In Tim Elmore’s The Eight Paradoxes of Great Leadership there are a list of eight seemingly conflicting attributes that great leaders are able to demonstrate. While seemingly incompatible, Elmore asserts that they are in fact paradoxical, not conflicting.
His observations are that modern leaders must be:
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Humble, yet Confident.
Able to learn, engaged and ego-less, and yet having a vision of what could be. -
Possessing Vision and Blind spots.
The vision sets the goals, the blind spots allow the leader to try new things, or try things from a new point of view. -
Visible, and Invisible.
Knowing when to be in front of everyone, and then also raising up others so the leader moves to the background. -
Hardworking and Determined (Stubborn) and also Open-minded and Flexible.
Knowing what things to be stubborn about, and what things to be completely flexible about. Having non-negotiables, but also being willing to negotiate on everything else. -
Personal and Organizational (Collective-focused).
Being in touch and accessible to all the people in an organization, and yet taking decisive action. This is being empathetic and also clear in your leadership. Personal touches coupled with clear vision. -
Teacher and Learner.
Always be learning, and always be teaching. Recognize that some flaws in leadership can be tolerated for a long time, but then they must be addressed. Self-awareness and self-management are essential for a teacher (leader) to also be able to learn. -
High Standards, and yet also Forgiving.
Setting high bars for themselves and their team, but also forgiving and helping when people don’t live up to the standard. It is important to evaluate and learn. High expectations, trust and forgiveness (in the event of failure) are needed for people to try new things. -
Progressive and yet Valuing the Past.
Looking to the past to learn, looking to the future to move forward. Timeless morals and ethics are essential, as well as awareness of our identity.
The question is, are these really paradoxes, or just leadership? Are these leadership ideas new and novel, or are they attributes of leadership that have been around for ages? It might be that the definition of leadership has slipped so far that this “Paradoxical Leadership” is really just leadership that’s more at home in the pages of history than webpages. Maybe we see this list, and think it as novel, but the best leaders of history might consider it nothing more than common sense servant leadership.