Coping with the paradoxes of company leadership

"Last month, they wanted me to increase revenue, which I did. This month, after I've already achieved the stretched goal on revenue, I thought they would be satisfied. I was wrong. They asked me to maintain the high growth and also lower the operating cost. Don't you think it's some kind of a paradox?"

"I can't answer on behalf of your company," I reply. "But let me share with you some comments from Jack Welch in his book, Winning.

"In the leadership section, Jack introduces eight rules under the topic 'What Leaders Do'. He gives a premise before talking about those rules."

It grabs Suvit's attention immediately since he often quotes Jack Welch's wisdom. This is what Jack Welch writes:

"Before we look at each rule, a word on paradoxes. Leadership is loaded with them. The granddaddy of them all is short-long term paradox, as in the question I often get: 'How can I manage quarterly results and still do what's right for my business five years out?' My answer is, 'Welcome to the job!'

"Look, anyone can manage for the short term _ just keep squeezing the lemon. And anyone can manage for the long term _ just keep dreaming. You are made a leader because someone believed you could squeeze and dream at the same time. They saw in you a person with enough insight, experience, and rigour to balance the conflicting demands of short- and long-term results. Performing balancing acts every day is leadership."

Suvit nods and says: "It's true. What else does he say?"

"Jack gives some examples of paradoxes among his leadership rules. But what I think is the crucial part is this:

"'Of course, life would be easier if leadership was just a list of simple rules, but paradoxes are inherent to the trade. That's part of the fun of leading, though _ each day is a challenge. It's a brand-new chance to do better at a job that, when all is said and done, you can never be perfect at. You can only give it everything you've got. Here's how ...'

"Then, he goes into the details of each rule."

"It makes sense to me," says Suvit. "But I think the most difficult part for me is to accept this reality. Five years ago, I didn't have this much pressure."

"You're right, Khun Suvit. But five years ago, you were not in this senior position. Besides, the situation was not the same _ market, customers, competitors, etc. Everything has changed and evolved. If you don't change or evolve, you will not survive."

"Like Charles Darwin said about survival of the fittest: 'Natural selection is conceived of as a struggle for life in which only those organisms best adapted to existing conditions are able to survive and reproduce'. Nevertheless, the organisation shouldn't demand too much from me, you know," Suvit replies.

"Khun Suvit, you might feel that your organisation is demanding too much. I'm not sure about that, but what I am sure of is that you have an unrealistic 'should'."

"Khun Kriengsak, what do you mean?"

"Many years ago, I was a consultant with Kepner-Tregoe (KT), an American management consultancy. KT has been known many years for its expertise in training executives in problem-solving and decision-making (PSDM). KT's PSDM has a good definition of the problem: 'Actual deviates from should'.

"Your problem is your unrealistic 'should'. You still think the 'should' of today is the same as the 'should' of the past five years. Your 'actual' has deviated from your unrealistic 'should'."

Suvit keeps silent for a while with a guilty look on his face. He then asks: "What shall I do?"

I throw the question back to him. "What do you think?"

"Come on, Khun Kriengsak. I know you know."

"Khun Suvit, I know you also know the answer. But the difficult part is not the answer, it's a matter of whether you're willing to accept it or not."

Suvit surrenders. "You're right. I know the answer. I have two choices. The first one is accepting the reality and changing my 'should', then it won't be too difficult for me to change my approach and behaviour.

"The second choice is to still hold on to my old 'should' and continue to suffer, but then I don't have to change much."

I add: "I think you will choose the first choice _ that's why you decided to use an executive coach as part of your reinvented leadership. What worries me is that many people aren't even aware of this phenomenon. They're still struggling in the workplace. They have resisted the organisation's development initiatives because they don't see the urgency to change."

KRIENGSAK NIRATPATTANASAI is the founder of TheCoach, specialising in executive coaching in leadership and cross-cultural skills. Copies of previous columns are available at www.thaicoach.com. He can be reached at 02-517-3126 or coachkriengsak@yahoo.com