Today's Most Critical Leadership Skill: Navigating Paradoxes
Date
2022-12-07
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Leader to Leader
Abstract
The authors, well-known for their research into the concept of paradox, explain that “It is one thing to label challenges as paradoxical and another to know what to do about them. In our own research, we have explored that question in depth over the last 25 years. We bring that research together into an integrated model.” Within Figure 1, “The Language of Tensions,” they make the following observations: ‘‘Tensions include all types of situations where alternative expectations and demands are in opposition… Dilemmas present opposing alternatives, each option offering a logical solution on its own. Leadership problems and challenges often show up for us as a dilemma, where we feel pressure to choose between alternative options… Paradoxes are interdependent, persistent contradictions that lurk within our presenting dilemmas. They note that in their research, they “identify four organizational challenges associated with underlying paradoxes. We describe them as obligation (performing paradoxes), innovation (learning paradoxes), globalization (belonging paradoxes) and coordination (organizing paradoxes).” They also describe ‘‘The Paradox System. These integrated sets of tools enable both/and thinking. As memory aid, think ABCD: tools that shift how we think (assumptions) and how we feel (comfort), as we build static structures (boundaries), while enabling adaptive practices (dynamics).
Description
This article was originally published in Leader to Leader. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20686
© 2022 The Authors. Leader to Leader published by Wiley Periodicals LLC
on behalf of University of Pittsburgh.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Citation
Lewis, M.W. and Smith, W.K. (2023), Today's Most Critical Leadership Skill: Navigating Paradoxes. Leader to Leader, 2023: 12-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.20686