THE POWER OF DUALITY IN LEADERSHIP DECISION MAKING

If you come to a fork in the road…take it

Yogi Berra

We are inundated with an endless list of either/or issues which almost always forces people into taking sides. This is not surprising as our justice system, which ultimately informs our democracy, is based on debate not dialogue, win/lose versus win/win. The side that has the most convincing and (hopefully) evidence-based argument, in legal court, convinces a judge and jury to convict or acquit or to choose one pollical party platform over another. In the court of public opinion people might have a point of view about a whole series of true and usually apparently competing dualities, by which I mean where both sides have credibility and substance e.g. climate change/environment vs. the economy, liberal policy vs. conservative policy, capitalism vs. socialism, etc. Sides are taken and debate, often vigourous and passionate, ensues. The goal is to convince the ‘other’ side to your point of view. I recently experienced this in our justice system. I was representing a friend of mine, who was the defendant and whom could not afford to pay a legal representative, in small claims court, the substance of the case being not important here. I did my research on a potentially legally supported defense story and with some coaching from my son who is a paralegal I went before the judge to win the case and over the plaintiff. I delivered my argument as did the plaintiff lawyer and the judge decided who won and who lost. It was essentially a debate. Turns out I lost and the plaintiff won in this case as his evidence was more convincing than mine. In western democracies we witness passionate debates in our parliaments and congresses, each side eager to beat the other side and also capture the most public support on issues that are very complex. The debate mindset and approach tries to simplify very complex issues into either/or dualities. Let’s completely focus on the climate change and the environment over the economy or vice versa. You hear the arguments on both sides, all which have merit so I won’t elaborate on those here.

The point is that BOTH are important and so solutions and ways forward require collaboration and dialogue NOT debate. One side is not right …… both are. Binary and partisan debate will NOT move this forward other then to make sure all the perspectives are voiced in dialogue. Both/And not Either/Or.

How is this done? Listening. Empathy, Thoughtfulness, Facts. Trust.