I was recently interviewed for a profile piece and the journalist asked who had had the most influence on me during the early part of my career. Yes, it’s a standard question, but it reminded me that it was not so much an individual who had helped shape my career, but rather my interest in understanding how certain people—in particular great people—think and act.
I’ve always had a great deal of interest in how best to reconcile the “pros and cons” of almost any issue we are coping with on a daily basis, especially when the picture is blurred or incomplete.
When confronted with a problem, many people tend to present a single dimensional solution, which solution frequently plants the seeds for tomorrow’s problems.
This reminds me of a story in which four people are told to go into a darkroom and hold on to whatever they find. They are then asked what it is. One says it is a snake, another says it is a leathery sail, the third person says it is a tree trunk and the last one says it is rope. The answer: it is an elephant.
The moral of the story: truth or the better solution is only observable when we see the complete picture. In today’s ‘foggy’ world with low visibility as regards what are the better questions and answers, fragmented observations by different people should not be the best way to create solid progress.
Of course once you’ve got gained more insight into what the relevant issues are, the challenge is to internalise the knowledge and emulate the thought processes. Roger Martin in his recent book ‘The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking’ points out that most people rather than emulating great thinking try to emulate what a leader did in one particular situation. This may lead to inappropriate actions being taken as each set of circumstances is different and best practice is only a guide—not a blueprint for success.
So what is required then? We need to revisit the way that we approach managing a company which requires, at times, creatively integrating and reconciling views that appear to be in opposition. As the American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald so powerfully phrased it: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
For instance, in a cost-cutting phase, the objectives ‘hiring freeze’ and ‘double-digit growth’ seem as congruent as the targets for CO2 reduction while aiming for high economic growth. Yet it is these seemingly opposing thoughts that have to be reconciled before clear, decisive plans can be articulated. As I wrote in one of my earlier columns, if you have a problem, you need ideas. When managing opposing issues, you also need ideas on how to resolve them. Many people have presented ideas on how to be more cost effective while growing at high speed. An idea that usually works very well is to tap the minds and ideas of those whom you are already paying. By this I mean your staff and partners who work on the issues that need to be fixed on a day-to-day basis. Ask them how they would resolve the tensions, and you will be surprised how many seemingly opposing thoughts can be reconciled, therefore allowing the thinking (and acting) to progress.
In one of our offices, we looked at risk mitigation at the same time as obtaining significant increase in sales and cost efficiency. Again they were perceived as opposing challenges. After proper idea sharing and the creation of solid processes, it emerged that they can be reconciled, resulting in better controls, more efficiency and higher sales.
Yes, there are better ways of leading companies, and these are ideas which are urgently needed given the clearly increasing complexity within organisations. We complain about it and talk about fixing it, but the real challenge is ‘How’ to fix it. (For more on this please refer to a background paper I’ve written on reducing complexities)
Once I have settled down in the Netherlands (after six fantastic years in Asia), I hope to continue to share my views and believes on this topic and others through my blog.
I wish you all the best, especially in reconciling the opposing thoughts around you!