It's risky business, but STEP OFF THE FREGGING PLATFORM
Hello you wind in the willows.
I can't believe it has already been almost 6 weeks, but the lovely little social enterprise course I have been taking is coming to an end on Wednesday. I have learned a ton about the theory, potential and practicalities of building a social enterprise, but going through this course has also been a great opportunity to think more broadly about experimentation, embracing chaos, making decisions and taking risks (in business and in life).
The main overarching message over the past few weeks has essentially boiled down to finding a balance between two things: embracing complexity while also keeping a firm handle on abductive reasoning (ie: looking at the evidence before you and seeking the simplest and most likely explanation or way forward). Keeping these two concepts in your head at the same time is tricky at the best of times, but particularly in multi-faceted situations like building a business for social good, or understanding human motivations, or doing multi-level marketing, or navigating a highly charged emotional situation. (See what I did there? #TheProfessionalIsThePersonal)
One of the main takeaways for me has been the importance of trying to balance these two co-existing considerations at once, and to turn that effort into something actionable and exciting. And that, my friends, is where embracing experimentation and iteration come in! Frankly, I feel like if you want to put abductive reasoning into practice in complex situations, it all comes down to learning what you can (without spending too much time deep in the information weeds), giving it your best guess, and then taking action to try something out and just see how it goes. Perhaps it goes without saying, but to do this right, you have to be willing to take risks, to fail and to learn-- but of course we all know that-- I am not saying anything new. But it has been really interesting to me over the past few weeks to see how much wasted time and energy can go into planning and rumination, and how much fear and risk-avoidance can get in the way of one's potential (either as a business or as a person).
Side note #1: As if contemplating all of this in my waking life were not enough, I also had a dream last week of being on a platform holding a rope and wanting to get to another platform across a wide expanse of space. I spent (what felt like) HOURS planning the jump, calculating whether the rope would reach the other side, thinking about what I would do if it didn't reach and I got stuck, etc... And then, in the middle of yet another planning exercise, I accidentally fell off the platform... and I was fine. Actually more than fine-- it was great! Ultimately none of the planning really mattered-- because being off the platform and in space was very different than expected (and actually way better than I had expected too). My conclusion: the obsessive planning was really just 0a coping mechanism to make myself feel comfortable, but ultimately it was a distraction from what I actually wanted to achieve--- which was TO STEP OFF THE FREGGING PLATFORM.
In other news, my subconscious mind lacks somewhat in subtlety...
But I digress. I am definitely not advocating for people to abandon planning and learning when faced with a decision that requires some consideration, but I am inspired to seek a better balance between complexity and simplicity and action. And to be clear, the goal is not to seek simplicity for simplicity's sake (ie: the perennial Occam's razor conundrum). Instead, I think the trick is to try understanding the complexity "well enough" to be able to take a simple, decisive action-- and see what happens. And then do that again, and again, and again-- making small (or big) shifts and tweaks along the way to get as close as possible to the goal you are aiming towards. Because, in my experience (and in my dreams apparently), once you have taken a first step, the goal you thought you were working towards might not actually be what you end up wanting anyway.
Side note #2: Another interesting way to think about managing risk and self-paralysis in action-taking/ decision-making is to keep iterating to get as close as possible to addressing an underlying fear that is keeping us paralyzed, instead of focusing on a (potentially misguided) external goal. "The hard choices-- what we most fear asking, doing, saying-- these are very often exactly what we most need to do. And the biggest challenges we face will never be solved with comfortable conversations, whether it is in your own head or with other people." Of course we here in Platypusland love exploring the power of vulnerability... but I do like this framing, since it leaves you open to the possibility of lots of different outcomes rather than focusing on an imagined goal which might not actually be what we want/need in the end.
The reality is that we are never going to have all the skills, knowledge, fortitude or wisdom to make risk-free decisions-- especially with a social enterprise, but also in our lives more generally. And not least because human beings and our wonky lizard brain are riddled with blind spots and unhelpful decision-making habits that keep us failing constantly. (On that note, have you read Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman? A dense but BRILLIANT book about all of the strange, surprising (and sometimes horrifying) ways that humans make decisions-- highly recommended for those interested)
So what do we do with all of this? For now, I guess I think that when it comes to living a rich and fulfilling life, all we can do is continue to be inspired and curious about the world around us, learn what we can and connect with others to build opportunity and understanding, embrace intuition, industriousness and risk-- and then STEP OFF THE FREGGING PLATFORM.
#SoEloquent
But wait! Is all this talk of facing personal and professional risk just too overwhelming for your relaxing Sunday morning? Then please enjoy this video of a woman having a dance off with a llama.
From one risk-embracing person standing on a platform in space to another, I am glad that we can attempt to balance complexity and simplicity and take a leap together. I hope you enjoyed this dispatch, and have an action-filled week!
Until next Sunday,
The Earnest Platypus