Next December I shall be 80 years old. I tend to look backward and find out what lessons life taught me to share with the readers. One important lesson is that obstacles do not come alone; they come with hidden opportunities. The greater the obstacles shall be the greater their opportunities shall be as well.
I may claim that my top and most recognized achievements resulted from obstacles that seemed first hard to surmount but then proved they were the gateway to outstanding achievements. This is not only my experience. Many great discoveries resulted from great obstacles.
- Benzene Ring Structure– In 1865, German chemist Kekulépublished a paper in which he described benzene as consisting of a ring of six carbon atoms, each bonded to a hydrogen atom. This was a breakthrough because all known chemicals until then had open structures and none in a ring form. Glory came to Kekulé because of this achievement that we recognize even today.
- The Butterfly Effect– The metrological model Lorenz developed to simulate weather confused him because the results seemed chaotic and abnormal. He did not give up and soon realized that small changes in his model diverged the results drastically. He then coined the butterfly effect which we all recognize now and extended its use to varied activities in our lives.
- Fractals– Mandelbrot found it difficult to understand the strange self-similar structures that were unfamiliar. He seized the opportunity and then elucidated that there are bodies with non-integer dimensions calling them fractals. The impact of his findings are overwhelming our lives today.
- X-Ray Discovery– physicist Rontgen was the first person to observe X-rays, a notable scientific breakthrough by making the invisible visible.
The above examples show clearly that obstacles and hard-to-explain events and discoveries can be the prelude to great achievements.
Why mention those achievements?
It is because I can see that obstacles and challenges shall be pouring on us in the coming days. Not only on the scientific level but also on the managerial and leadership levels as well.
Our VUCA world is throwing challenges at us. In a VUCA world employees may feel lost because of the Volatility of change, the surrounding Uncertainty, the increasing Complexity, and the fogging Ambiguity.
This contrasts with what employees want. They want certainty and clear directions while preferring staying in their comfort zone rather than coping with volatile changes.
- Employees want certainty but VUCA increases Uncertainty
- Employees want stability but the volatility of change is ever-increasing.
- Employees seek direction but compounding uncertainty makes it difficult for leaders and managers to show direction.
The sky is raining obstacles. Obstacles do not come alone. They come with hidden opportunities.
- Opportunities for developing new managerial models.
- Opportunities to develop new risk models
- Opportunities for improving or even coming up with new prediction models
- Opportunities for creative ideas to make great breakthroughs.
There are many more opportunities.
Opportunities are as good as we do not have them if we do not search for them with faith that they are hidden somewhere.