For Leaders… move beyond the simple answers
Posted on December 8th, 2008So often leadership gurus talk about “either ~ or”
- Tactical or Strategic
- Operations or Human
- Profit or Social
Reach, grasshopper!
It’s both!
As a young executive, I was schooled and drilled in Kepner Tregoe’s ” Rational Management” approaches and tools. They were awesome. Then.
Twenty years later I was trying to figure out how to incorporate the qualitative and judgement aspects of leadership. With KT, the best I could do was trick the system - use quantitative technique to measure qualitative dimensions.
I learned a lot about wisdom from Robert A. Johnson in his beautiful memoir “Balancing Heaven and Earth”. He made it so clear that wisdom and leadership is not as simple as balancing or choosing between contradictions - it is creating new spaces by reconciling the tensions in a what at first appear to be opposing factors.
One of the best organizational and business writers on this topic is Robert Quinn. I first encountered him when I read “Beyond Rational Management”, a book I highly recommend.
As We Move Through Tough Times…
…we need the confidence to navigate them - read Quinn’s ” Building the Bridge As You Walk On It” as a guide.
Remember, it’s not:
a) Bold or iterative
b) Directive or collaborative
c) Top down or participative
d) Aggressive or patient
The correct answer is (e) - all of the above!
Step through the ambiguity… create new insight.
