The Sunday Mail
Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
Widen your range and stop thinking inside your box.
It is easy to fall into the temptation of thinking in terms of a single colour, one state, one idea, one pole and one mode.
This unnecessarily leaves you disempowered, drab and blind to other possibilities.
Mere polarity without strategy never leads to greatness. Instead of working in “either/or” terms courageously embrace the wisdom of either/and.
This is because everything occurs as a system and you can have your cake and eat it too, but not at once. The Bible in Genesis 8:22 says: “While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” Life follows a rhythm and pattern.
Nothing lasts forever. No state lasts forever. Somehow God has set it so that while opposites and poles will always be there, you have to embrace the space in between and work with both poles for greatness. Seed time is critical as it determines your harvest.
Harvest time is when you have to select and prepare your seed. Never park in one station because life is a journey and not a destination.
Be aware of the season you are in, the state you are in, the time you are in.
No organisation can thrive on single poles, you keep playing the balancing act. In an organisation you need structure and discipline, yet you also need flexibility and innovation.
You need continuity as well as welcoming change and disruption. In the military they say that it is in the time of peace that you prepare for war and in the time of war that you prepare for peace. You dare not rest on your laurels or become complacent.
Focus needs a range and not just the poles. Glance and examine the symptom, but go deeper and understand the root causes. Simplistic, silver-bullet solutions sometimes do more harm than good. Mr Peter Senge in his book, “The Fifth Discipline” says: “Beware the symptomatic solution.
Solutions that address only the symptoms of a problem, not fundamental causes, tend to have short-term benefits at best. In the long term, the problem resurfaces and there is increased pressure for symptomatic response.
Meanwhile, the capability for fundamental solutions can atrophy.”
Range, timing, balance and context-awareness make a defining difference. You need to focus on the long-term and yet also have short-term plans. One has to compete with passion and yet also collaborate with vigour.
There must be clear and intentional focus on the external content and yet still preserve the rich internal perspective. A single eye that does not look around could be dangerous.
A Paradox — seemingly opposite, but chained thoughts do not mean confusion. You need seed-time and also harvest. It is a matter of timing, developing self-awareness and context-awareness and working with the matters arising while pursuing a vision of greatness.
In leadership and the journey of greatness there are abundant paradoxes that one has to deal with. For instance, you exude confidence and yet have to embrace humility.
You have to head into action, take bold moves and giant leaps and yet have to also engage in deep reflection and strategic thinking. You are called an expert in your feelings and yet have to invest significant time in learning and research. You have to be visionary and yet remain grounded. Your individual effort counts and so does the team focus and effort. You learn quickly the need to go slow and also go fast, to face the brutal realities and yet be optimistic and imaginative.
Embrace the pendulum
Life is an unending pendulum swing and greatness is a process of pursuing great goals and learning to balance along the way. Whatever happens and comes your way, has a blessing embedded in it. When you are down, that is the opportunity to look up and see the stars. When you are high, it is the opportunity to look down with humility and work to stay up.
When you are behind it is the opportunity to speed up and catch up. If you are slow, this is an opportunity to speed up. When you are speeding, it is good to slow down in order to navigate a sharp corner. Embrace the pendulum effect and keep aligning your actions and response to the context you are in.
Embrace your reality
Enter the field of action with bold and a calm realisation that you have to work with what you have and what is at hand. Dance to the music that is playing and not the alternative music that you wish was playing. Glance at the realities, deal with the realities and grapple with the realities. Stop complaining and start creating. Stop wishing you were elsewhere and work with that which is at hand. Reality is not just what you are looking at but what you are seeing in your mind.
The Stockdale Paradox
I read a book, “Good to Great” written by Jim Collins that changed the way I look at poles and contrasts.
Collins speaks of the “Stockdale Paradox” and says its essence is: “You must retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. And at the same time ,you must confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
This is not blind optimism or wishful thinking. It does not ignore realities, neither does it wallow in wishful thinking. It is something more beautiful, stronger, relevant and an exhortation to a hope with grit.
To power your journey of greatness embrace the “Stockdale Paradox”. Keep hope alive, and do not give up. See the future and be excited about it, yet have the boldness to glance at the facts and work with the realities at hand.
Faith does not ignore fires. Stretch the plumb-line and set out your bold inspiring and goals. Its goals that move you. If you find yourself in a rut, please do not rot, just realise that it is time to set and work on new goals. Clean your lenses and clarify your strategy. Identify the big and bold moves that you are going to make and then start making them.
Refuse to bite nails or other people while waiting around, worrying and thinking like a victim. Refuse the park and idle your life away while you are in “waiting mode”. Remove all the growth brakes and get into engaged action.
While at it, keep thinking and reflecting. Action and reflection are not opposites — you need both. Planning and execution are not polar-ends, you need both. Accept that the pendulum will swing, but keep balancing your way through. Welcome whatever season comes your way and prepare for the next season. Keep looking at the time and tide and asking if your cheese is moving.
Be focused, yet practise foresight thinking. Be present, yet pursue vision. Stretch forth your plans and work the plans. Always mindful that the tide shifts, seasons change and disruption happens. Keep in mind the caution of Mr Warren Buffet who said: “It is when the tide is out that you see who has been swimming naked.”
Go through whatever you have to go through but do not lose your stamina and the will to fight.
Committed to your greatness.
Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and a virtual, hybrid and in-person workshop facilitator. He is a cutting-edge strategy, team-building and organisation development facilitator and consultant. His life purpose is to inspire and promote greatness. He can be reached at: [email protected] and His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com
