Picking Up the Pieces

Gary Burnison is CEO of Korn Ferry and the author of Love, Hope & Leadership: A Special Edition.

The car slid across the pavement and started spinning. Time suspended, a whirl of white. Then I hit that snowbank.

It was many years ago—my first encounter with black ice. Being an inexperienced driver, I had let my instincts take over—slamming the brakes, jerking the wheel.

It was the exact opposite of what I should have done: foot off the gas, steer into the slide. And, most importantly, no brakes.   

Of course, easier said than done, especially in the moment.

There’s an analogy here for all of us amid personal struggles, professional challenges, existential dilemmas—and everything else we don’t anticipate. At the same time, the world keeps sending so much frenetic change our way—seemingly with no breaks.

I can remember a Korn Ferry survey conducted a decade ago, which found that about 60% of leaders at the time thought they were in the midst of a “revolution” with a high degree of change. If that’s what we thought then, how would we describe the now—let alone the next few years?

The problem is that whenever something unexpected happens and we feel overwhelmed human nature tends to go to the extremes. In other words, overreacting, overcorrecting, oversteering.

So how do we pick up the pieces—when rubber meets black ice?

This reflection feels especially relevant now, as our own firm has recently experienced two losses within days of each other. One, a senior leader. The second, the husband of another senior leader.

To recover and heal, we need patience and pause.

Pausing does not mean stopping. Rather, it’s like shifting into neutral, just for a moment. It’s all about creating a space for ourselves—physically, mentally, emotionally—in which to remember and respect, reframe and refresh.

These days, 90% of leadership is ambiguous. Everywhere we look, there’s ambiguity and all its synonyms: uncertainty, obscurity, vagueness, doubt, puzzle, and enigma.

To lead is complex, but to lead others we must first lead ourselves. And so, we give ourselves a moment to pause. Context can be liberating.

Pausing is a psychological process—both conscious and unconscious—that allows us to find greater meaning and acknowledge what was, what is, and what will be.

Reflecting. Only through reflection on who we are and who we want to become can we offer help, elevate hope, and embrace our shared humanity.

Resetting. It starts with our mindset. We put our vision into action, and our purpose into practice. This is where our perception truly crystalizes—to appreciate what matters most.

Renewing. We are never done—we are always evolving.

There’s a real virtue here. Indeed, from time to time, we must give ourselves a pause to pick up the pieces. But ultimately, we have to move forward, shaping a journey for tomorrow that’s better than today.

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