News
16/01/2025
Steven D’Souza talks about leadership from the darkness; the truth is that we live in a world beyond our control. In reality, it never was, but years of apparent geopolitical calm led us to believe that it was, and led us to make decisions based on assumptions that we considered to be true. Leadership that can justify its decision-making is more assertive, both internally and externally, which makes it appear to dominate and control the surrounding environment.
Faking confidence vs being human
According to D’Souza, leading from darkness means that it is not possible to create a strategy based on the unknown; it is almost like leading from a zone without guarantees and without predictability. At this crucial point, there are two types of behaviour: the leader can pretend to be confident, as if playing a role, or be human. If circumstances do not allow for certainty, moving forward with the awareness that the strategy may have to change is being honest with yourself and others. This humanisation or openness to experience is something we like to work on at Immersis.
If a pharmaceutical company executive has never run a restaurant, they will certainly learn in a humane and honest way in their new role. This does not mean that their background cannot be useful in the role, but in Restaurant Takeover, the context is different, unknown, immediate, and the roles are very visible; there is no office and no time to reflect.
Recently, we have seen and felt the instability of climate change ‘inside’ and, ‘outside’, the 2026 Munich Security Report2 names one of the world’s major powers and its president as one of the risk factors facing the world. Whether we like it or not, these waves of uncertainty end up reverberating across borders and affecting countries and their organisations in different ways. Uncertainty and the unknown bring anxiety, and in this regard, believe me, I have long experience. Just as I look to my superiors for insight and support, others will do the same with their leaders. And the leaders? What strategy do they have to navigate this sea of waves of discomfort on a moonless night?
The question is, on a scale of 0 to 10, how much are you willing to risk?
We often refer to Mini ARG as our signature activity. It is one of the cornerstones of Immersis’ emergence, and it is mainly in this experience that we play with uncertainty and inevitability, testing the limits. It came to mind several times while reading the article. The plot is tailor-made, but one of the key questions in the briefing is: on a scale of 0 to 10, how much do you want to risk? The answer to this question is not always immediate; it requires reflection. I would venture to say that it is almost the embodiment of this article by Steven D’Souza. We are asking someone how much they want to risk in an activity that is suggested because we are working on themes that will affect mindsets and profiles. We are asking their leader how much they want to risk by trusting us; 99% of the time, without knowing what will happen to their team.
In a less interventionist but equally revealing way, The World is Jazz transforms unpredictability into harmony, creativity and performance. It begins with something that resembles a concert, only to immediately transform into a session of inspiration and learning in which the unknown and uncertainty can be the musicians’ guiding principles.
In summary, be human, embrace unpredictability and uncertainty, and be tolerant in the learning process we are experiencing. If all this seems overwhelming, we have strategies and solutions for your leadership teams.
Photo by Oliver Guhr, Unsplash.
