WHAT:
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| Admiral James Stockdale |
This week in lecture we read about
and discussed something known as the Stockdale Paradox. Jim Collins describes this concept in the fourth chapter of his novel: Good To Great. The name refers to Admiral Jim Stockdale,
a high-ranking military officer held as a prisoner of war for eight years
during the Vietnam War. Despite all of the torture and brutality he
experienced, he kept an outlook of positivity. When asked why he never gave up,
he said: “I never lost faith in the end of the story.” Stockdale attributed his
faith in survival to two seemingly conflicting views: You must retain faith
that you’ll prevail in the end and you
must also confront the most brutal facts of your current reality.
I think we can all learn something from James Stockdale. The Stockdale Paradox defines the confidence and optimism that is expected of all great leaders. When
we are faced with challenges and must make important decisions, we must assess
the circumstances objectively – that is, confront the brutal facts. At the same
time, we also have to believe in the back of our minds that we will prevail. It
sounds so simple, but many people tend to avoid certain aspects of the problems
and fall back on solutions that have worked in the past. In an interview with
Stockdale, Collins asked him who didn’t make it out in Vietnam and he replied
with: “The optimists.” Stockdale went on to explain that the optimists were the
ones that believed someone was going to come to their rescue and they weren’t
going to suffer. What the optimists failed to do was confront the reality of
their situation. When they were eventually forced to face reality, it was too
much for them to handle.
NOW WHAT:
Regardless
of whether you’re in a situation as serious as Stockdale’s, or you’re the CEO
of a failing business, don’t settle for mediocrity or failure – have faith that
you will prevail. But before you make any drastic decisions or take any steps
forward, or backward for that matter, take the time to understand the facts of
your current reality. Understand that your business is failing and make a
serious effort to understand why. Only then will your decisions become easier
and easier. After reading this chapter, I want to make an honest attempt to adopt this philosophy in all that I do.
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