Navigate the Chaos: Strategies for Personal Growth and Professional Development

In my book agility refers to the manager’s ability to increase their self-awareness, think differently, and create the organizational change required to achieve and sustain growth. This definition emphasizes self-awareness as the foundational requirement for any manager to achieve if they want their organization to become more agile. While the thousands of other books, articles, and resources on management provide wonderful learning opportunities, this book will go beyond the traditional approaches and challenge the manager in a volatile world to accomplish the following three tasks in order to increase their self-awareness. · Increase reflection time: Instead of responding to emails, putting out the proverbial fires, and attending endless meetings, the agile manager needs more time alone to reflect upon the bigger questions, issues, and concerns facing the organization. The amount of reflection time is in direct proportion to the amount of responsibility. Therefore, the greater the level of responsibility, the more reflection time is needed. · Ask relevant questions: During the increased reflection time, the agile manager operating in a volatile world needs to ask relevant questions. The questions need to focus on their internal awareness as well as their external presence within the organization. To assist the reader this publication provides over 100 questions to answer. · Challenge assumptions: As the manager asks relevant questions, it is imperative they challenge previously held assumptions. There can be little progress towards agility at the organizational level if the manager is unable to demonstrate an agile mind. Employees, clients, and others will value the flexibility of thought, the elasticity of attitude, and the audacity of vision that accompany challenging one’s assumptions. Since professional development is linked directly to personal growth, engaging in each of these three activities on a regular basis will help increase one’s self-awareness. Armed with a deeper sense of self, the manager can help the organization achieve the level of agility required to achieve and sustain growth in a volatile world. Questions to consider: · How much time do you set aside each day to reflect upon your organization’s agility? · How often do you ask the relevant questions required to help your organization achieve a new level of agility? · How often do you challenge the assumptions that you make, or that others make when assessing a situation?

In Agility: How to Navigate the Unknown and Seize Opportunity in A World of Disruption (2019), Leo M. Tilman and General Charles Jacoby (Ret.) focused on the organization and defined agility as “The organizational capacity to effectively detect, assess and respond to environmental changes in ways that are purposeful, decisive and grounded in the will to win.” In Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life (2016), Susan David broadened the definition of agility to include emotions and wrote "Emotional agility-being flexible with your thoughts and feelings so that you can respond optimally to everyday situations-is a key to well-being and success.” In The Agility Shift: Creating AGILE and Effective leaders, Teams, and Organizations (2015), Pamela Meyer focused on what she labeled the agility shift and described it as “the intentional development of the competence, capacity, and confidence to learn, adapt, and innovation in changing contexts for sustainable success.” In Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change (2006), Bill Joiner & Stephen Josephs define agility as “the ability to take wise and effective action amid complex, rapidly changing conditions.” They use the words leader and manager interchangeably and believe there are five levels to the agile leader: expert, achiever, catalyst, co-creator, and synergist and three functional areas of pivotal conversations, team leadership, and organizational leadership. Each examination into agility provides important points to consider in the ongoing dialogue. As organizations look to achieve and sustain growth in today’s ever-changing landscape, the value of agility will only increase. Questions to consider: How often does your organization detect, assess, and respond to environmental changes? How often does your organization demonstrate the ability to learn and adapt? How often does your organization take wise and effective action amid complex conditions?

According to Gallup’s research published in 2019 “Organizations that aren't agile and that don't have the capacity to adapt quickly will be overcome by their competitors - or put out of business.” In its 2019 Global CEO Outlook entitled Agile or Irrelevant: Redefining Resilience the consulting firm KPMG concluded "A successful CEO is an agile CEO. Over two-thirds of chief executive officers believe that agility is the new currency of business. If they fail to adapt to a constantly changing world, their business will become irrelevant.” Moreover, McKinsey's research details how "the agile organization is dawning as the new dominant organizational paradigm. Rather than organization as machine, the agile organization is a living organism.” Agility is here to stay as long as the global marketplace keeps disrupting the way people live, work, and do just about everything around the world. Moreover, the emergence of the COVID-19 global pandemic stressed organizations around the world and exposed significant issues, concerns, and problems. To address the pressure points made visible by the unexpected crisis, organizations looking to create a sustainable future had as their new priority “the making of meaningful investments in human capital to build an agile, flexible workforce.” Questions to consider: How often have you thought about the need for your organization to become more agile? How often have you discussed the limitations within your organization’s ability to adapt? What have you done in your own career to demonstrate some level of agility?

