This year’s Super Bowl was truly a game to remember. It began looking as if the Atlanta Falcons would win an already unbelievable game (unbelievable in this case because of their tremendous play during the first half). After halftime, the New England Patriots staged an unbelievable comeback that sent the game to the first overtime in Super Bowl history, and led the Patriots to a decisive victory.
We all come across situations and ideas that seem unbelievable at the time. Sometimes it is because the ideas are so different or so surprising, and other times it is because the scenario seems so obvious after the fact, that it is a wonder that we missed seeing it could happen prior.
Sometimes, these events are the types of surprises we don’t want to experience, and the “unbelievable” nature of things takes on an incredibly negative context. At other points, however, the lack of belief is eye-opening for us, and helpful in us seeing just what is possible.
With the nature of “unbelievability” potentially going in either direction, it is safe to wonder, “Do we want the unbelievable? Is the believable simply safer?”
While it may be, I would contend that the unbelievable, whether for “good” or “bad” helps us to remember that we don’t know all, and can’t predict all.
This is a very powerful idea for leaders and learners. We must remember that being unpredictable doesn’t take the value away from an idea or scenario. In fact, it adds to the potential learning we can take. The more unknown something is, the more likely we are to gain something in discovering more about it, and while we may learn something that is less than good, we will still have learned, and sometimes, that makes all the difference.
Since we know continuous improvement is key to our continued growth, we should welcome the unbelievability of any given situation, and be happy that sometimes, not all can be known.