The balancing act

• Leaders must become comfortable living in a paradoxical place

• On the one hand, great leaders are honest and transparent about the sometimes difficult reality of the world

• On the other hand, great leaders also believe in their team and have enduring hope for future success

• It’s easy to look around and say “this is all shit, and it’s always going to be shit”

• It’s equally easy to feel the compulsion to hide, ignore, or downplay challenges in a way that shows faith in the team’s abilities (“this isn’t a problem for us”)

• The greatest leaders demonstrate realism about the present, but also faith in the future (“this sucks, but we have a plan and we can overcome it”)

• Bad leaders place blame (“this all sucks because we failed,” or worse, “because you failed”)

• Bad leaders are apathetic at best or despondent at worst about future outcomes (“this is a fool’s errand and I’m already looking for new jobs”)

• Surviving in this liminal space between the difficulties of today and the hopes of tomorrow is draining, isolating, and sometimes tactically challenging.

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