Category Archives: Optimism

The Stockdale Paradox

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You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

                                                                             –          Admiral James Stockdale, United States Navy (Retired)

Admiral James Stockdale was a United States Navy vice admiral and aviator awarded the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War, during which he was an American prisoner of war for over seven years. Admiral Stockdale is a true American hero and a tremendous leader. I encourage any leader to read more about his amazing story.

In Collin’s classic book Good to Great, Collins writes about a conversation he had with Stockdale regarding his coping strategy during his period in the Vietnamese POW camp.

“I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”*

When Collins asked who didn’t make it out of Vietnam, Stockdale replied:

“Oh, that’s easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”*

Stockdale then added:

“This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”*

Witnessing this philosophy of duality, Collins went on to describe it as the “Stockdale Paradox”.

This is indeed a paradox. If a leader ignores the challenges, the leader will appear naïve and out of touch. If the leader mires in the challenges, they’ll create a culture of pessimism which will demoralize, demotivate, and undermine the effectiveness of the team.

How does a leader offer a practical approach to this paradox?

One of my most challenging tours of duty during my career was when I was placed in charge of a relatively large Navy hospital pharmacy operation. The morale in the department, as well as overall performance, were both extremely low. I had to turn things around quickly.

The morale amongst the 20 or so Registered Pharmacists who worked for me was especially low. Within the first week of the job I met with all pharmacists to learn more.

The good news is that they were not shy on sharing their complaints! It was one of the wilder meetings I’ve ever assembled! Their behavior was boisterous and rowdy. I patiently listened and let them have their day in court.

As the smoke lifted from the clash it appeared that the primary issue was one of a distinct difference in pay and benefits among the 20 pharmacists. While all 20 had essentially the same day to day job functions, their pay and benefits varied significantly. It was a legitimate complaint. It was indeed unfair.

I adjourned the meeting when it appeared the last salvo was shot. I stated that the pay disparity was a legitimate concern and that we’d have a follow up meeting to discuss it further.

I drove home that night with more questions than answers.

Identify what is within your span of control.

The truth was that I had minimal control over the situation. Without going into detail to explain the nuances of government compensation packages, while I could help give small pay raises to some of those who warranted it, I could not make the necessary changes needed to make things fair.

A few days later I had a follow-on meeting with the group. I started the meeting by reaffirming that the pay and benefits situation was indeed unfair. I went on to explain that while I truly wished I could make the necessary changes, the truth was that I could not. Going into some detail, I explained the nuances of why.  However, I would certainly do what was within my limited span of control to help improve the pay and benefits mismatches.

More importantly, I told them that we needed to put this issue behind us. I highlighted all the improvements that would be forthcoming to help us do our jobs better (we were refurbishing the entire workflow process).  If after a period of time any of them could not let this issue go…it was simply too difficult for them to accept…I would understand. However, instead of bringing your misery to work, I told them that I would ask them to consider moving on. In my opinion, life is too short to work in misery.

The good news is that in the end we didn’t lose any pharmacists and things eventually turned around for the better.

What Collins coins the “Stockdale Paradox” – appropriately addressing legitimate challenges without demoralizing the team – were always the most difficult trials I had as a leader. I failed addressing them appropriately as many times as I succeeded. When I succeeded, I was able to clearly identify what was within my span of control and what was not. I was able to hit the sweet spot of addressing the issue without miring in it.

Be a great leader and lead with optimism…while also appropriately addressing the challenges.

Enjoy the journey!

Mark

* Collins, Jim (date unknown). The Stockdale Paradox. JimCollins.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-02 from http://www.jimcollins.com/lab/brutalFacts/.

The Power of Optimism, Part 2

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“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.”

– Helen Keller

One of the truly remarkable tours of duty I had during my Navy career was with a small group of highly motivated doctors and pharmacists from all 3 services – Army, Navy, and Air Force. These professionals were all hand-picked to join a newly formed team which was directed to reduce the escalating cost of prescription medications provided for all Department of Defense (DOD) active duty (Army, Navy and Air Force) and family members without decreasing quality of care.  At that time there were over 8 million men, women and children eligible for prescription medications throughout DOD. The annual cost was over $5 billion and climbing.

Our boss, Tom, was a brilliant, hard-working, and extremely passionate leader who was highly respected by all. Tom cared for us and we cared for him. We were a tight group – we treated each other as family. His passion was contagious and a culture of caring and hard work was quickly established. We were poised for success. Because I was senior to other members of the team, Tom selected me to be his deputy.

The idea of creating a team to bend the cost curve for the entire DOD pharmacy benefit was novel. While the team shared a genuine passion for this noble and ambitious undertaking, short term wins were far and few between.

