In several essays and books, I have posed the challenge of VUCA-Plus. These challenges are associated with conditions in the mid-21st Century of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity, Turbulence and Contradiction) (Bergquist, 2020). When confronted with these conditions, we can escape into a rabbit hole and find ourselves in a wonderland of Serenity (Bergquist, 2024). Volatility becomes stability, while uncertainty becomes certainty—at the cost of denial regarding the real world. Complexity becomes simplicity while Ambiguity is replaced with clarity—at the cost of living in a wonderland that is filled with dysfunctional and destructive behavior. Turbulence is replaced by calm and contradiction by consistency. However, there is in fact little calm or concurrence in the life being led by those seeking Serenity at all costs in a wonderland of distortion and authoritarian rule (Weitz and Bergquist, 2024; Bergquist, 2024).
We can instead remain with these challenges and find ways in which to embrace and find both energy and partial solution within each challenge. At the close of my 2024 essay, I introduced a strategy and tactic called polarity management (Bergquist, 2024). I suggested that polarity management could help us address the many challenges associated with VUCA-Plus. In this essay and the next four, I introduce an even more diverse set of strategies and tactics which I believe provide a viable alternative to Serenity as a way in which to cope with pressing VUCA-Plus issues.
One set of strategies and tactics concerns the Essential factors embedded in each of the VUCA-Plus issues. The second of these strategies and tactics centers on ways in which we focus our energy and engagement regarding the Essence of each VUCA-Plus condition. I turn first in this essay to the nature of an Essential perspective. I then focus on ways in which volatility is transformed to anchoring and uncertainty is transformed to curiosity. In the second and third essays in this series, I turn to the way in which an Essential perspective can help transform complexity to enablement, ambiguity to an appreciation of perspective, turbulence to learning, and contradiction to prioritization.
The Nature of Essential
That which is essential in a system can be considered those matters that are inherently of the utmost importance. These are the elements and desired outcomes of the system that are basic, indispensable, and necessary. They might also be considered those matters that are unavoidable. When not openly addressed, these are those matters in a relationship, team or organization that are “elephants in the room.”
