What's the Opportunity Here?

About a year ago, my son lost his job when his company went bankrupt. My first reaction was deep disappointment. It had been a wonderful job for him. He had developed into an experienced employee who was trusted to onboard new colleagues.

Then the light bulb went on. I asked myself: What is the opportunity here?

This is a technique I picked up from Shirzad Chamine’s book, Positive Intelligence. When you think about it, even COVID – with its devastating impact on the world – led to some positive developments. Asking “What is the opportunity here?” does not take away from the difficulty or the loss. It simply invites us to look more broadly.

So, I thought about my son's situation further. I remembered that he had been hired for the job following an internship. In other words, he had never learned how to find a job.

I did some self-brainstorming and came up with this list of opportunities:

• My son would learn how to find a job, including interviewing, cover letters, and updating his curriculum vitae.
• He would not get stuck working in only one place.
• He would have the chance to discover what kind of work environment suits him now.
• He would build confidence by navigating a transition.
• He would expand his network.
• He would learn that career disruptions, while painful, do not need to define the whole story.
• And, once he found a new job, he would meet new colleagues and learn new skills.

None of this made the bankruptcy good news. But the question did help the two of us shift from helplessness to something more constructive.

How does this connect to coaching? Coachees bring challenges, setbacks, and negative experiences to the table all the time. They may be dealing with a missed promotion, a difficult stakeholder, an organizational change, a health-related limitation, or a leadership situation that feels unfair.

One recent example has stayed with me. I was coaching a leader who had broken his leg in a skiing accident. His work required regular long-distance travel, which would not be possible for several months.

This was not a small inconvenience. It affected his calendar, his sense of independence, his work rhythm, and how others might perceive his availability and contribution.

At a certain point, I very carefully introduced the idea of brainstorming possible positive opportunities. I looked out of the corner of my eye, wondering what his reaction might be. Would he be insulted? Would he think I was crazy? Would he want to end the session immediately?

There was a long pause. Then he shrugged and said, "Oh, why not?"

Whew.

Together, we explored what might become possible precisely because he could not travel for a while. We came up with a surprisingly rich list (with some significant silences along the way):

• He could spend more time with his local team.
• He could delegate more, giving his direct reports the opportunity to grow.
• He could learn to be more comfortable asking for help.
• He could test which meetings really required his physical presence.
• He could create better preparation and debrief routines for the people travelling in his place.
• He could use the quieter travel period to think more strategically.
• He could address several important but non-urgent tasks that had been postponed for months.
• He could observe how the organization functioned when he was less physically available.
• He could reconsider which parts of his role genuinely required him, and which parts had become habitual.

And then he thought about the positive opportunities for his personal life:

• He could role-model for his kids how to manage through a hard time.
• He could build his resilience by learning how to work through a challenge.
• He could grow his empathy and understanding of others in similar situations.
• He could ask his children to step up and help out more at home.
• He could spend more time with his family.

By the end of the conversation, the cast had not disappeared, and the travel limitation was still real. Yet his relationship with the situation had shifted. He was no longer only reacting to a restriction.

I would not throw the “What’s the opportunity here?” question at someone as a quick positivity technique. If someone is in the first moments of shock, disappointment, loss, or anger, it may land badly. It can sound dismissive, as though we are asking the person to ignore their emotions and skip over what is difficult – which is not our intention.

In coaching, timing, permission, and tone matter a great deal. I would first listen well, acknowledge the difficulty, and then, only if it seems useful and well-timed, invite the person to explore the other side of the coin.

I might phrase it as follows: “Would it be useful to spend a few minutes looking at whether there are any opportunities inside this difficult situation?” That wording gives the coachee choice, and it respects the reality of the challenge.

Leadership often requires the ability to hold two truths at the same time. Something can be difficult yet provide useful learning. A situation can be unwelcome yet create space for something new.

For coaches and leaders, "What is the opportunity here?" can help people move from a closed, problem-focused state into a reflective and creative one. It can surface options that were not visible when frustration was taking up all the space.

Where can you apply this question in your own life, and where could you introduce it to someone else?

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