#100K: Peter Jordan
Hi Peter, over the past few years, you've stepped in at large companies as an interim manager. You helped lead and manage their communications department. During the pandemic that wasn´t easy at all, right? As an interim manager, you have to get to know your new team as quickly as possible in order to get going as soon as possible. Your job was certainly a tough one during that time. Thank goodness the lockdowns are behind us and we have returned to "normal". Have we? What do you remember from that time of the Covid pandemic? What is still present? Did you learn anything during that time that you definitely want to keep?
Well, we haven't really arrived at "normal". I like to compare this with a pendulum. During Covid, the pendulum swung extremely - in the direction of alertness, uncertainty, regulation, restrictions. Now the pendulum is swinging extremely in the other direction: Desire for freedom, need to catch up, overtourism, escapism and so on. I hope all this will settle down somehow and swing back - slightly in the middle. That would definitely help environment and climate.
But let´s talk about my experiences during the pandemic, which I wouldn’t have had without that time. I discovered: my surroundings – the region I live in. Sounds not spectacular? It is spectacular. During the pandemic, I went out for a walk nearly every day. Not too far. Just around the corner. On dirt roads, into the forest nearby, crossing small ponds and streams, through fields and brushwood. What can I say: tiny things, close by, so familiar and so beautiful.
There is a German saying: "Why go far, when the good is so close". Everyone knows it. But no one really believes it or lives to it. Instead we go by car or by airplane to discover places as far away as possible, try to find something exotic.
We live in one of the most beautiful corners of the world - and I needed a pandemic to discovered that. So even today I still go out for a walk and enjoy (For all who want to know where this beautiful corner of the world is, just click here).
Peter, this reminds me of a creativity technique a good friend of mine, Ramon Vullings, uses in workshops. He calls it "WonderWalk." Ramon invites workshop participants to team up in small groups and go outside - ideally into a forest. Ideas will come while they are walking. A wonderful creativity technique (For more information have a look into Ramons book on Business Creativity). And that's a great link to my next question: You're always facing new situations - when companies are in trouble or in crisis. You step in and help them make the right decisions quickly. This requires a lot of flexibility and creativity. So my question: how do you manage to stay creative and open? What do you need to be creative?
I need freedom. I have to be free to think in new directions. But that´s so difficult to do. We are makers and doers and practitioners - we always have implementation in our mind. While we are coming up with an idea, we think parallel how to make it real. So in order to be creative, you have to switch off this thinking. Free yourself. I only will get fresh thinking and new solutions when I shut down old thinking. I have to free myself to explore new directions.
That's a great match with your Covid learning - apparently you're always trying to discover something - new areas in life, right? In my last question, though, I want to touch on a different area. We are living in a time that should actually suit you. The World Economic Forum calls it “time of polycrisis”. We are surrounded by difficult areas and fields in crisis mode - whether in the economy, in society, not to mention the climate crisis. Interesting times for you as a crisis manager? Or how do you personally see these times? And aren't we all called upon to making this world a little bit better? What are your plans or your contribution for this world?
Oh, this is not only a question of modern times - polycrisis or not. It is also a question of age. People who have achieved a certain age, who have achieved a lot in life, to whom life has given a lot – they should ask themselves what they can give back. Yes, it's a question of age – my age.
The danger for this kind of contributions – for “giving back” and “making the world better” - is that you may think too big. It can be frustrating when you think: "I am only one person, tiny and too small to solve all these huge problems. I will not make any difference”. Don´t go like that. Think instead: step by step. That's the first lesson to take in these times: to focus, to take one of these miserable problems and then go your first step. It may be a small one, but it should be a real one. Step by step. Every step - in a positive direction -counts.
As a communications professional, I live in a very peculiar bubble. I see problems that others don't see. On the other hand, I don't see a lot that is important to others. And that's exactly my contribution for this world. I´ll try to help others recognizing their own bubble and stepping out of it. We are all trapped in very specific boundaries – in fixed opinions. Therefore it´s hard and difficult to listen and acknowledge others opinions.
That's where I try to help. I'm less interested in finding a consensus right away. It´s not my goal to align opinions. It´s not about solutions and compromises. That would be much too complicated – that´s too big. I'm happy about a small step: when people agree to let a different opinion be heard – when they just talk to each other and listen. That is not yet an agreement. Far away from an agreement. But it is a first step. And every step counts.