Today is November 3 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "How often do you forgive?" For more information visit. www.navigatethechaos.com.

Today is November 2 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How often do you gather strength from distress?” For more information visit. www.navigatethechaos.com.

This Navigate the Chaos podcast on time management provides you with an opportunity to learn about your distractions, challenges you to determine how long you are willing to wait, questions your desire to quit in order to achieve, examines your ability to commit to a process, and allows you a moment to reflect on how often you make excuses.

Based off of the research in my book Marketing Your Value: 9 Steps to Navigate Your Career, this podcast provides a step-by-step guide on how to create a clear, concise, and compelling resume for college students and recent graduates.

Today is February 3 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "Are you open to the life that is waiting for you?" Richard Adams created a story about two young rabbits to entertain his daughters during car rides. His daughters encouraged him to publish it and after two years of writing and dealing with rejections Adams published the work entitled Watership Down. Asked if he enjoyed writing Adams said "No, I hated it. But I did enjoy that I had the guts to persevere with it." Joseph Campbell noted “We must be willing to let go of the life we've planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us."

Today is February 2 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is: "As an artist, do you allow yourself some other job?" An aspiring author once wrote to Irish playwright Oscar Wilde asking for advice on how to have a successful career as a writer. In his response, Wilde told him not to rely on earning a living from writing and declared that “the best work in literature is always done by those who do not depend on it for their daily bread.” Author Sara Benincasa proclaimed “the biggest myth we are fed as artists is that we need to sustain ourselves solely on our art. This is ridiculous. Every artist has at some point in time had some other job. Some of them kept these jobs their entire lives.”

Today is February 1 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "Do you confuse association with causation?" Those who navigate the chaos often work hard at understanding the concept: "Correlation is not causation.” In The Guardian, Nathan Green wrote “Correlation is not causation means that just because two things correlate does not necessarily mean that one causes the other. As a seasonal example, just because people in the UK tend to spend more in the shops when it's cold and less when it's hot doesn't mean cold weather causes frenzied high-street spending. A more plausible explanation would be that cold weather tends to coincide with Christmas and the New Year sales.”

Today is January 31 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is: "Are you a lead singer or a backup?" In the world of music there are lead singers and the equally important back-up singers. In a 2013 American documentary film entitled 20 Feet from Stardom Lisa Fischer, one of the back-up singers profiled, said: “I reject the notion that the job you excel at is somehow not enough to aspire to, that there has to be something more. I love supporting other artists.” As the Dalai Lama observed "People take different roads seeking fulfillment. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost." Do you want to be a lead singer or a backup?

Today is January 30 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is: "Do you choose work that scares you?" College senior Parker Hall wrote to Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame stating “I can’t figure out what to do.” Rowe contradicted the “keep looking for the dream job” mantra and said: “Stop looking for the right career, and start looking for a job. Any job…And happiness does not come from a job. It comes from knowing what you truly value, and behaving in a way that’s consistent with those beliefs.” As Mary Tyler Moore said “Looking back on it, I realize that I have always chosen work that challenges me, because if I don’t go in to work a little scared, I don’t have any interest in it."

Today is January 29 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "Are you engaging in self-determination?" People who navigate the chaos use a variety of strategies in order to engage in self-determination. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) was initially developed by Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan. SDT is an approach to human motivation that articulates enhanced performance, persistence, and creativity, arguably three critical skills everyone needs to succeed, best fostered by an individual developing a sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In the words of Oscar Wilde "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."

Today is January 28 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "How many dreams do you have?" People who learn to navigate the chaos understand the value of having so many dreams that they need two lifetimes to achieve them. The pursuit of one dream after another allows one to fully engage in life. One of the many reasons people lack enough dreams is because they fail to see life as John Gardner described it in his famous 1990 speech “Life is…an endless process of self-discovery, an endless and unpredictable dialogue between our own capacities for learning and the life situations in which we find ourselves.” Are you open to dreaming more and viewing life as an endless process of self-discovery?

Today is January 27 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "Are you focused on the journey or next step?" While navigating stressful events, thinking about the entire journey can be very daunting. For example, asking “What do you want to do with the rest of your life?” contributes to the rise in mental health issues among college students. To help alleviate some of the stress, individuals should refrain from asking that question and simply ask “what is your next step?” As so many of the other navigate the chaos entries demonstrate, life is a journey and those who succeed learn how to adapt to the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world.

