Jason Daniels

A key insight for me from Future Engage Deliver has been that of choice, in particular choosing between the Playing to Win mindset and Playing to Avoid Losing mindset – never more so than during periods of change and uncertainty. For me making the decision to embrace change and welcome new opportunity was my moment to appreciate that quite simply we can alter our lives simply by altering our attitude of mind. I realised that often during periods of change we may not be able to affect the process or even the outcome sometimes but what we can do is choose who we are being and the impact that we would like to have on others.

Even the most confident of us can, during periods of change and uncertainty in our lives – be it at home with our family and friends or in our working lives – find ourselves struggling to be at our best. And yet it is the time when we most need to show up as leaders at our best in order that we can help others be their best. One of the five key capabilities of ‘those leaders who are able to find the best in themselves and in turn inspire, engage and mobilise others’ identified in research published in the McKinsey Quarterly (October, 2010) is the capability to positively frame situations – to specifically see opportunity in change and uncertainty.

It is also a time when we most need to build our support network, people with whom we can talk about what is going on for us and who can help us with our reflection and help us reenergise ourselves and to refocus on the difference that we want to make and the future that we are leading for. In turn we can then help others to do just this, to reconnect with what matters to them, to stop and think and to move forward with focus and energy, confidence and strength.

Leadership Nudge: How do you show up during periods of change and uncertainty? Who do you choose to be?

What is the impact you would like to have on others around you during these times?

How can you use periods of change to shape the future you want, the difference that you want to make?

By Jason Daniels