Pessimism creeps in…

Within a few weeks there was an increasing sense of frustration among the group. Every morning we’d meet with Tom to share the progress or, more accurately, lack of progress with our respective projects. There were an increasing number of sarcastic comments. All joined in, including Tom and me. While many provided a quick laugh, one could feel the energy and passion dissipate like air slowing leaking from a balloon.

Then frustration creeps in!

Tom’s level of frustration could be easily read on his face. As days and weeks passed, the morning meeting would start with Tom entering the room with an increasingly worried and scowling look on his face. We’d grind through the morning meeting and return to our desks drained of any temporary energy the morning cups of coffee mercifully offered.

Fortunately, another of Tom’s remarkable attributes as a leader was his humility. Despite being brilliant on a number of topics, Tom was humble. He would listen. Knowing this, I decided to talk to Tom about reversing the spiraling situation.

We talked the next day about the culture of pessimism that we were creating. More importantly, we discussed how the pessimism and sarcasm were sucking the creative juices from the team. Over a hand shake we agreed to help each other curb our negativity and find and focus more on the good things that were happening. We weren’t going to ignore the challenges we faced. We also weren’t going to continue to mire in them.

The culture turns…and success followed. We saved DOD $100 million annually!

The culture slowly improved. Success came slower but, when it came, it was stunning.  Within 18 months, the team was saving DoD over $100 million annually with no decrements in quality. The unit became a center of excellence within the pharmaceutical industry.

Tom and I remain very close friends to this day. While our paths don’t cross as often as we’d like, when they do, we fondly reminisce about that tour of duty. While we agree there were many reasons for the team’s overwhelming success, we unequivocally agree that the primary reason was our resolution and handshake to be more optimistic. We both stuck to our agreement and great things happened.

The ability to maintain an optimistic demeanor regardless of what life throws at us takes a lot energy and discipline. I believe that when we as leaders appreciate the profound impact our attitudes have on others, and more importantly overall team performance, we will more likely maintain an optimistic demeanor during those crucible moments. We’ll never be perfect – the goal is to lower the likelihood of going down the wrong path when we’re at our weakest and susceptible to pessimism.

The leader sets the tone…

Bottom line: in meetings, the leader needs to finesse the “flow” of the meeting to ensure the language stays somewhat positive. It’s easy for people to focus on the negative.  While it is imperative that challenges/issues/problems get addressed, it is equally imperative that mention is made of those things that are going well.

My suggestion is to start and end all meetings with a bit of a review of things that are going well. The middle of the meeting is a good time to address the tough challenges. The objective for a leader in running meetings is to address the issues without crushing morale. If your staff is coming out of meetings more motivated than when they went in – you’re winning as a leader.

Be a great leader and lead with optimism!

Enjoy the journey!

Mark

The Power of Optimism

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“A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity;

an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

–          Unknown

Bound for Antarctica, Sir Ernest Shackleton planned to be the first human to cross on foot the last unchartered continent.  Born in Ireland in 1874, he was a polar explorer who led two previous British expeditions to the Antarctic, and one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

On this his third expedition, his ship, the Endurance, set sail from England in August, 1914. In January 1915, after battling its way for 6 weeks through a thousand miles of pack ice and now only a day sail short of her destination, the Endurance became locked inside an island.

Sleeping on the Endurance each night, the crew could hear the strange and perilous sounds of the ship’s timbers slowly being crushed by the massive, shifting ice flow.

Their beloved ship slipped beneath the surface into the dark, freezing waters on November 21, 1915. The crew was forced to spend the long, cold polar night living on the ice – months of total darkness with an ever decreasing supply of food and other critical provisions.

Despite this extremely perilous situation, morale among the crew remained high. Reading diary entries from the crew, it’s clear that the general attitude was one of optimism. To a man they had little doubt that they would survive. Indeed, against enormous odds, all 29 crew members lived to tell of their amazing 2 year odyssey of survival.

Given their perilous situation and numerous setbacks, how did they maintain an optimistic attitude?

The answer is Shackleton’s tremendous leadership and, specifically during this expedition, his remarkable ability to create a culture of optimism. From their book Shackleton’s way, Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell state it best:

“Shackleton believed in optimism, lived it, selected the crew for it, talked about it, and praised crew members when they showed it. Optimism became the culture so that the men continued to keep their spirits up.”

– Shackleton’s Way

While our level of optimism as leaders will rarely impact human survival, it will certainly impact business survival.

Remember the following 2 maxims:

1.            The leader creates and owns the culture.

 The general level of optimism (or pessimism) on any team is directly influenced by the leader’s level of optimism.

2.            Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

A leader’s enthusiasm, hopefulness, and confidence multiply as they radiate outward through the organization.*

Despite setbacks, remember to maintain an optimistic demeanor. Don’t ignore the setbacks and challenges, but also don’t wring your hands and mire in them. In future blogs we’ll discuss much more of the intriguing power of optimism.

Until then, be a great leader. Remember the power of optimism!

Mark

*From “The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell”, Harari