Today is January 26 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "How often do you support your competitor?" In the 1936 summer Olympics American Jesse Owens fouled on his first two attempts in the preliminary round of the long-jump competition. German long-jumper Carl (Luz) Long told Owens to jump from several inches behind the take-off board. Since Owens routinely made distances greater than the minimum required, Long surmised that Owens would be able to advance safely without risking a foul. On his final qualifying jump, Owens jumped with at least four inches to spare and easily qualified for the finals. Owens went on to win the gold while Long won the silver medal.

Today is January 25 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "How often are you certain?" In Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? Philip Tetlock concluded: “The average expert was found to be only slight more accurate than a dart-throwing chimpanzee. Many experts would have done better if they had made random guesses.” American choreographer Agnes de Mille noted “Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.”

Today is January 24 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "How often are you pursuing perfection?" Perfectionism lowers the ability to take calculated risks, reduces creativity, and stifles innovation. Expecting perfection from yourself actually limits your ability to grow both personally and professionally. In Tal Ben-Shahar's book The Pursuit of Perfect he refers to negative perfectionism simply as perfectionism and to positive perfectionism as optimalism. For Ben-Shahar the optimist embraces the constraints of reality while a perfectionist rejects those constraints. Salvador Dali observed “Have no fear of perfection. You’ll never reach it.”

Today is January 23 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is " Are you aware of what time it is?" On the cover of his book The Pursuit of Happyness: Start Where You Are, entrepreneur Chris Gardner has a watch on each wrist. Mid-way through the book he explains why. One day, Gardner, a stockbroker, arrived late to a meeting with a prospective client. He failed to close the account but took to heart what his prospective client told him, “Son if I can’t expect you to be on time, I can’t expect you to make timely decisions with my money.” From that point onward, Gardner started to wear a watch on each wrist so as never to be late again.

Today is January 22 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is: "Do you think about your three possible selves?" Those who navigate the chaos understand the concept of three possible selves introduced by Hazel Rose Markus and Paula Nurius: the ideal self that we would like to become, that we could become, and that we are afraid of becoming. “To suggest that there is a single self to which one ‘can be true’ or an authentic self that one can know is to deny the rich network of potential that surrounds individuals.” Joan Didion echoed similar sentiment: "I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be.” Have you lost touch with your previous self in order to become your future self?

Today is January 21 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "Are you, or do you want to be, a greater fool?" In the final episode of The Newsroom (Season 1, 2013) the term ‘greater fool’ was used to describe the show's main character, Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), because of his belief in doing "real news." Throughout the episode, Will views it as a negative term. However, financial reporter Sloan Sabbith (Olivia Munn) tells Will, "The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools.” Do you have the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that you can succeed where others have failed?

Today is January 20 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "How compassionate are you towards others?" Navigating the chaos demands that you demonstrate compassion towards others; especially those who are less fortunate or disagree with you. Adyashanti wrote “Enlightenment can be measured by how compassionately you interact with others - not just those who support you. How you interact with those who do not support you shows how enlightened you really are. As long as you perceive that anyone is holding you back, you have not taken full responsibility for your own liberation. Liberation means that you stand free of making demands on others and life to make you happy.”

Today is January 19 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is: "Why are you doing what you are doing?" Legend has it that during the construction of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, architect Sir Christopher Michael Wren asked three stonecutters what each one was doing. The first one said “I am cutting a stone!” The second stone mason told Wren “I am cutting this block of stone to make sure that it is square, and its dimensions are uniform, so that it will fit exactly in its place.” The third stone mason said “I am helping to build a great cathedral.” This stone mason clearly understood why he was doing what he was doing. Why are you doing what you are doing?

Today is January 18 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "How often do you choke under pressure?" Navigating the chaos eventually means at some point you will have to deal with a pressure situation. Professor Geir Jordet examined film footage of almost 400 kicks from penalty shootouts during major soccer tournaments and found that players need to take their time. Jordet timed exactly how long players took to place the ball on the penalty spot. Those who took less than a second scored 58% of the time, compared with 80% when they took longer than a second. Winston Churchill noted “You can measure a man's character by the choices he makes under pressure.”

Today is January 17 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "Do you embrace excitement or remain calm?" Those who navigate the chaos understand the value of excitement. Researcher Alison Wood Brooks recruited 140 people to give a speech. She told part of the group to relax and repeat the phrase “I am calm,” while the others were told to embrace their anxiety and tell themselves, “I am excited.” Members of both groups were still nervous before the speech, but participants who told themselves “I am excited” felt better able to handle the pressure, were more confident of their ability to give a compelling talk, and received higher approval ratings from the audience.

