In recent years, it feels like we’re living in an atmosphere of perma-crisis, where it seems like we can never catch a break. Permacrisis typically means a prolonged period of insecurity and instability where you’re dealing with one crisis after another.
While there are good pieces of news and positive developments, too, they’re often overshadowed by more negative news. The latter tends to be shared more than positive events.
Often, in a perma-crisis, those crises are interconnected and overlap, which makes things even harder to navigate.
It’s difficult to know how to live life when there’s so much uncertainty about the future. So, you have to look to the most fundamental things to figure out a strategy where you thrive, not just survive.
In a fascinating, timely, and deeply relevant piece in the Harvard Business Review, Cheryl Strauss Einhorn argues that today’s leaders operate in a state of permacrisis, among the geopolitical instability, climate shocks, AI disruption, etc.
“In today’s perma-crisis world, waiting for stability is like waiting for a train that’s never coming,” she writes, urging leaders to ask the right questions in order to move toward “wiser, more resilient outcomes.”
The four questions that Strauss Einhorn suggests today’s leaders ask themselves, in order to navigate in a perma-crisis environment, are the following:
- What decision today will still make sense a year from now?
- If a year from now, this decision were used as an example of our leadership, what would it teach?
- What if this isn’t the storm—what if it’s the climate?
- What’s the cost of waiting?
In a nutshell, as a leader, you have to worry about the impact your decisions will have. For instance, you might solve some short-term problems, sure. But you might end up losing if this creates long-term issues.
So, you have to reframe your mindset and think long-term. Prioritize resilience and strategy over quick wins.
Consider your values, the direction you and your team are taking, and the risks you’re willing to take.
Think about the narrative that your decisions are writing, too. What are your priorities? What kind of culture are you representing? Do you embody courage and clarity or the opposite? What kind of example are you setting, and what can others learn from your decisions?
Meanwhile, you also have to think about the possibility that all of these overlapping, seemingly never-ending crises might not, well, actually end. They might not be a metaphorical storm that might pass. This might be the ‘new normal.’ So, you’re encouraged to invest in “systems, culture, and capabilities that can flex under pressure.”
Furthermore, when things are so uncertain and volatile, you might never end up getting access to ‘enough’ information to make solid decisions. Waiting for too long before making a decision can be very risky.
Leadership aside, on a very individual level, some of the most important things to focus on when the world seems to be going bonkers are the most basic:
- Prioritize your positive relationships
- Get lots of sleep
- Remember to move a lot
- Spend time in nature
- Focus on the hobbies, activities, and people you love
- Eat nutritious and fresh food
- Do purposeful things
- Take breaks from all of your screens
- Meditate
- Practice gratitude
- Avoid over-processed foods, smoking, and drinking
