Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve written a couple of blog posts that to many may sound contradictory: Kindness in Leadership and Fearless Leadership. The fact is great leaders should be both kind and fearless. They are not opposites and realistically compliment each other well. Empathy is a trait of the kind and fearless leader. So are the traits of compassion, courage, adaptability, collaboration and vision.
My point for writing this blog is to show that we too often in this world want to make decisions based on an either/or model. If I’m right, you are wrong, if you say down, I say up. There is a belief that there is only one winner and while that may be true in sports or other competitions, relationships and how we live generally should never be boiled down to a simple right or wrong scenario. Strong convictions should not mean that a person can’t be tolerant. We can be strong and vulnerable at the same time.
The issue my own country is facing and I would suggest even more evident south of the border is people refuse to welcome an and/both mentality. Both right and left wingers push their agenda to the farthest points of their spectrums. They have ceased to or even desire to find any middle ground. It is simply either/or, take it or leave it.
While we can blame this partly on radical politicians, most of us are part of the problem too! We can’t vote for this person (even though she is the best candidate) because she belongs to that party. We need to reestablish more centralistic thinking and governance. The divisive environment we have allowed to be created will further erode our ability to think critically and solve real future problems. Without the ability to see both sides of any issue, we forget that there may be another better solution beyond our own mindset.
Why is good leadership so damn hard…because it is counter cultural. It is looking for compromise, for best solutions and all of the alternatives. It is not defined by any particular party mentality but rather what is best for the whole organization/population.
Leaders, kind and fearless embody the both/and approach. It is truly the only way forward!
