From Breaking Point to Tipping Point

2021 has had more drama in a few months than most (not 2020 surely). Intense times remain intense, do they not?

I am struck by the parallels of leadership theory and practices with those on the cutting edge of countering the polarizing industry in two ways: courageous principled vision and context over content.

This cutting edge of de-polarizing ("is there such a thing?" you ask) has been working out of the limelight for a time, but it is popping up big and spreading (see this as one more recent example). The “blame and shame” mainstream polarizing industry, plus legions of amateurs on social media with 24/7 snideish commentary, is the one we have gotten too used to. The one that has been increasing its stranglehold on our civic breathe for a few decades now.

The outrage machine intensified into a breaking point on January 6 when the trauma of the Capitol intrusion was absorbed by our collective psyche, shocking, saddening, and angering many a civic-minded heart here and across the globe. This piece is an addition to the efforts to shift that breaking point into a turning point, which I first heard from Van Jones.

Two Principles for Bridging to a New Reality

When enterprises were scrambling to get through the COVID-anesthetized economy only 10 months ago, leadership thinking was all over the internet as firms and coaches scrambled to be relevant for their clients. We read and viewed into zones of major overload: ”I can’t look at one more article or webinar—my Zoomed out eyes are shot." Here is what the De-polarizers are doing that looks like that recent leadership thinking blitz with examples side by side for a compressed view.

Source: John Schuster

Courageous Principled Vision

It takes courage to take in the distressing facts around you — like COVID is only going to get worse, or the polarizing industry is as strong as ever — and to declare a better world is ahead of that we can live now. Leaders and De-polarizers see what others see and think something different. They see that a company can be stable or grow in spite of a pandemic, and a democratic society can once again find its way to a more ennobling human path.

This kind of vision only works when people step out of their self-interest, manage their fear (going from fear to “managed concerned”), and appeal to the better side of themselves, the one that puts principles before gain. Your larger self steps up and your smaller self, not disappearing, moves aside.

Context Over Content

Leaders and De-polarizers both know that what you think and say has to be matched by how you think and say it. This holds for everything. An inclination by the leader for win/win and fairness can send out a direct message (“We face uncertainty and we have to make changes”) and it will be heard by others as a call to action; whereas, a judgmental leader without those caring motives can turn that identical message into a threat of conflict and automatic job cuts. People feel it. This is about style and more. It is the emotional force field of the enterprise or the society. Context starts at our core, with the human heart and intention, and diffuses out into all the events and actions that people see and experience.

Leaders must pay close and constant attention to the culture of the company—its atmosphere. The Capitol invasion in early 2021 taught our democracy the same lesson…. we have not paid close enough attention to the context of our democracy. We have let the lazy style of emotional dismissal of opponents poison the air.

All content issues—immigration, poverty, racial justice, economics—are instantly polarized by either side because our democratic context is one of combat and mistrust. De-polarizers are working to change that, one conversation, one group at a time. I hope we support them whether they work under a dome as a legislator or at their computer from home.

Leadership Essential Reads

We Still Need to Talk About the Election at Work

Political Leaders and Cults: Why Do They Drink the Kool Aid?

The Question Is …

The above thoughts stem from the only vantage point I have, my own—3 years now into a local alliance of de-polarizing citizens from across the political spectrum, and 35 years into leadership development. There are differences, significant ones, between private enterprises and community/society, not the purview of this post. But courage and good intention create positive human contexts for productive outcomes everywhere, and look very much the same.

We can ask ourselves every day—on courageous principled vision and on context over content—how do I intend to show up in my family, community, and work settings? Who do I see in the mirror? What do my principles look and feel like to others in the day-to-day? Live and breathe the solution.