Thriving in chaos- The Road to Self- Leadership and Resilience

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples” (Mother Theresa)

The title of my article this month is penned partly from a book published in the late 1980’s by well known management guru and author Tom Peters who is well known for his classic work “In search of Excellence”.

The book referred to is entitled “Thriving in Chaos” was pioneering and prophetic and forecast the flux and fluidity caused by the restructuring of the huge behemoth Corporates- the IBMs, General Electric’s and motor manufacturers that was to follow in the 1990’s and 2000’s and how to deal with and profit from it.

Another word or term often associated with chaos is ‘crisis’. It is said that the Chinese word for crisis also means opportunity...

Fast forward to SA currently and we see a chaos-flux and fluidity that has arisen particularly over the last few months- a VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) situation. The start of this new year has been coloured intensely, much like the recent years were by the Covid virus, by the current Eskom induced energy crisis which has escalated to level 6 shut downs. The effect of these has cast a pall of despair and a lack of hope across the entire economy with devastating effects. Surveying its effect in the various media, it is almost palpable, limiting and paralysing, throttling many businesses and enterprises across the country. Surviving, particularly Psychologically, in such an environment seems to be becoming increasingly difficult if not impossible. It seems as if we are in a war, a Psychological war to keep ourselves moving forward despite the incredible odds stacked currently against us by the current situation.

The FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index has been in negative territory since mid 2019... Business Confidence likewise is low in the face of policy uncertainty.

In fact one of the trends noted since the Covid era has been the “Quiet quitting” response where workers disengage and do the bare minimum to keep their jobs in an effort to cope with their present circumstances. As many media commentators in SA seem to have discovered, the average citizen, business person and worker are on our own. A recent editorial in the Mail and Guardian (22/12/2022) cried out “Hope for South Africa lies in us”. But as the same editorial asks where can we find hope where there seems to be so little left.

We cannot look externally to the (quasi failed) state or any other institution or grouping to come and rescue us. There are no “messiahs” here. In particular the Leadership cadre at

all levels has failed all of us.

Over the last decade and particularly during the recent Covid-19 pandemic, a significant failure or weakness in leadership across international, national, regional and corporate levels has been exposed. We have seen a move to autocratic leadership in the US and some European countries while we have seen an increase in corrupt leadership locally in South Africa and Africa generally. In fact, Leadership to promote the “common good” seems to have taken the back seat completely, to be replaced by leadership engaging in primarily self-serving behaviour which is totally ineffective with influencing people, which is at the core of Leadership.

Against this backdrop there has been an increased interest in Self-leadership as an alternative to the traditional leadership model which has become increasingly wanting, as mentioned earlier, in addressing the need for leadership at various group and organisational levels. It seems as if this is the “atom” or nucleus of Leadership which is the next space or perhaps the “last frontier” that needs to be engaged if we are to resuscitate Leadership as a relevant phenomenon in our society.

It is therefore propitious that in these turbulent times we revisit this concept which I mentioned previously in a book review of the work entitled “Conquering my Nemesis Stepping stones to Successful Self-leadership” by Dr Hekkie van der Westhuizen (2021).

I would contend that the hour and time for Self-leadership has arrived. It is a model that supplements the need for entrepreneurship in SA. Self-leadership is defined as “influencing” oneself much like traditional Leadership is seen as influencing members of the group.

Some of the important elements of Self-Leadership are broadly conceptualised in his

book as follows:

• “Taking Charge” (Chapter 1) and “Planning for Success” (Chapter 2)

• “Refusing to Make Excuses” (Chapter 6)

• “Getting through Tough Times” (Chapter 7) and “Becoming more Resilient” (Chapter 8)

• “Being in Charge of Your Emotions”

Regular readers of this publication will know that I focus as far as possible on Resilience (bounce-back-ability) in its many facets and applications since it seems to be the

characteristic necessary for survival in these challenging times. Van der Westhuizen in his chapter on Resilience (p121) offers various suggestions to becoming more resilient including “refusing to give up”, “agility, speed and responsiveness” and “Rolling fortnight planning”.

The suggestion that stuck with me, however, was the attitude of doing “whatever it takes”. “People with this approach to life usually find alternate ways to get to the solution or to the other side of rough patches in their lives. They persevere until they overcome hardship.

When they see a problem in front of them, they don’t stop and give up; they try to go over it. If that does not work, they try to go underneath it or around it. If all else fails they go through it. The point is that people who adopt this approach. Think outside of the box to find a solution to conquer the challenges with which they are faced- whatever it takes.”(p119).

It is precisely this resilient attitude that is required to succeed and thrive in these VUCA times. To conclude, the essence of what is being proposed in this article is expressed in an extract from the classic poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling:

If

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good,

nor talk too wise...

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, ...

Source: A Choice of Kipling's Verse (1943)