The paradoxes of leading change require:
Yes! Performing effectively as a leader requires you to juggle the tensions between the roles (and masks) of the Planner and the Improviser and the Democrat (Participative) and the Autocrat (Coercive).
Yes! Having the ability to confidently act while recognising the limitations of your knowledge and ability to control events is essential for those operating in uncertain and complex situations. It is far preferable to the alternatives, i.e. blind persistence or an indecisive inability to act. In terms of Shakespearean tragedies, you do not want to be King Lear or Hamlet!
Yes! It is often difficult to accept this, given our faith in rationality and tendency to romanticise our abilities and our cause. To strive, but to do so with the knowledge that it may not be enough, is a realistic and pragmatic stance which can help prevent unproductive ‘fight or flight’ responses if things go wrong.