Today is January 16 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "How often do you see the benefits of stress?" Stanford University health psychologist Kelly McGonigal wrote The Upside of Stress: Why Stress is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It. She declared that people can develop healthier outlooks as well as improve performance on cognitive tests, at work, and in competition. Stress can either be beneficial (adaptive) or harmful (threatening) according to the latest research. William James noted “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” How often do you recognize the benefits from stress?

Today is January 15 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "What deep survival traits do you have?" When confronted with a life-threatening situation, 90% of people freeze or panic while the remaining 10% stay cool, focused, and alive. In Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why, Laurence Gonzales uncovers the biological and psychological reasons people risk their lives and why some are better at it than others. Remaining calm and taking correct and decisive action are just two of the deep survival traits Gonzales discusses. What deep survival traits do you have and how often do you practice them?

Today is January 14 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is Do you have the courage required to manage fear? Professor Gerd Gigerenzer estimated an additional 1,595 Americans died in car accidents in the year after the 9/11 attacks. He used trends in road and air use to suggest that, for a period of 12 months after 9/11 there was a temporary increase in road use before citizens again became more willing to fly at similar rates before the attacks. Gigerenzer ascribed the extra deaths to people’s poor understanding of danger. Mark Twain noted “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” Do you have the courage required to manage fear?

Today is January 13 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is How long will you wait to change your life? Arthur Boorman served as a paratrooper and sustained injuries that left him unable to walk without the aid of crutches. He sunk into a deep depression and his weight ballooned to 300lbs. After stumbling upon Yoga for Regular Guys DVD by Diamond Dallas Page he spent ten months practicing yoga and ultimately lost 140lbs. Arthur mentioned that “a lot of people contact me looking for some magic pill to help them get motivated to lose weight but there is no such thing.” Boorman waited over 15 years to change his life. How long will you wait to change your life?

Today is January 12 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "How often do you let anger derail you?” Since navigating the chaos can often result in frustration, it’s important to examine your relationship with anger. In the 2005 film The Upside of Anger Evan Rachel Wood’s character said “Anger and resentment can stop you in your tracks. It can change you, turn you, mold you and shape you into something you're not. The only upside to anger, then is the person you become… hopefully the person you become is someone who wakes up one day and realizes they're not afraid to take the journey…and that anger leaves a new chance at acceptance, and the promise of calm in its wake.”

Today is January 11 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "How many rejections could you tolerate?After operating Starbucks for 15 years, the original owners sold the small coffee shop with just six stores to former manager Howard Schultz with a vision to expand across the globe. It was during this time that Howard Schultz went searching for investors who believed in his vision. Of the 242 investors Schultz talked over, 217 rejected him. As Schultz observed "I believe life is a series of near misses. A lot of what we ascribe to luck is not luck at all. It's seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future. It's seeing what other people don't see and pursuing that vision."

Today is January 10 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is: "How often do you focus on the process?" Those who navigate the chaos like cartoonist Scot Adams understand the value of focusing on the process. In his 2013 book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life, Adams highlights two important aspects of his success: “Good ideas have no value because the world already has too many of them. The market rewards execution, not ideas;” and “Goals are for losers. Focus on the process.” As Thomas Edison observed "The successful person makes a habit of doing what the failing person doesn't like to do."

Today is January 9 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is: "How often do you experience cognitive disequilibrium?" According to psychology professor Nevitt Sanford, the experience of cognitive disequilibrium produces feelings of internal dissonance that manifests itself as uncertainty, and sometimes as conflict and even threat. “But it is the experience of such dissonance that opens up the possibility for learning and growth because it nudges individuals into confronting and considering new ways of understanding, thinking, and acting that help to unsettle the old and integrate it with the new.” How often do you experience cognitive disequilibrium?

Today is January 8 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "Do you let something kill you or do you take action?" People who navigate the chaos like 80 year old English film director and producer Ridley Scott take action. When Scott decided to re-film 22 scenes in his movie All the Money in the World, he had only nine days. Scott made the decision following the news on disgraced Kevin Spacey. Christopher Plummer agreed to take Spacey’s role. Scott said “You can sit there and let something kill you, or you can take action. I took action.” How often do you sit there and let something kill you compared to taking action?

