What the TV Show Billions Can Teach Us about Thriving in Uncertainty

*Spoiler alert* I don’t watch a lot of TV. Usually it’s one show at a time, and maybe one episode each week. Right now, I’m watching Billions. I’ll admit it. I’m hooked. I’m in the middle of Season 3. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, it did. And, in some incredible instance of coincidence, the episode spoke directly to the current situation we’re facing. Bryan Connerty, the Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, has been tasked with leading the criminal case against hedge fund billionaire Bobby Axelrod. Connerty is stuck. He’s doesn’t have sufficient evidence to prosecute Axelrod, and he’s at risk of having the case dismissed. In an act of desperation, he inappropriately visits the chambers of the federal judge overseeing the case. The judge orders him out of his chambers, but not before issuing the following advice: That sensation you’re feeling? That’s known as the Dip. Seth Godin coined it. Feels like the moment before defeat. It’s actually the moment before success…. The world has lost countless artists and artisans and engineers and even politicians who quit because they care too much to come up short, and yet also too much to keep going. You push through that Dip right now, maybe you put Axelrod where he needs to be. I couldn’t help but think that that’s where we are right now. We’re in the Dip. It’s deep and will likely get deeper. But it’s unmistakenly a Dip. If you’re a leader of a businesses, the head of your family, a policy maker, a community organizer, or anyone who wants to thrive in an increasingly volatile world you have a choice. You can choose the meaning you give the current situation. This is your human superpower. You can choose to give up, surrender, be afraid, or act recklessly. Or you can choose to see the current environment as an opportunity to learn, grow, get stronger, and push through. How are you choosing to view the current situation? That choice will have massive ramifications for how you act and the results you get. Choose wisely. The world needs your wisdom right now.