With THNK comes Trust

Coming to THNK has always highlighted a complicated relationship with trust. An unconventional program, if you arrive with any precedented expectations of what a leadership experience should be, you are bound for disappointment. THNK is designed as a space for connection, experimentation, & serendipity within a leadership context. That’s what makes it creative. This means that it’s not always going to be as fulfilling or rewarding as we are conditioned to expect. Still, if you look for it, –there is an abundance of opportunity within its perceivable gaps. In fact, some may argue, that it is within these gaps that the real benefit begins. A benefit that requires trust not only in the institution & what its perpetually prototyping, but also a trust in oneself. A commitment to be present, to witness, & to interact–in pursuit of hidden opportunities to shift, transform, & grow–& without any expectations. Ultimately, this is what creative leadership is about. Trust in the duality of uncertainty & possibility. Making space in where they overlap to explore, collaborate & experiment.

I came to THNK in 2016 to reinforce my advocation that design is a problem solving mindset that is required in every context, not just communications. I was particularly focused on its special role in the bettering of our communities & society as a whole. My first hard lesson was that in order to advocate for it as such, I needed to be more open & committed to a continuous transformation of myself. I needed to trust in the intangible impermanent state of nature. Over the years this lesson grew into an understanding that the only reality that exists is that the universe is continuously evolving–& for any real impact, we need to allow ourselves to evolve with it. To fight this movement & attach ourselves to fixed identities, as we’ve been conditioned to do, is to be absent from our basic existence & suffer in our defense. Of course, shedding such attachments is not so easy, as attachments are never really completely shed. Instead, this shedding is more useful as a shift in perspective, where the self is no longer the focus, because it actually doesn’t exist.

This shift outward, is as much liberating as it is frightening. Frightening because of the immediate amygdalic reaction: “what’s the point?”. Liberating in that it invites a freedom of possibility to explore, play and experiment. Three years after arriving at THNK for the first time, I managed to tap into this liberating shift. Accepting & allowing it for what it is, seeking the hidden opportunities to connect & experiment. Trusting, without question, or need for an answer–a blind belief that there is indeed benefit.

I’ve thought a lot about how THNK could emphasize this relationship with trust more explicitly, if only to highlight its delicate role in leadership. The challenge is that you can only experience it. Trust is a difficult concept to integrate, because it requires a predetermined acceptance of not knowing. It demands a conscious risk that what we don’t know, may hurt us (or our attachment to our ‘self’). In fact, it may need to hurt us, so we can let go a little more of this ‘self’. I’ve had many trusts broken, including ones within my experience at THNK. Still, it seems like every time they break, the lesson is to trust more not less. To shift outward, another inch.

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