VUCA VS HESED

A battle between an immovable force and cosmic turbulence.

• VUCA: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity.

• HESED: Hebrew for the never stopping, always, self-giving, contingent free, familial love of God.

VUCA feels overwhelming. It consists of macro issues such as global unrest, chaotic weather, red state-blue state, inflation, etc. It is also micro issues like cancer, divorce, unemployment, parenting, etc. Leaders must live in this tension while stewarding mission, vision, values, staffing, stakeholders, risk, funding, etc.

In the midst of these challenges, it is tempting to mitigate things with vice as part of the fight or flight response. But the promises of vice (Social Media, Fitness, Alcohol, Sex, Religion) are short lived. They veil themselves as HESED, but in the end just create another downward cycle of VUCA.

Instead of fight or flight, we need to learn a third option: stewardship.

Stewardship accepts VUCA as part of the human experience (see Curtic Chang). Loss is not an invading army to fight off; it is an unrequested asset. It is not an enemy, but a resident. Embracing this perspective means shifting from a “grass is greener” mindset to finding abundance in existing resources. This means flourishing can happen in loss (aka: life is not a zero-sum game). Only HESED can promise this. It is a steadfast unfailing bulwark in the storm.

While we don’t seek loss, we also don’t fear VUCA. Growth is good. Profit is good. But prosperity is not defined by avoidance. Rather, flourishing is marked by how we steward our daily VUCA. It is a process of learning to lean on HESED rather than vice.

Your job as a leader is not to remove VUCA, but to lead from HESED. When your assets and objectives flow from HESED, then fears will dissolve. and you are freed to fail and succeed. This is your unique offering.