Today is January 7 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is "How often are you offering what others need?" In How Will You Measure Your Life, Clayton Christensen shares the story of a fast-food restaurant chain that hired his research company to understand why 40 percent of milkshakes were purchased in the morning. His research uncovered that people with long morning commutes to work preferred the milkshake over other breakfast options. The milkshake filled a very distinct need for these people. This milkshake story reminds us that we may be offering one thing (bagels, cereal, or fruit) but those around us are actually looking for something else; a milkshake.

Today is January 6 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "Is it possible to do the impossible?" Those who navigate the chaos understand anything is possible. For example, it is possible to conduct an orchestra without a baton. Due to an injury to his right arm when he was 16, Kurt Masur, the music director emeritus of the New York Philharmonic, spent his career conducting orchestras without a baton. St. Francis of Assisi noted "Start by doing what is necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you're doing the impossible."

Today is January 5 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How often do you allow serendipity in your life?" Serendipity is defined as the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. Researchers Deborah G. Betsworth and Jo-Ida C. Hansen asked 237 adults if their careers were influenced by serendipitous events. The results indicated that 63 percent of men and 57 percent of women felt that their careers were influenced by serendipitous events. As scientist Luis Echegoyen said “Serendipity is the norm.”

Today is January 4 and the Navigate the Chaos question is How long will you wait? Brazilian author Paulo Coelho experienced three decades of obstacles to become a successful writer. At 41 years of age Coelho published The Alchemist, a story about a young shepherd who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure, would eventually become an international best-seller. According to Coelho, “One day you will wake up and there won't be any more time to do the things you've always wanted. DO IT NOW." How many obstacles would you overcome to translate your dreams into reality?

Today is January 3 and the Navigate the Chaos question is: How close to the sun will you fly? In Greek Mythology Icarus was the Son of Daedalus who dared to fly near the sun on wings of feathers and wax. The feathers came loose and Icarus plunged to his death. The cautionary tale is for people not to fly too high or risk failure. But is this the right approach all of the time? Roman philosopher Seneca noted “It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult.” How often does the difficulty of a task prevent you from moving forward? How close to the sun will you fly?

Today is January 2 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How often are you working on yourself?" Retired professional football player Emmit Smith understands the value of personal development. In a famous television commercial from the 1990s, Smith is working out and takes a moment between reps; in the voice over he says “Maybe this year I’ll take a little time off.” He takes two seconds to rest between repetitions, continues his workout, and says “all athletes are created equal; some just work harder in the off-season.” How often are you working on yourself?

Today is January 1 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How often do you think about your distractions?" Your ability to grow personally and professionally requires an understanding of what distracts you. As you begin a new year remember the words of author H. Jackson Brown Jr. “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” As you start this new year and work towards translating dreams into reality, ask yourself how often you think about your distractions.

Today is December 31 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How often do you take care of your own grass?" Author Earl Nightingale noted “If the grass is greener on the other side it’s probably getting better care.” Are you so busy thinking the grass is greener elsewhere that you ignore your own lawn? It’s true that sometimes the grass is indeed greener; but just how well have you cared for your lawn? As one year ends and another begins, ask yourself if you have done everything possible to ensure your own grass is as green as it can be.

Today is December 30 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How often do you treat triumph and disaster the same?" In his 1895 poem “If” Rudyard Kipling wrote “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, If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same.”

Today is December 29 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How well do you walk through the fire?" In his poem “How Is Your Heart?” Charles Bukowski wrote “during my worst times I always had this certain contentment-I wouldn't call it happiness-it was more of an inner balance that helped through the wars and the hangovers the back-alley fights the hospitals. to awaken in a cheap room in a strange city and pull up the shade- this was the craziest kind of contentment. and to walk across the floor to an old dresser with a cracked mirror- see myself, ugly, grinning at it all. what matters most is how well you walk through the fire.”

Today is December 28 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How often do you compare yourself?" Those who navigate the chaos spend little time comparing themselves to others. Doing so slows down their own personal growth or professional development. American actress and author Octavia Lenora Spencer told a graduating class “As you move forward please don’t let yourself get caught up in the trap of comparison. Comparing yourself to other’s success only slows you down from finding your own.”

Today is December 27 and the Navigate the Chaos question is “How often do you remind yourself that life can sometimes be fortuitous?” Greg Lake told Rolling Stone magazine in 2013 “It’s very weird, but there you go - strange things happen sometimes. Music, and the music business, is sort of very fortuitous. It’s very circumstantial.” Lake’s band, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer was formed amidst the break-up of two others bands. This new band would go on and make a substantial impact on the music industry and popular culture.