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  • May 2016
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review

'Both/And' Leadership

By: Wendy K. Smith, Marianne Lewis and Michael Tushman
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Abstract

Leaders face a multitude of strategic paradoxes—contradictory pressures that are too often viewed as "either/or" choices. There are innovation paradoxes, in which the pursuit of new offerings and processes conflicts with the mandate to sustain the tried and true. There are globalization paradoxes, which involve tensions between local imperatives and boundary-crossing integration. And there are obligation paradoxes, when the goal of maximizing profits for shareholders clashes with the desire to generate benefits for a broader group of stakeholders.

The authors argue that organizational success depends on simultaneously addressing such conflicting demands, not choosing between them. Leaders need to become comfortable with multiple truths and inconsistency. They need to assume that resources are ample rather than scarce. And they need to embrace change instead of seeking stability.

All of this will help organizations reach a state of dynamic equilibrium, wherein paradoxes don’t impede progress—they spur it. And the way to tap the potential of paradox is to both separate and connect opposing forces: Managers must pull apart the organization's goals and value each of them individually, while also finding linkages and synergies across goals.

Keywords

Conflict of Interests; Goals and Objectives; Business Processes

Citation

Smith, Wendy K., Marianne Lewis, and Michael Tushman. "'Both/And' Leadership." Harvard Business Review 94, no. 5 (May 2016): 62–70.
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About The Author

Michael L. Tushman

Organizational Behavior
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More from the Authors
  • Senior Team Emotional Dynamics and Strategic Decision Making at a Platform Transition By: Timo O. Vuori and Michael L. Tushman
  • Reimagining Enel: Enabling Sustainable Progress By: Michael L. Tushman and Kerry Herman
  • Corporate Explorer: How Corporations Beat Startups at the Innovation Game By: Andrew Binns, Charles A. O'Reilly III and Michael Tushman
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