedicate part of your time to observe reality and find the trends that in the near future will affect your life, your markets and your organization.

There’s little point in asking “what happened?” when everything has already happened. So don’t stand still in the face of change. Look at what’s happening around you and ask yourself: how does all this affect me personally, how will these changes affect my future employability? Make sure that your organization also asks itself the essential questions: how do these changes affect my customers?, what impact will they have on the competitiveness of my products and services?, what should we do?

2. Talk. Participate in the new reality. You will discover that it does not bite, and that it is not dangerous either. The central element in the Age of Collaboration is not access to information, but access to conversations and actively participate in them. It is those new conversations that will allow us to develop new capabilities as leaders; which will allow us to know the needs of our customers and find the new talent that our organizations require. By participating, you will get your capacity for synthesis to be strengthened against your capacity for analysis, and you will learn to detect general patterns above specific answers.

3. Develop. Changes in your profession happen at full speed. That is why it is essential that you are able to learn and develop new skills and abilities. The pillars of the system are moving. The changes that are coming are really significant and are giving rise to a new paradigm. This time, short-term answers are not worth it. It is not enough that you “survive” the changes locked in your old refuge. Maybe it’s time for you to leave your “Comfort Zone”. You must be proactive. It analyzes trends, understands and internalizes the new models of value creation through people, the new social structures, the new markets that are emerging. Cultivate the skills needed to turn change into an opportunity for our lives. These are bad times to doubt your ability to change. The worst thing you can do is doubt yourself, your ability to adapt and master, as you have always done, the new reality around you.

4. Be bold. In times of change and uncertainty, it is always better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. So jump into the sand. Test your ideas in real conditions, with real customers and in real markets. Don’t waste time simulating reality; Create it and experiment with it. Turn your project into reality. Listen to what your customers and collaborators have to say and improve day by day.

The most important thing is to “do”. It enters into the dynamic of “doing” in order to escape the “paralysis of analysis”. Get something really working up and running as fast as you can. It’s the best way to gain momentum. Leave “risk management” to the banks. There is no greater risk today than standing still watching your long-time customers abandon you, your margins shrink and the best talent leave the company.
A very useful tip: build your own personal agenda. Remember that if you don’t have a personal agenda, that means you’re part of someone else’s personal agenda.

5. Go ahead. Don’t stop. Overcome the fear of failure and making mistakes. Don’t get obsessed with making everything perfect the first time: it’s impossible. Just decide and move on. Eliminates pressure. Consider that your decisions are temporary, and that later you will return to them again. Progress through iterations.

In today’s highly competitive and fast-changing environment, time is the key variable. That’s why you can’t stop. Let the project grow and speak to you, to take shape and evolve. As you progress through the iterative process, your decisions will be better informed and will have the input of your collaborators.

6. Question. Challenge the status quo, including your way of seeing things and your organization’s vision. Foster a culture within your company that challenges the status quo and tackles organizational challenges in an unusual way.

The age of irrational accumulation has come to an end. Every day, more and more people are looking for meaning beyond the accumulation of consumer goods. That’s why you need to find new ways to address future challenges, exploring new avenues and avoiding easy answers to problems.

7. Innovate. Dare to innovate. Remember that taking risks is critical to your future success. Build a “low-risk” experimentation capability that allows you to launch new innovation initiatives without jeopardizing the organization’s functioning. The key is to give new ideas a chance without crippling your company’s ability to achieve results on a day-to-day basis. Create flexible, people-centric organizations where leadership and innovation is shared by all.

Abandon “autopilot” mode. Stop always doing the same things you did the day before. Stop going to work every day thinking that everything is going to stay the same as before. Believe me: it’s not going to be like that.

8. Feel. Do not try to decipher everything that is happening only in a rational key. Free your senses and connect with those around you. Develop your empathy with others to better understand the subtleties of the changes taking place and the emotional beauty of human interaction. The ability to think logically is what makes us human. But logic alone is not enough. In addition to paying attention to tasks, we must pay attention to people. This “ability to understand” makes other people get involved and give the best of themselves. This will be one of the keys in the future.
This new era requires skills and talents that, historically, have not been part of our work environment, such as creativity, empathy, intuition and the ability to use ideas seemingly unrelated to our field of expertise.

9. Enjoy. Don’t fill your life only with seriousness and responsibility. Be generous with yourself and have fun. It is becoming increasingly clear that people are more efficient when we feel happy and enjoy what we do. If you want, work hard. But please have fun. Laughter is healthy and contagious. Watch the elite athletes you admire the most. You will find that everyone works hard, but that they always reserve a space to express a contagious joy.

10. Change. In an age like this, marked by accelerated change, you can’t drive by looking in the rearview mirror. You can’t rely on getting ahead using those tools that have worked in the past. Remember, if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always achieve what you’ve always achieved. You must be willing to do things differently. Let go of the routine and open your mind to understand the world around you. Whether you like it or not, the world is changing at full speed. Aim to do things differently. Change old ways of working, which only made sense in the past and emerged to solve a problem that is no longer relevant to your organization.

I sincerely believe that these ten words, along with a good dose of optimism, can help us overcome the uncertainty of these times, and prepare us for the new Era of Collaboration. In its daily application, don’t forget what Keynes warned us:

“The real difficulty in changing the course of any organization lies not in developing new ideas, but in getting rid of old ones.”

You can see the content of this post summarized in the following video: Ten Useful Words in Times of Crisis

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