Reflections of Experience

In any complex change effort, interesting challenges can arise that create pressures that fight against leading. One such challenge is a paradox—alternatives that don’t follow from each other; where choosing one alternative acts to negate the other. In a recent change consulting engagement, I started to notice these paradoxical circumstances. Each was different in terms of content, but all were alike in that they brought pres-sures on leaders that tended to stall or stop them from leading. What makes them interesting is that although the path forward isn’t always clear, these challenges always capture leaders’ attention, given that both alternatives may seem important to embrace, and they often affect their leadership. I will describe two examples of these paradoxes based on an engagement at a company that was attempting to chang