Value-Pairs
Barry Johnson (2020, p. 29) proposes that polarities always involve a pairing of contradictory values. Furthermore, if we look at values in pairs, as a polarity, rather than as isolating, competing entities, then we can:
“. . . strengthen an organization’s value platform. Not identifying the pole partner of a value will make an organization vulnerable to what is missing. Adding the value partner does not diminish the original value. On the contrary, it contributes to the sustainability of the original value and the sustainability of the company. This is true because a polarity is indestructible while one pole of a polarity is inherently unsustainable.” (Johnson, 2020, p. 39)
Putting on my hat as a psychologist, I would note that values (or any image or entity) that is ignored or repressed has enormous influence (often destructive) regarding the operation of the person or social system that is trying to block it out. We must bring our “desires,” aspirations (and values) to the surface if we are to “manage” them as one part of a pair in a polarized system.
Many insights are to be found in Barry Johnson’s recent book. He is teaching me something very important that might help me mature my concept of Essence. I reflect on the nature and dynamics of Essence having read what Johnson has to say about value-pairs and what he has written about the potentially positive dynamics of polarization:
“If you can see a polarity within an issue, you can leverage the natural tension between the poles so it becomes a positive, self-reinforcing loop or ‘virtuous cycle’ lifting you and your organization to goals unattainable with Or-thinking, alone.” (Johnson, 2020, p. 9)
In seeking to apply Johnson’s insights to my concept of Essence, I turn to one of the most compelling images of Essence—this being the brilliant and multi-faceted Diamond. I am reminded of the way in which Diamonds are formed. They are forged under conditions of intense heat and pressure.
Perhaps, like a diamond, Essence is often forged under conditions of high pressure exerted by a value-pair. The intense energy and emotions associated with that which is the Essence might emanate from this pairing of values. Just as a polarity perspective might leverage tension into a positive “virtuous circle,” so the beam of intense energy radiating from the lighthouse might find its source in the dynamic interplay between competing yet interconnected value sets (and associated perspectives on the world). The Essence of a viable organization might be forced, as Johnson (2020) suggests, in the polarity-based interplay between the values of continuity and transformation. Similarly, the Essence of a viable nation might be forged in the heated (polarity-based) interplay between Justice and Mercy (Johnson, 2020).
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