Simon Sinek Says “Business Uncertainty and Surprise Is The Greatest Gift You’ve Ever Been Given”

Our primitive survival brain doesn’t like the uncertainty resulting from the pandemic, but Simon Sinek does. Here’s what he said in a recent Wall Stress Journal Interview with Chip Cutter:

“Uncertainty and surprise is the greatest gift you've ever been given...”

Pause it right there. This is a bold statement because uncertainty is a powerful and instinctive trigger for stress. In ancient times, a sense of uncertainty - say about where the next meal was coming from - would cause the release of stress hormones, which in turn would give an extra boost of energy to our ancient ancestor's physical body that was low on fuel.

Millions of years later, stress continues to be a physical state and we’re not built to have continuously high levels of stress hormones.

But with the pandemic, there’s boundless uncertainty and it’s an underlying reason why people are feeling ongoing stress. There are increasing mental and physical health challenges, like burnout, as a result.

Chip, the WSJ interviewer, even mentions how frequently he’s hearing about how management is bracing for a second wave of employee distress, which is largely fueled by the uncertainty of the future.

In order to turn any bad (aka prey) stress into good (aka predatory) stress, we have to “reappraise” the stress trigger. This reappraisal must be so convincing to the primitive brain that we have a different visceral reaction when faced with that same stress trigger. 

Can Simon really help us reappraise the uncertainty trigger spurred by the pandemic and turn it into a catalyst for predatory stress that fuels our best work? 

He continues…

“Uncertainty and surprise is the greatest gift you’ve ever been given... because you get to reimagine the business and you get to build it and, if numbers go down in the short term, you have the greatest excuse in the world: it’s a global pandemic, but the reality is you're doing something you could have done a year ago - you’re reinventing your business.”

Bingo. Beautifully said.

We can’t change the fact that there’s uncertainty. The absolute only thing we can do is change our reaction to the uncertainty, using it even as a reason to take bold action.

Simon goes on to cite the example of Blockbuster, explaining: the CEO of Blockbuster took note of Netflix's subscription model before it dominated the industry. He went to the board and suggested they experiment with a subscription model as well, but the board refused because they were terrified that they would lose the 12% of revenue that came from late fees. As a result, the internet didn’t put Blockbuster out of business, they put themselves out of business. 

What if Blockbuster had been forced to make that decision in the middle of a pandemic? Perhaps, they would have needed to try something new and that reinvention would have saved the business in the long term.

We never know the circumstances that may bring about the best ideas.  By adopting what Simon deems the “infinite mindset” that craves uncertainty and surprise, because that’s when the thinking starts, we tap into hidden brilliance and rewire the ancient part of the brain that’s overly sensitive to uncertainty. What uncertainty can you reappraise today that will inspire you to think and to do things differently?

Link to the original Wall Street Journal interview with Chip Cutter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suqjx4ob6Ak