ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT
Portable Sanitation Association International News
BIWEEKLY EDITION JANUARY 6, 2021
Page 19
The Stockdale Paradox and Portable Sanitation in 2021…continued from page 18
So be the hero in your own story, not the bum, by resisting the urge to demand something definite out of an
inherently ambiguous situation. Figure out how to build a business that can sail on any seas, rather than one that is
in danger of capsizing every time the wind changes.
To Get the Best Result from Yourself and Others, Nurture and Build Character
At the beginning of this article I provided a quote from Admiral Stockdale regarding the difference between
POWs who survived years of uncertainty in the most grim circumstances imaginable and those who did not. In
short, those who survived faced reality and made the best of it. Those who died kept waiting and hoping for
things to get better.
If you are reading this article, your situation is far better than the one faced by the POWs. You have some ability
to influence your own destiny, and it is likely that you are in a position to influence the destinies of employees
and friends as well. So take these final words from Admiral Stockdale as a challenge for the coming year. Deliver
to yourself and those around you the best results possible by nurturing your good character and theirs in matters
both of business and heart.
Happy new year! v
…in crises—and I've been in a lot of trouble and in a lot of crises—the [essential quality] of
a leader has lain not in his chess-like grasp of issues and the options they portend, not in his
style of management, not in his skill at processing information, but in his having the character,
the heart, to deal spontaneously, honorably, and candidly with people, perplexities, and
principles."
