By Linda Fisher Thornton
COVID-19 has brought us many challenges including balancing economic and human factors, moving quickly but taking time to show compassion and so on. This Center for Creative Leadership video succinctly introduces 6 paradoxes in the essential leadership skills required in a post-COVID world. You can visit their website to download the related white paper.
The PWC publication “Six paradoxes of leadership: Addressing the crisis of leadership” shares 6 more paradoxes of leadership and notes that “learning how to comfortably inhabit both elements of each paradox will be critical to your success.” The paradoxes are expanded on in this COVID-19 related article “The urgent need for sophisticated leadership.”
Strategy and Business shares 7 more leadership paradoxes in Can You Master the Inner Game of Leadership?
And I’ll add these 5 paradoxes from my post Building Trust: Paradoxical Qualities to Cultivate
Cultivating these qualities in ourselves and our organizations helps us build a high trust workplace where people can do their best work:
Be Dependable and Open to Change
Be Fully Present Right Now and Think Ahead
Be Crystal Clear About What’s Expected and Open to Hearing Input From Others
Be Confident and Humble
Be Decisive and Flexible
Great leaders possess seemingly paradoxical qualities. They know when to use each end of the spectrum, depending on what is most needed to move individuals and groups forward.
Building Trust: Paradoxical Qualities to Cultivate, Leading in Context Blog
Leaders need to be be adaptable good thinkers to work their way through all of these paradoxes at the same time. The pandemic simply raises the stakes on us to get it right.
Leading in Context 