Recently I was watching a documentary on Steven Spielberg. It was interesting as it went through all the movies he’s made. It sounded like things were a bit out of control at times. They described one movie where some challenges came up unexpectedly, and Spielberg described them as chaotic. With that, he said, “out of chaos can come clarity.”
That phrase stuck with me as I thought about Service Express and our growth journey. Over the years, we’ve gone from $3 million in revenue to over $300 million in revenue. We’re now global, and we’ve added managed services. There’s been a lot of growth and change, and sometimes there’s chaos through that.
What I’ve found is that when you’re trying to sort your way through life, growing an organization, or whatever the situation may be, when it feels chaotic, sometimes you need to take a step back and let the chaos play out. Through the chaos can come clarity.
I’ve talked a lot at Service Express about how the company’s growth answers all of our questions, and sometimes we need to give it time. That’s not indecisive; I don’t like that. It’s about intentionally stepping back and saying you don’t have the answer yet. I talked about this in my recent blog, A Leaders’ Most Powerful Words. Step back and see how things play out. That will create clarity, and clarity will help lead us to a decision.
You may feel chaos in your personal or professional life, whether you’re a leader or not. Out of the chaos comes clarity; you need to give it a chance to play out. If you’re unsure about the decision, give it a little time. Again, don’t be indecisive, but let the decision become more obvious, then act and move forward. As always, if you make the wrong decision, make another one!
