The 99% blog posted “The Four Paradoxes of Great Performance” this week. This may be one of the most insightful posts that I have read on what drives great performances in today’s high speed, global, information age – – and in a time and place where we are all asked to do more – – and more faster – – and more with less. I was so impressed by his thinking, that I have excerpted most of the post below. While the rationale for the “what” and the “why” is quite compelling, I’ve yet to solve the “HOW” in a disciplined and habitual manner and still remain effective. (Post for another day.) And understanding that our teams need to operate in an environment where the 4 dimensions can be present, is a critical success factor in ensuring that great performances flourish under our watch as leaders. (Yet another reason why there are truly so few great leaders and managers that exist among us.)
Tony Schwartz, the author, is the President and CEO of The Energy Project and the author of “Be Excellent at Anything.” Schwartz feels that the key quality that distinguishes the best performers from everyone else is “to embrace opposites.” “Honesty in the absence of compassion becomes cruelty. Tenacity unmediated by flexibility congeals into rigidity. Courage without prudence is recklessness. As Gregory Bateson put it: ‘There is always an optimal value beyond which anything is toxic, no matter what: oxygen, sleep, psychotherapy, philosophy.'” Schwartz explains that we operate best when we embrace our opposites in each of these four key dimensions: