Why you must always have faith you will prevail in the end…

Admiral James Stockdale survived over 7 years of imprisonment, when his plane was shot down over Vietnam in 1965.

On being held captive he told himself he was entering the world of ‘Epictetus’.

Epictetus was a Greek philosopher who said. “No, it is events that give rise to fear – when another has power over them or can prevent them, that person becomes able to inspire fear.”

“How is the fortress destroyed? Not by iron or fire, but by judgments. Here is where we much begin. And it is from this front that we must seize the fortress and throw out the tyrants.”

After years of torture Stockdale refused to offer any intelligence to his captors, earning him the US Congressional Medal of Honour.

Following an interview many years later with Business Guru, researcher, and bestselling author Jim Collins. Collins named Stockdale’s coping strategy as the ‘Stockdale Paradox’.

Stockdale told Collins. “I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end, and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”

Collins then asked. “Who didn’t make it out.”

Stockdale replied, “Oh, that’s easy. The optimists. They were the ones saying, ‘we’re going to be out by Christmas’, and Christmas would come and go.”

“Then they’d say, ‘we’re going to be out by Easter’, and Easter would come and go. And then Thanksgiving, and then Christmas again. They died of a broken heart.”

Stockdale then added. “You must never ever confuse the need for absolute unwavering faith that you can prevail, with the need for the discipline to begin by confronting the brutal facts (whatever they are) that we’re not getting out of here by Christmas.”

The ability to acknowledge your situation and balance optimism with realism comes from an understanding of the Stockdale Paradox, and was the strength that led James through to the end.

This same thinking can help organisations assess a current situation and plan accordingly to tackle the challenges they come across.

It enforces the idea you can be positive and believe you will overcome all obstacles, whilst at the same time you are confronting the most brutal facts of your current situation.

I first learned about Stockdale’s amazing story when reading Collins fantastic book ‘Good to Great’ about 10 years ago, and have since used the learnings from the ‘Stockdale Paradox’ to help us get through many (thought to be) unsurmountable obstacles.

Particularly about 5 years ago when we completely re-engineered our business. Transforming from a network of retail stores into a fixed monthly subscription office technology business.

…and as we’re in a time uncertainty, it seems a good idea to share this knowledge with you!