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Leadership: Dualities

• Assets vs Resources — Are your employees assets that appreciate over time, or resources that get consumed?
• Compensating Effort vs Outcome — Pay for what changed in the world, not for how hard someone tried.
• Context Over Control — Give people the why and let them figure out the how.
• Creating a Movement vs a Company — A company sells a product. A movement sells a purpose.
• Divergent and Convergent Thinking — Two modes of thinking. Both are essential. They must not happen at the same time.
• Governance Over Control and Command — Replace top-down control with systems that guide behaviour.
• Governance vs Operations — Two distinct functions that leaders must keep separate.
• Guilt vs Shame — Guilt says "I did something bad." Shame says "I am bad." One drives change, the other drives hiding.
• High-Context and Low-Context Cultures — How much is said explicitly vs how much is implied.
• If You Want It You Will Ask How — A simple test to gauge someone's real motivation.
• Inside vs Outside the Box — Working in the system vs working on the system.
• Justice vs Vengeance — When something goes wrong, leaders can pursue justice — a fair outcome — or vengeance dressed up as justice.
• Knowledge in Time vs Accumulated Knowledge — Knowing things changes less than knowing how to find and apply them.
• Local Speed and Global Speed — Optimising for speed in one place can slow down the whole system.
• Maker Schedule vs Manager Schedule — From Paul Graham. Two fundamentally different ways of structuring a day.
• Outcome Driven vs Output Driven — Measure what changed, not what was produced.
• Problem-Solvers and Theory-Builders — Two types of thinkers. Both are valuable in different situations.
• Problems to Solve vs Problems to Manage — Not every problem has a solution. Some need ongoing management.
• Productive vs Looking Productive — Real output matters more than visible busyness.
• Prophets vs Clergy — Two types of leaders that organisations need at different stages.
• Roots vs Fruits — You can focus on what produces results or on the results themselves.
• Stakeholders vs Stockholders — Who does the company serve?
• Strategy vs Tactics — Strategy is what and why. Tactics are how.
• Strategy vs Vision — Vision is the destination. Strategy is the route.
• Telescope and Microscope — Working on the right level of abstraction.
• Trust Over Control — Trust is the foundation. Control is the crutch.
• Urgent vs Important — From Eisenhower. Most urgent things are not important, and most important things are not urgent.
• You Can Lead More Than You Can Manage — Leadership scales. Management doesn't.

Other Leadership types: Concepts · Principles · Advice · Tools

Dualities in other domains: Product · Systems

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