Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2010
What do you mean?
Leadership certainly isn't black & white, especially when you are charged with leading innovation, or tackling a community wide effort for economic renewal.
Heraclitus (the Greek philosopher) said that the only constant is change. His argument was that you can't dip your foot in the same river twice, since the flow of water is constantly changing.
In North America, we hear that same phrase often: the only constant is change. Is it really? Is it true that the molecules of water in the river may be different but the composition of the substance remains the same?
What I'm getting to, is that we need to get comfortable with ambiguity. "The more things change, the more they remain the same".
Perhaps the outward appearance changes, but not the substance.
To appreciate ambiguity, follow the thinking of "innovation". Question conventional wisdom. Ask for guidance, input, feedback from outside sources. See the issue from a totally different perspective - sit on a fencepost and get the 360 viewpoint.
Innovators are people who naturally see the world from a unique angle or two.
The extreme is called "Iconoclast".
Iconoclasts have developed their
perception,
an instrumental skill in leading innovation and change.
According to author Gregory Berns, iconoclasts don't just see things differently. They perceive by using several different routes to force thinking out of its lazy modes.
The most likely way that you perceive something will be in a manner consistent with your past experiences. Commonplace perceptions feel comfortable. They take little energy.
The secret to changing how you perceive the task at hand?
The element of "SURPRISE".
(SourceL Gregory Berns, ICONOCLAST. Harvard Business School 2008)
Read more from a CBC interview here:
* When setting your tipping point goals, how will you use your powers of iconoclastic perception - surprise - to reach a new & innovative level of leadership?
See differently? More: PERCEIVE differently....
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