The art of the impossible

People want their leaders to leave open the possibility of doing the impossible. They want to be engaged in the excitement of the impossible. 

What is now proved was once, only imagin'd.
William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

‘The art of the possible’ is often used to describe what leaders do. It tends to mean that we achieve what we can, working with what we have, and focus on what is possible. 

The art of the possible is a mindset and approach that deliberately curtails our aspirations and excludes striving for what we desire. It discounts and dismisses what might be considered ‘impossible’.  

In uncertain times, leaders can feel trapped in an extended crisis. A crisis grounds us in the present, forcing us to consider only what is possible or what is immediately in front of us. 

However, the job of leaders is to bring a belief in the impossible to the world.

Understanding the ideas beneath our language is essential. It helps us recognise when our mindset is constraining our actions. This is especially true when language is a shortcut for moving quickly from thought to decision and action. The art of the possible is such a shortcut. It focuses attention on the possible and discounts impossible. 

Ronald Dhal observes, ‘Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.’ We need to remain open to the possibility of the impossible. 

The pandemic melted everything that leaders thought was possible. It showed the smallness of management thinking and the need for more imaginative depth in leadership practice. It revealed persistent under-investment in organisational capabilities. It also exposed the short-sightedness of realpolitik management when thinking about consequences, opportunities, and the long term.

The first leadership response to the pandemic meant putting all management’s fears about work and the workforce back into a familiar box. We needed to get ‘back to normal’ as quickly as possible. This was followed by leaders' desire to regain control and authority. The language of this phase was to work with the ‘new normal’. 

As the pandemic subsided, without imagination, getting everything back in the box (even with some things hanging untidily over the edges) has been a quiet leadership priority—a persistent push to get back to ‘normal’ has become louder and more insistent as distance from the events of the pandemic increases.

The ‘back to the office’ mantra is a yearning for everything to return to a time when leaders felt confident and in control. Leaders and managers are attracted to the practical. They value and want to be defined by comforting routines of activity.

The art of the impossible starts with understanding the emotions of desire and dissatisfaction. It asks leaders two questions: 

• Why are things the way they are? 

• What can be done to make things better? 

The art of the impossible presumes that current circumstances can be changed. It suggests that just because events are organised in a particular way does not mean they will always be that way. 

Desire and dissatisfaction should catalyse a leader’s creativity and imagination. A leader engaged with the impossible imagines and longs to leap through the strategic window of opportunity.

People are a mess of contradictions. We enthusiastically persist in activities that produce no value while the things that need doing still need to be done. We say one thing while wanting another, and we (consciously and unconsciously) act in a way that undermines our desires and intentions.

The art of the impossible sees the value of time wasted and the usefulness of useless activity. It knows that learning is not a directed or coerced activity. Instead, learning is wonder, inquiry, reflection, experimentation, and insight. 

The art of the impossible dreams of changing the world. It is unashamedly idealistic but not a child’s dream without intent or purpose. The poet W.B. Yeats captured this when he wrote, ‘In dreams begins responsibility.’ 

The activating agent of the impossible is responsibility and duty. It draws attention to collective responsibility for making change and the duty of those with power to act with the future in mind.

In developing a strategy, the creativity and imagination that come from solving the impossible are of greater value than stacking and reconfiguring available resources. 

The art of the possible comes alive in planning, whereas strategy is uncompromising in its demand for the impossible.

People want their leaders to leave open the possibility of doing the impossible. They want to be engaged in the excitement of the impossible. 

Strategy should always carry the frisson of impossibility—the joy and opportunity that comes with the art and craft of leadership.

The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.
Steve Jobs