This Decisive Army Lesson Helped Me Revamp My Writing

Discover the productivity mindset that inspired me to scale up my writing and how it may help you too

Photo by Daniel Stuben. on Unsplash

I joined the military in 2006, served in a moment of world crisis, and learned many life-changing lessons. But it only took a powerful insight to change my civilian life forever.

Serving in the armed forces made me a better human, but after seven years, my commission was over; hence the army discharged me. Afterward, life took a downward spiral. I was unemployed and living an unmeaningful life; therefore, I faded into depression.

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will do.”

— Lewis Carroll

Back then, my life was a continuous cycle of failed job opportunities. Until that day, in January, when an interview went sideways and became a game-changer.

I was stressed and tired; the employer had scheduled an appointment in the afternoon. I showed up on time and did the usual Q&A. Initially, it all went fine, the interview was finished, and all I had to do was drive for another hour to get back home. That same evening, while preparing diner, I got a call; the HR manager wanted to see me again ASAP.

I felt that it was a touch-and-go moment and confirmed the meeting. I turned off the stove and saddled up for another long journey with high hopes about the position. While driving, my mind drifted around the reason for such an urgent call. I felt confident that my luck was about to change.

It was around 9 p.m. when I arrived. The manager greeted me at the door; next to him was a behavioral psychologist. They had decided to run a battery of personality tests on the remaining three candidates. I realized the matter was urgent because they were in a hurry to get it done before heading back home to the capital.

You can imagine how upset I was at that point. Nonetheless, I took the screening psych tests for another hour. Walking to the car, I got the feeling that the game was rigged, and I was the congeniality runner-up. I was right!

“The best vision is insight. “ — Malcolm Forbes

While driving back home, I was angry and skeptical. The road ahead felt like an existential metaphor of life passing rapidly before my eyes, somewhat creating a tunnel vision effect, as the street lights dashed like shooting stars.

Suddenly, I had a flash from the past and recalled an old army lesson about taking point on decisive moments. That insight inspired me to take a leap of faith. The world was moving fast, and I fell behind by simply allowing others to run the show. From that moment on, I would no longer rely on someone else to pull my strings and sit in the corner as the broken-up doll in the puppet show.

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

Developing Strategic Leadership: Empowerment by VUCA

Back then, it was a lesson on the principles of strategic leadership as defined by W. Bennis and B. Nanus that helped me regain control over my inner self at a crucial moment. Only then I managed to overcome a life crisis.

“Do or do not. There is no try.” — Yoda

Now, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis warped our world, making the future unforeseeable. The post-pandemic world will be all about these touch-and-go moments. Hence, I attained the motivation to help others find their insight; develop a new mindset through active mindfulness, and take one step forward in the quest for existential fulfillment.

Thus, this article is a case study on how VUCA helped me overcome many of the challenges we face in this fast-paced world.

“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.” — Florence Nightingale

The Adamant Legacy of VUCA

VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. This concept was a game-changer in a moment when the conventional geostrategic type of conflict was fading away. The enemy could be anywhere, and state-of-the-art strategies to seek it out and react to aggression became necessary.

Our world is continuously mutating, adapting, evolving, thus becoming more unpredictable. We cannot suddenly anticipate events or develop solutions due to their complexity. Thus, understanding the VUCA concept and methodology becomes significant:

• Volatility: the speed of change makes it challenging to predict scenarios and prepare solutions;

• Uncertainty: the globalization of information generates multiple scenarios that introduce doubt into the system; hence disruptive changes presume new paradigms;

• Complexity: traditional models of risk management and decision making can no longer deal with the number of variables in these interconnected contexts;

• Ambiguity: we can analyze any context from multiple perspectives, so this systemic and globalized view amounts to various interpretations.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

From boot camp to the global playing field

For seven years, I served in the Portuguese army. I was exchanging my teacher’s pen for a G3 assault rifle. My academic studies had been in Languages and Literature, and until then, I only had worked in teaching.

From a theoric leadership point of view, teaching was, for centuries, to lead from a pedestal. Thankfully, that paradigm is changing nowadays, even in academic environments.

However, enlisting in the military meant that I had to utterly change my teacher’s mindset, as teamwork becomes paramount in any military aspect. The army urged me to become my best self and take control of my life. I realized how the best practice is to avoid pushing ourselves every time to the limit.

Sometimes to win the war, you have to lose a battle.

Nowadays, blitzscaling is more challenging than ever because there are too many big fish dominating the pond. Hence, if we want to upscale our game and join the global playing field, we need to develop vital skills to allow playmakers to thrive in the post-pandemic world.

Here are some tips straight from boot camp:

• More than stamina or IQ, the critical feature is emotional intelligence.
  To find stress points in our structural integrity and prevent failure, we need to develop reflective comprehension via auto-analysis. Only by knowing yourself can you focus on building strength out of weakness.

• If you want to scale the team, then empower the individual.
  During boot camp, the best tip I got from my drill sergeant comes from an insight by Thomas Reid: “A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.”

Moreover, post-pandemic pathfinders must excel in the F.A.I.R pillars: Flexibility, Adaptability, Insight, and Resilience.

The F.A.I.R Pillars

1. Flexibility To Deal With Uncertainty

— Focus on the solution

The world presents new challenges, such as a constant state of doubt and uncertainty. That state can lead to emotional instability and low performance.

Focusing on difficulties and problems will only fuel negative, self-destructive, and demotivating feelings and drive you to a state of chronic entropy.

The path to stability and a prosperous lifestyle must focus on the solution and not on the problem. Hence, it would help if you follow these simple performance-boosting strategies:

• Question yourself;

• Anticipate problems;

• Seek alternative solutions;

• Prioritize;

• Discard the irrelevant;

• Think creatively.

“Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt

2. Adaptability To Deal With Complexity

— Develop skills and update professional know-how

We need to improve our skills to maximize performance, thus promoting personal growth.

An effective plan for skills development must follow a well-structured methodology. To this end, it will help if you follow these steps:

• Identification: what skill should I develop to achieve my goals and objectives?

• Reflection: what do I lose by not investing in a specific talent;

• Assessment: assess what skills are necessary to achieve precise objectives;

• Acquisition: considering the competence to improve and develop an action plan;

• Experimentation: testing new behaviors;

• Practice: experimenting to separate right from wrong;

• Application: take advantage of opportunities (or create) that arise to apply the learned skill.

“Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.”― Vivian Greene

— Developing autonomy

The value of autonomy is a trending concept in the business world that can effectively lead to productivity benefits.

Therefore, we must strive to reach higher standards of autonomy. To achieve this, you can put into practice the following:

• Know what to expect of your work;

• Master tasks and skills;

• Understand the consequences of failures;

• Maintain a balanced relationship of trust with everyone in your team;

• Assess your performance frequently.

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”

— Coco Chanel

3. Insight To Deal With Ambiguity

— Successfully grasping opportunities

Speed and volatility are the cornerstones of the current business context. Thus, you should avoid procrastination and open your mind to insights, seizing every opportunity that can lead to success. Hence, I strive to plan as follows:

• Prepare;

• Get involved;

• Keep an open mind;

• Be optimistic;

• Never stop learning.

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

— Keep up with trends

In a globalized world, technology plays an increasingly decisive role in operationalizing different strategies.

On the other hand, people skills and emotional intelligence become paramount, as everything comes down to creating and delivering value to people.

Moreover, the ability to adapt is a requirement, given that a context of permanent evolution imposes new challenges and offers opportunities at any given moment.

Thus, if you cannot interpret and act on change, you are irremediably condemned to fall short of your potential. If you want to be successful, you have to stand out.

The following actions will help you raise your game:

• Focus on cultivating emotional intelligence;

• Have the ability to acquire, process, and accept new information and adapt;

• Analyze failures and achievements;

• Have functional versatility;

• Be curious and creative.

“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.” — Leo Burnett

4. Resilience To Deal With Volatility

— Be proactive and take the initiative

Crises are highly volatile, and things can smoothly go awry and drive you to a downward spiral that will cripple your potential.

In threatening scenarios, proactivity generates resilience that will help you ride the wave even in stormy waters.

In short, the proactive leader takes responsibility for a specific action, choice, or resolution when facing a challenge.

The main characteristics of proactive behavior are as follows:

• Train yourself to see beyond the obvious;

• Don’t wait for orders to perform tasks;

• Anticipate problems and present practical solutions;

• Optimize the timely execution of tasks;

• Focus on the solution.

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” — Albert Einstein.

— Be motivated and motivate others

Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic can have devastating effects on your relations with others.

Ensuring the best work environment and an enthusiastic team capable of reaching its goals is paramount. But staying motivated and generating motivation is also one of the most demanding challenges.

Thus, we need to understand that each person is unique and has different ways of life and specific professional and life goals.

The leader has to work on his “people skills” to motivate each individual, particularly the team, in general — productivity spikes with everyone’s commitment to the proposed objectives.

Some argue that the intrinsic factors matter the most for people to feel motivated, while others think otherwise, pointing out the importance of the extrinsic factors.

• Intrinsic motivation is related to projects, interests, and personal goals reflected in work behaviors that allow them to feel enthusiastic, fulfilled, and the author of their own life.

• Extrinsic motivation refers to the context, situations, and organizational climate, namely, remuneration, training or activities carried out, recognition by peers, benefits, incentives, etc., that help people stay involved with their work.

Only a motivated and cohesive team can solve management, communication, and coordination problems. Therefore, to promote motivation, we should accomplish the following guidelines:

• Use positive reinforcement;

• Establish clear and precise objectives;

• Share a vision of the future;

• Value innovation and creativity;

• Invest in self-motivation.

“Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Final Thoughts

Build adamant teams with VUCA

For a team to thrive, you need to create a favorable environment for sharing and creating new knowledge and collective learning.

It is essential to develop professionals and create integrated processes, which enable the development of a dynamic, collaborative, and results-oriented organizational culture.

Implementing VUCA methodology helps managers gain command and control over their business and develop outstanding professional skills to meet the increasingly global and systemic world demands.

Thus, a comprehensive and forward-looking vision is the most effective way for leaders to reinvent themselves when facing market changes during crises.

The ultimate productivity insight

The adamant legacy of VUCA resides in the subliminal superpower of insight towards productivity. Though my instinct tells me to fall back to a comfort zone during a crisis, this is utterly the wrong mindset. In the face of uncertainty, many of us will focus on individually assessing the situation, yet this will ultimately hinder our productivity goals.

Boost productivity with VUCA

VUCA keeps you focused on assessing problems from a systemic viewpoint while bringing others to the equation, hence fully engaging all available resources on a common objective.

To win the post-pandemic game, we have to:

• Focus on the solution, not the problem;

• Develop skills and update professional know-how;

• Promote autonomy (for ourselves and our peers);

• Grasp opportunities;

• Keep up with trends;

• Be proactive and take the initiative;

• Be motivated and motivate others.

“When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters — one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.” — John F. Kennedy

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Thanks for reading this article and supporting our community of creators here on Substack. Please consider joining my journey across the blogosphere by picking up a thread from my insightful content on Medium or Vocal. Your support is highly appreciated. Till next time, cheers. - Rui

References:

1. Bennis, Warren; Nanus, Burt: Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge, 1985.