Uncertainty Will Kill You!

Let’s be clear, uncertainty will kill you!

It’s natural to be uncertain, but throughout our entire lives we are constantly faced with doubt, indecisiveness, uncertainty.

Let’s say you are sitting at stop sign on a busy 4 lane highway trying to turn left. Traffic is annoyingly dispersed just enough to prevent you from getting out. You wait, and you wait – and you get tired of waiting. You need to get out and there are three cars behind you. You see your opening, hit the gas – and then have a moment of doubt as to whether you can make it in time… your brain seizes and then what? You  are now exposed to 1500 pound chunks of metal and plastic hurtling towards you at 60 MPH.

Just as in this example, uncertainty in business, or even elsewhere in life, can often times cause you to miss opportunities you might have otherwise seized. This is often referred to as “opportunity cost”, or the cost of not taking an opportunity versus choosing to invest the time, resources, and money in a particular choice or action.

But what I see consistently is the greatest catalyst to this wringing-of-hands effect is change. I wrote an article about my take on the 4 keys to surviving change in uncertain times, and it was very therapeutic for me as my life had been a flipped on its side.

In this post I outlined four critical areas I felt you must focus upon to make it through uncertainty:

1. Honesty
2. Vision
3. Will
4. Communication

Looking back on when I wrote this and how the president of our branch and each of our managers worked through our recent acquisition, each of these points was lived by each of our managers – and especially by our leader.

I won’t lie to you, change is tough. All of us had a hard time digesting what was happening and were all fretting about what might happen, and what MIGHT happen just about killed us. Because we were uncertain, we just about got hit by a big 18-wheeler. We had lost our way for a short time, taken our eye of the ball, and there was really nothing at all to fear.

You see we had intellectualized the change, but we had not internalized the change. That is a very important distinction. Now that we have moved through these four stages, continually living them, we are once again the team I once knew – that elite team that can do anything.

You see, these truths not only hold in a case of acquisition, but in all times of uncertainty. Look around: We are in one of the greatest times of financial uncertainty. What do you see when you look around? You see paralysis and fear still gripping many businesses – many people (and rightly so).

It’s OK to be scared. It’s OK to be upset. It’s OK to be angry. But it’s NOT OK to be paralyzed by fear and doubt. You will die – whether that be literally or figuratively. So I encourage you to stand up, tighten up your gut, and fight through your natural inclinations to huddle up in a ball, because in times of uncertainty, precious few will perceive the real opportunities and seize this day as their own. Those few will not only survive today, but will step out as the leaders of tomorrow.

It’s your choice, but go ahead and change… I dare you.

Image courtesy of Faithful Chant.

Ken Stewart’s website, ChangeForge, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology in an information-centric world. Ken is also the founder of Seeking the Son. Ken is always interested in connecting; To discover the many ways you may connect with him, visit him at DandyID.