The seeking of clarity in the face and experience of uncertainty.

So what is uncertain?

Well, actually despite our spread sheet projections, our financial forecasts, our betting on ‘futures’ and our long term goals, it’s ALL uncertain. That’s the bad news/good news depending on your frame of reference.

One of the most challenging things about the universe we live in is that it is a random event presenting as a series of seemingly obvious cause and effects. For example, who, would have predicted in the U.S. the events of the toppling of Enron? This is a company that looked like it was indestructible because of how woven into the fabric of the country’s energy situation it was. People counted on its permanence for their jobs, their 401k’s, their business and the ongoing illusion of stability it presented. Except, the consistent message in our cosmos is that ‘change is the order of the day’ and in fact, everyday.

And yet it tanked, went under, for many reasons both obvious and not so.

To give another example of how illusory how sense and projections of the future are, imagine all the thoughts, plans, goals set and committed to, resources allocated in particular directions, that were living in those in and connected with the World Trade Center when the event of 9/11 occurred.

All of them changed in an instant and changed again as the event continued to ripple through the world in subsequent years. Was it the cause of many actions and events that followed? One could say that, however one could equally propose that it was simply one in a chain of factors that contribute to what’s going on now and will overflow into the future.

Here is our first assertion:  Nothing exists in a vacuum.

What does that mean to us?

Well, it means on the ground level that no action, no person, no situation, no event, exists without a connection to something else. To assert a singular cause and effect is to deny the inherent relatedness of everything to everything.  To read more right now on this part of the vision of Quintessential Leadership, go to the Quantum section of our site.

In order to ward off the randomness of the cosmos, human beings do several things.

The first is to attempt to control the uncontrollable. While it’s ultimately a futile exercise and bound to lead to both disappointment and frustration when our expectations are unmet, it nevertheless provides the temporary balm to the internally deep level of terror at our inner knowing that ‘it’s all out of our control.’

This phenomenon leads people to attempting to force how things work.

Yup, you guessed it, it’s the source of most of the struggle we experience and observe in the world.

The next thing we encounter is our need to make things up about it all.

This works from the premise that if we can construct some kind of story/scenario about what’s happening then we’ll be okay with it. Once again, a band aid at best with hidden consequences for being out of touch with reality. This also leads to denying other views of the world. After all, if I’m ‘right’ about my view and that gives me a sense of safety, then anything that is contrary or challenging to that view is inherently a threat.

When none of this creative workaround strategy works, then we tend to have an emotional response that can often be disproportionate to the event. And the cycle perpetuates itself.

So what is an effective leader to do?

Well, we at Q Leadership Coaching have some ideas and many more questions.

Here is our second assertion: The only quest worthwhile is Clarity in the face of uncertainty.

Before we go in the direction of ‘what to do when  no clarity is available?’ or ‘where do we find the clarity?’ or ‘what do we do with it when we get it?’

Let’s take a journey into the nature of a quest.

To Quest is to seek. In the dictionary it states, “to make a search for.” It’s also in the heart of question and request, which are both seeking.

With some help from www.Wikipedia.com, we can examine a bit of what’s written about Quests and Questing. Our additions to their copy will be in parentheses.

“The hero normally aims to obtain something or someone by the quest” (i.e the Holy Grail, Golden Fleece, and most recently Harry Potter in his quest for the Horcux)  “ and with this object to return home. The object can be something new, that fulfills a lack in his life, or something that was stolen away from him.”

The quest, as in the form of the Hero’s Journey, described by Joseph Campbell; the hero sets forth from the world of common day into a land of adventures, tests, and magical rewards. Such as, Frodo in Lord of the Rings, a quest to destroy a ring of power or Odysseus in The Odyssey, a quest to return home.

Sometimes a quest is a collective effort.

“A quest in a role-playing game may begin with an announcement that the heroes must assemble some artifact, which has been broken into several pieces, each of which has a challenge the heroes must overcome. The carefully designed quest may allow the heroes to shine and show the qualities that make them heroic.” (this kind of quest builds recognizes inherent connectivity)

“In literature as well as games, side-quests often serve to develop character depth and reveal the world setting. In Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, while focused on the destruction of a dark lord, with side quests being the securing of political power, romantic interests, and the growth of personal strength or power. Often these side quests are stepping stones to the completion of the final goal.” (and equally as often they are really the main quest and the journey itself is the point)

So, again, what are we referring to at Quintessential Leadership when we use the word questing besides clarity in the face of uncertainty?

Well, for us it’s the ongoing exploration of leadership, that’s fairly obvious, however, we’re also after the Quintessence of Leadership.

That is…the purest essence of leadership, that remains timeless and is absent of any limitations by situation and circumstance.

It is more a ‘presencing’ of being than a demonstration of skills, traits, models or methodologies.

The demonstrations are merely the natural outflow of leadership well presenced. It is also not bound to the person. To learn more of what we’re talking about read the Quintessence (make a hyperlink to the other section) section of this site.

So our seeking is grounded in a number of questions:

• Where would ‘timeless’ leadership come from?
• How can we have it not bounded by the limitations of personality, conditioning or history?
• What needs to be ‘subtracted’ from the person in order for the leadership to naturally show up?
• What experiences will contribute to the ongoing presence of this leadership energy?
• What does ‘Source’ (use your own version – God, consciousness, Pure Awareness, the quantum zero point information field, the force, whatever )have to do with it?
• How would we notice the Quintessential Leadership when we encounter it?
• What will be necessary for Quintessential Leadership to have practical, concrete, and real time impact on the situation at hand?

And other questions arising as we explore with our membership community, our reading, ‘our noticings.’