Six paradoxes of leadership

Globally minded: to be agnostic about belief system and market structure and be a student of the world.

Localist: to be fully committed to the success of a  local market.

The paradox is the need to be both deeply embedded in the local market and connected across the globe at the same time. This requires someone to be able to recognise their biases resulting from the lens through which they view the world and to learn how to operate most effectively in any locale, without compromising the success of another market in which they wish to operate. To be able to harness the power of the organisation in its largest sense to make significant and purposeful progress in unfamiliar places. This requires both global and local connectivity, and the ability to negotiate between locales to drive collective success.

High Integrity: to maintain integrity and build trust in all interactions.

Politician: to accrue support, negotiate, form coalitions overcome resistance to maintain progress.

The paradox is that in a deeply political environment, people can lose their integrity. Much time is spent meeting the needs of other people and managing the politics of getting plans to happen. Driving change is a constant state of being for leaders, but change affects the balance of power and creates a scenario in which some parties feel like they are losing. In order to keep all people engaged on the optimal outcome for the organisation during times of change the integrity of the leader is even more critical. Work to reconcile the political requirements while maintaining integrity, because without integrity it is challenging to lead.

Humble: to foster deep personal resilience in self and others, recognising when they need to help and be helped.

Hero: to exude confidence, with competitive flair and gravitas. 

The paradox is that leaders feel like they need to behave like heros - exuding confidence in these anxiety-inducing times. But having confidence is not the same as unwillingness to change course. Leadership requires the ability to take advice from many quarters and make decisions based on a variety of inputs. Leaders need personal resilience to admit when they are wrong, allow others to make mistakes, and foster confidence throughout the organisation. To be able to make smart decisions and navigate through failure are critical opposing characteristics leaders need to possess and will enable people to experience their leaders as humans. 

Strategic: to find insights and observations by looking to the future to inform decision making today.

Executor: to deliver exquisitely on today’s challenges.

The paradox is that usually people have an inclination towards strategy or execution. The most powerful approach is to articulate a strategy, understand how it needs to evolve, and execute with both the immediate need and changing future in mind. Executing without strategy creates a higher probability of an even more significant crisis in the future. However, it is also ineffective to spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about the future and missing the need to execute now. Leaders should find a way to be strategic, bring the future into the present in order to solve today’s problems with tomorrow in mind, and get it done. 

Tech-savvy: to drive technology enhancement which generates future success.

Humanist: to understand deeply human effectiveness in any given system.

The paradox is that traditionally those with technical skills were not also acquiring the skills required to understand people’s needs or how to lead them. As a result, many people who are driving technological advancement aren’t equipped to consider the human implications of their work. This is also true in reverse as those who have responsibility for people haven’t always understood the impact technology will have on their business and workforce. The leader’s role is to nurture the success of the business and, in doing so, offer a better future for their people. That means balancing being technically savvy with a focus on humanity. 

Traditioned: to connect deeply with the purpose of the original idea and bring this value to the present day.

Innovator: to drive innovation and try new things out; have the courage to fail and allow others to do so.
 

The paradox is that it is tempting to continue to execute the things you do really well, and miss the opportunities that will help you remain relevant. It requires the ability to respect the past and decide what needs to be brought forward into the future, while also having the courage to try new things. Too often innovation is considered a wholly greenfield experiment, rather than something that is incremental and builds on what already exists. It needs to be both and leaders should define when to preserve the past in moving to the future and when to create completely fresh.