Contradictory Truths - a leadership superpower
/We started a short series last week on the chaos many businesses are experiencing and how it seems unlikely to ease anytime soon. Leaders need everyday superpowers in the face of such adversity.
The ability to ‘hold’ more than one seemingly contradictory truth is a superpower. When we can only hold one truth, we sometimes lose sight of what we can control. We also add stress to the situation.
For many leaders I work with, a current truth is “Our work is hard”. It’s definitely true. Challenges arrive thick and fast. Results matter and often carry consequences. Resources and bandwidth are stretched. Just as one hurdle is cleared, more appear. The list is longer than the hours available.
If "Our work is hard” is the only truth we hold, work is an exhausting grind. People feel there’s only so long they can hold onto the bar.
More than one truth changes the game.
How about “Our work is hard. Hard is good. We are great at hard”.
Hard is good because it drives innovation, progress, and capability. It’s good because it matters — if it didn’t, it probably wouldn’t be hard. And if we are great at hard, then we embrace the important challenges we face, rather than feeling defeated by them. All three can be true at once, even if they feel contradictory.
Here are some other examples:
So much is out of our control. There are always things we can control that make a genuine difference.
There’s so much rapid change. We adapt just as fast. We relish the pressure.
We care deeply about the results. We hold the results lightly.
We have high expectations. We know when it’s good enough.
This thinking helps leaders and their teams find energy and nuance under pressure. It changes the conversation. If you’d like to apply it to your team, follow these steps:
Identify the complaints you most regularly hear, say, or think.
Identify some contradictory and parallel truths. Discuss them — work out why they are also true.
Make sure they are genuine to you/your team; otherwise, it will be short-lived.
P.S. If they don’t feel genuine to start with, it’s valuable to run a 2-week experiment where you pretend it’s genuinely true. Sometimes you’ll find it really is, sometimes the perspective you gain will work out the kinks and find something more authentic for your situation.
Let me know how you go!