Slow Leadership

How many times have you heard organizational types talk about the need for problem-solvers? Or spout clichés about “dealing with the problems that confront us in this competitive environment?” Or saying that they “face many problems, which we will overcome, as we have overcome those in the past?” The sad fact is that problems are not the problem, so to speak. What really causes leaders and managers difficulty and heartache, not to mention most of their failures, are predicaments.

A problem, properly speaking, has a solution, You may not know what that solution is, nor even how or where to look for it, but you can be reasonably confident that it exists—somewhere.

A problem, properly speaking, has a solution, You may not know what that solution is, nor even how or where to look for it, but you can be reasonably confident that it exists—somewhere. Science has solved many problems and will likely solve many more in years to come. Technology has also solved some of our problems, such as how to handle vast amounts of data; how to transmit messages nearly instantly to anyone, anywhere in the world; and how to wake you up with a cup of coffee ready made, when you can’t afford a servant to make it for you, and your partner tells you to go jump in a lake when you hint that it might be his or her role to make it. Problems have solutions. If you characterize a manager or a leader as a problem-solver, you are saying that he or she is adept at finding and applying the necessary solution to deal with various workplace problems.

Now that’s a very useful skill, but it will only take you so far. While there are, indeed, many problems to be faced in the world of work, the most difficult, the commonest, and the most intractable problems are not problems at all, because they have no clear, graspable solution. They cannot be “solved” by any technique. They are not problems. They are predicaments.

. . . the most intractable problems are not problems at all, because they have no clear, graspable solution. They cannot be “solved” by any technique. They are not problems. They are predicaments.

Take the “problem” of succeeding in a competitive market. The way that we usually see organizations try to deal with this is by employing a series of assumed solutions, derived from the actions taken by fortunate companies who achieved success in similar situations in the past. That is why every successful product, marketing campaign, form of business organization, or approach to financing is copied within hours or days of the world registering its success. There is no bandwagon that others will not jump onto in the belief that what worked for others will work for them.

Of course, this approach does not work, either consistently or sometimes at all. If it did, no one would have any problem with competitive markets ever again. Not only does copying others contain the causes of its own failure (what everyone does no longer gives anyone a competitive advantage), but it assumes that what you think led to success (or what the happy organization said it did) actually did so. Most times, success was due to luck and an unexpected coming together of actions and reactions. Not only can no one else replicate it, even the company that was successful in the first place usually cannot repeat their own past good fortune either.

Just about all the fundamental “leadership” issues that beset organizations are . . . predicaments: situations that have no solution now—and never will have one, because they are not capable of being “solved” by any one set of actions.

So why doesn’t life play fair and do what it is supposed to do? If I could answer that, maybe I too could become a major guru and live in luxury for the rest of my days. What I can see, however, is that difficulties like dealing with competitive situations—along with just about all the fundamental “leadership” issues that beset organizations—are not problems at all. They are predicaments: situations that have no solution now—and never will have one, because they are not capable of being “solved” by any one set of actions.

Problems remain essentially the same. Predicaments constantly shift and change their details as “solutions” are tried. As soon as one business gains a competitive advantage, others copy it (so it is no longer unique or unusual), while others adapt their own actions to block it. Competitive advantages are, by their very nature, temporary. And since the universe changes constantly in random ways, any source of competitive advantage today will likely become worthless—even potential a drawback—within a short time. Replacing people by machines and computers once gave an advantage. Now everyone does it, so organizations who use actual people in certain areas, like answering customer service calls, find that an advantage instead. Then, with the coming of out-sourcing, the advantage comes from having the phones answered by someone who doesn’t sound as if they are in Mumbai.

Hamburger Management (the process of serving up whatever approach is quickest, simplest, and cheapest) is a curse because it negates every way of dealing with the predicaments of business life, turning each one into a problem for which there must be a known solution technique (even if there isn’t).

Predicaments are not solvable. All you or anyone can do is to try to cope with them as effectively as you can. And since any technique you apply that seems to work will very quickly produce a counter-technique, or a copy, or a random change in circumstances, the only two “tools” that remain useful again and again are time and thought: to have enough time to consider the options, plus the ability to reflect on whatever you can know of the circumstances and come up with a creative approach that may help for a while. Even that will fail in time, of course, so there can be no end to the need for either enough time or sufficient creative thought.

Hamburger Management (the process of serving up whatever approach is quickest, simplest, and cheapest) is a curse because it negates every way of dealing with the predicaments of business life, turning each one into a problem for which there must be a known solution technique (even if there isn’t). Like stage magicians and illusionists, Hamburger Managers rely on moving fast to confuse onlookers (and bosses) into believing that what they have just seen is truly magic. There’s no time to think or be creative. Just produce the next quarter’s numbers out of the top hat and get off the stage before anyone asks too many questions. Oh . . . and remember to clear away up the smoke and mirrors on your way.

If you demand impossible miracles on a daily basis, you’ll force people into being illusionists and confidence tricksters. All the other guys will fail and be removed.

As I’ve said many times before, I don’t blame these managers. Organizations get the managers they deserve, based on the culture they nurture. If you demand impossible miracles on a daily basis, you’ll force people into being illusionists and confidence tricksters. All the other guys will fail and be removed. Any organization that systematically denies people the time and opportunity to work out how to cope with business predicaments, will cause frustration, stress, and a sense that all that truly matters is to seem to be doing something useful—even if you know that it’s all illusory and based on luck and some creative use of data. Tomorrow you may not be around to worry, and it will be your successor (who will denigrate everything you did anyway) who has to clean up the mess.