The Demon in the Fog: Navigating Low Visibility Into the Future
A helpful exercise for naming and navigating times of uncertainty.
With many of my coaching clients as of late, there is a sense of impending doom that cannot be seen. While many of these clients’ businesses are in pretty good shape with their PnL, closing business, headcount management, system efficiency, and many other facets of operations — the visibility into the future still feels quite opaque. These projected existential threats can manifest into demons, villains, and other thorny hazards in the imaginations of these leaders.
When I see this theme emerging, I invite clients to describe their feelings as a metaphor:
Based on this feeling you have of impending doom, what is an image or metaphor for what you’re sensing is out there? What is a metaphor or image for the situation or place you’re currently in?
More often than not, these metaphors show up as weather patterns such as “a storm coming and I am in the calm before the storm.” Or, “I’m in the eye of the hurricane.” Or, one of my favorites, “a demon amongst a dense fog bank.”
Once the metaphor has been named, the next step is to explore one’s orientation to this metaphor with lines of inquiry:
- Who are you in the storm?
- What would be of support to you during this time?
- What does your team need?
- What are the stories you can tell to align the company?
- What are your intentions? (Ride out the storm? Find a safe harbor?)
- What opportunities does the storm present?
- What is the nature of the demon?
If you are currently wading through the waters of uncertainty, I invite you to engage with the prompts above. As you take some time to respond to these questions yourself, what emerges in your responses?
Pair This Exercise With a Poem
The poem “Start Close In” by David Whyte is apt for a moment like this. As you read the lines below, or as you read the entire poem, what lines or images stand out to you? How does this poem evoke your wisdom for the next right step?
Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way of starting
the conversation.Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something
simple.
To find
another’s voice,
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice
becomes a
private ear
listening
to another.Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.Start close in,
don’t take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.David Whyte, from “Start Close In” in his book River Flow: New and Selected Poems
