Contemporary self-help literature, particularly as it relates to management, leadership, and personal growth, is lousy with references to the "fact" that the Chinese symbols for crisis and opportunity are one and the same. This same pop-psychology body of literature then goes into great detail about how crises are really opportunities to do something remarkable with one's business, career, or life.
Although the whole issue with the Chinese characters is generally accepted as a misconception, it is one I am happy to perpetuate to serve my own ends as a manager as I selflessly create "opportunities" throughout the firm. Since the pop-psychologists are sure that opportunities can be borne from crises, it would only make sense to gin up a crisis and take advantage of all the opportunities springing forth.
The real task here is not opportunity identification, but rather crisis creation. Here are a few examples of how to create a crisis so that you too can reap the opportunities:
Start an initiative with no credible research
Research, smesearch! My motto is that if you hear
something once, it's a rumor; once you've heard it twice,
it is data and you are ready to roll. Once your crisis is in
motion, you may need to fan the flames a bit in order to generate
the appropriate amount of alarm. In our office, we call this the
Chicken Little approach—based on very little evidence, we are
able to conclude that the sky is falling and we are more than
willing to spread the word.
Use this approach with caution as you really don't want a crisis to get out of hand, thereby reducing the ability of people to see the opportunity involved. Examples of crisis creation gone terribly wrong include New Coke, the Alternative Minimum Tax, and the Real Housewives of Any City. We could go on but in the interest of space will leave it here. Feel free to send your own examples along for our compendium.
Let subtle misunderstandings linger
Communicate infrequently and poorly. If you are a novice,
you'll want to resist the nagging urge to clear up confusion
associated with bad initial communications. Once you are more
practiced in the art of misdirection, the urge to clarify goes
away. Alan Greenspan was a master at this. In my opinion, the
greatest quote of his entire 19-year career as the Chairman of the
Board of the Federal Reserve was: "I guess I should warn you,
if I turn out to be particularly clear, you’ve probably
misunderstood what I’ve said." Let the minions do as
they will with whatever they think your intent and instructions
are. You may need to step in from time to time to muddy the
communication waters in order to keep the crisis alive.
Let them see you sweat a little
No problem is too small to turn into a crisis with the
appropriate level of panic from the top. The keyword here is
appropriate. Now, I'm not talking Charlie Sheen, Tiger Woods,
Lindsay Lohan meltdown here. Panic as defined by Dictionary.com is
"a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, which
produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads
quickly through a group." Keeping that in mind, a very
urgent response to a relatively minor issue can really set the
crisis machine in motion and get some first-class opportunities
headed your way.
Use these tips wisely to take advantage of all the wonderful opportunities certain to spring from your self-induced tempests.
Reprinted from the archives of BerryDunn's annual Advisor newsletter.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.