Embrace Ambiguity

Life is ambiguous, and so is running your own company. It's tempting to try to clarify things so the ambiguity goes away, but you can end up digging yourself a bigger hole.

It's like 'wack-a-mole' because having bashed one ambiguity on the head, another one pops right up to take its place. Goals and strategies and tasks can be vague, because it's not always possible to have perfect information. In fact it's rarely possible to have perfect information. Which means goals are the best they can be at the time.

But they'll probably have to change as circumstances change. Which they will.

I read some advice about what to do when confronted with an ambiguous situation at work:

1. Remain calm.

2. Communicate.

3. Work on your problem solving skills.

4. Evolve.

5. Have a plan.

I'm not sure how you deliberately evolve; whoever wrote such rubbish never worked in a startup.

It's better if you just accept it. It's OK not to know. Tell your team you don't know. Ask them to embrace the ambiguity and carry on. And somehow you'll figure it out.

That's not just leadership, it's life.

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