Some business people are attracted to consistency, control, and continuity. Knowing what to expect and when to expect it reduces discomfort.
Other business people are addicted to the magic of uncertainty and perpetual newness. They love the “blank slate.”
Those people who stand firm in the control corner can be surprised when their micromanagement leads to dissatisfaction, turnover, or stagnation.
Those who love to improvise can be disappointed by the lack of results, chaos, and total disorganization.
Too much of anything, be it stability or innovation, willfulness or humility, competition or collaboration, becomes a bad thing.
“Those that much covet are with gain so fond,
For what they have not, that which they possess
They scatter and unloose it from their bond,
And so, by hoping more, they have but less;
Or, gaining more, the profit of excess
Is but to surfeit, and such griefs sustain,
That they prove bankrupt in this poor-rich gain.”
~The Rape of Lucrece
The trick for fulfillment and success in life, love, and leadership is accepting the purposeful discomfort™ that comes with learning to live with “both” instead of “or.”
Both stability and innovation. Both willfulness and humility. Both competition and collaboration. The list of “boths” goes on and on. Peter Drucker’s phrase of being “equally important but essentially different” is a perfect descriptor for how leaders need to think about these interdependent but contradictory elements.
That’s what I call purposeful discomfort.
I’m participating in Todd Nielsen’s 2014 International Leadership Blogathon. (Thank you, Todd, for the opportunity!) My post addresses how enlightened leaders make room for serendipity in managing the creative tension—that is, the purposeful discomfort—that exists in managing chaos and control.
Please take a look at the post and let me know what you think! And while you’re there, do check out all the other terrific posts in Todd’s leadership blogathon!
Image source before quote: morgueFile.com
