The Liar Paradox. “This sentence is false.”
Most of the people I’ve met in companies like things one way or another. We live in an either-or mental universe. They avoid the reality of paradox. The fact is that many of our challenges in business and in life are paradoxical.
Having high performance and human caring at the same time is like the wave/particle duality in physics. Under certain circumstances, an electron will behave like a wave. Under different circumstances it will behave like a particle. So is an electron a wave or a particle? It’s neither and both. In any moment, is what we really want a matter of high performance or human caring? It is neither and both.
In the same way as particles and waves, human caring and great work are always there and not.
There is no solution to the paradox but are better ways to engage with it.
Over the years, I’ve had clients whose companies made a lot of money and enabled widespread, positive relationships. The simplest explanation is that in their own attitude and behavior, they personally demonstrated the caring for people and demand for results they wanted to see.
I saw the following as their rules and that was all personally generated. They knew that no process would get them there.
They……
1. Usually were willing to be coached personally regarding their own future, impact on others, and the ways they thought about the company..
2. Always showed up on time.
3. Kept becoming a more and more effective coach
4. Spent money developing critical people and groups.
5. Often committed themselves to ambitious, unpredictable results.
6. Were sometimes willing to ignore or transcend policy or procedure for the sake of doing the right thing.
7. Were personally vulnerable some of the time.
9. Maintained a positive, trustful attitude.
As Ghandi said….. “Be the Change.”
Download Article 1K Club
