Most people think of success and failure as opposites, but they both are products of the same process.
– Roger von Oech
If it’s not working, then change it! Sometimes, just doing the opposite of what you were doing brings new energy and different results to a project, culture, or activity. Many of the things we have been taught about leadership are not working for us in today’s culture.In his great little book, The Tao of Leadership, John Heider talks about polarities.
“All behavior consists of opposites or polarities. If I do anything more and more, over and over, its polarity will appear. For example, striving to be beautiful makes a person ugly, and trying too hard to be kind is a form of selfishness. Any over-determined behavior produces its opposite…” *
He goes on to say, “Learn to see things backwards, inside out, and upside down.” **
When facilitating a group planning process and the group gets stuck, sometimes reversing the perspective gives new insights and new energy to the group.
Leaders get stale as well. We think we know how it’s supposed to work, but find that it isn’t working out as we anticipated. Many times, we continue in the pathway we have started, attempting to force the intended results, resulting in frustration and damaged relationships – with minimal successful results!
Over the next weeks, I’ll share my experience in thinking the opposite from what the conventional wisdom was for me. Thinking in the reverse is very liberating!
- Obstacles Are Opportunities
- Pull vs. Push Leadership
- Obstacles Are Opportunities
- Caring as Empathy is Bad
- Overfunctioning is Irresponsible Responsibility
- Being Emotional vs. Logical Thinking
- Doing vs. Reflecting
- Speaking vs. Silence
- Intervention vs. Observing
- What is Happening vs. How it Happens
- Complexity vs. Simplicity
- Leading vs. Managing
- Having all the Answers vs. Asking Good Questions
- Controlling a Process vs. Allowing Collaboration
- Rules-Based Culture vs. Principles-Based Culture
- BOSS vs. Influencer
What reverse polarities do you want to talk about? Please share.
* Heider, John (1986-04-19). The Tao of Leadership: Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching Adapted for a New Age (Kindle Locations 186-189). Ingram Distribution. Kindle Edition.
** Heider, John (1986-04-19). The Tao of Leadership: Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching Adapted for a New Age (Kindle Location 612). Ingram Distribution. Kindle Edition.
Hugh Ballou
The Transformational Leadership Strategist TM
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