Bleeding edge

6/3/2021

Better to be on the edge than on the fence? There are times and places where diplomacy is the best option. There are, too, roles and situations in which a degree of neutrality is essential to enable a successful outcome. Coaching, mediation, group facilitation and process consultation are good examples. To become too embedded or embroiled is to lose the value that relative independence can bring. Yet, in spite of this, the most radical change often takes place at the bleeding edge.

What does that mean? At times it’s about leadership, taking a firm stance based on our beliefs and values, no matter how unpopular that may be or make us. This sometimes involves taking a counter-stance to prevailing received-wisdom, culture and norms. We associate various graphic metaphors with this approach, e.g. cutting edge; cut-through. The bleeding can result from the reaction, the push-back, the potential personal and professional cost. To take a stance can be and feel bruising.

At times it’s about being authentic, congruent and revealing our proverbial cards. ‘This is my stance on this issue. Let’s discuss how we can manage the boundary together so that it works positively for our relationship’ is very different to, ‘I don’t have a view on this’ or, ‘I don’t want to reveal my stance in case it impacts negatively on our relationship.’ The former can build trust; the latter may leave a person or a group suspicious or unsure. In my experience, this can be a sharp edge to negotiate.

How do you handle disclosure and stance in your professional relationships? How close do you get to the bleeding edge?

18 Comments

Sudeshna Chakraborty

10/3/2021 11:12:20 am

Cannot agree more to this, it is important to be authentic and taking that stance. Yes that’s not appropriate at all times and one may loose their value if its used as a default. But to me true leadership is about knowing the right time and the moment when it is needed to take that stance and one who can take that. It may seem unpopular initially but that’s what will demand respect in the long term. It’s important to have the confidence and courage!

Love this article 👏🏻

Nick Wright

10/3/2021 11:18:05 am

Hi Sudeshna and thank you for such encouraging feedback. 'Knowing the right time and right moment to take a stance.' I like that. I spoke with a Chinese friend this week, now living in the UK, and she commented that she's noticed UK people are sometimes too polite to take a stance in case it feels excluding or offensive to others. I found that intriguing. It my experience, staking a stance in the right spirit calls for humility and courage.

10/3/2021 08:11:41 pm

Nick, thank you for your appreciation. That is such an interesting observation or comment from your friend. I do agree partly to that but equally believe culture is such a complex and multi-layered thing. As the work ethos or culture completely differ in other countries. Whilst I agree there is the politeness which sometime may restrict this. But it also comes with other elements which I appreciate. I know in India its different and for me I have got too much of the britishness in me since living here for almost my adult life. However, such interesting conversations to have :)

10/3/2021 08:17:07 pm

Hi Sudeshna. Yes, culture is complex and multi-layered. It's one of the reasons I enjoy working cross-culturally. I find it fascinating to learn what people from different cultural backgrounds find, say, 'normal' and 'appropriate'. I'm intrigued by your experience. What do you notice now if you visit India...and what do people there notice as different in you?

10/3/2021 09:40:30 pm

Ooh you got me into the things of my interests too. :) I haven't had the opportunity to 'work' in the multi-culture arena but I experience that in my everyday live and I find it fascinating and can never stop to evaluate these things further. Yes, things mean so different things in different cultures and even the tone vary. Would love to share thoughts and possibly we can talk about this in more depth when we catch up. Certainly 'fuels' for our conversation.

10/3/2021 09:42:16 pm

Hi Sudeshna. On the cross-cultural theme, you may find this short related piece interesting? It received some fascinating responses! https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/cross-cultural-coaching

Adrian Newbery

10/3/2021 03:50:15 pm

Hi Nick, really interesting and concise read, I found the dichotomy between disclosure and stance thought provoking, appreciate the article.

10/3/2021 03:50:56 pm

Hi Adrian. Thank you for such affirming feedback!

Catherine Sherlock

11/3/2021 09:19:02 am

So true about change at the bleeding edge. And yes, so important for leaders to explore this within themselves. Especially those who want innovation. It's all too easy to fall into the status quo.

11/3/2021 09:24:35 am

Thank you, Catherine. I like the link you draw between leadership and innovation. It reminded me of Ralph Stacey's comment that: '(an) organisation... faces the paradox of needing consistency and stability in order to conduct its existing business in an efficient day-to-day manner, and also needing to shatter that consistency and stability in order to generate creative new moves... Success…is [therefore] a creative, innovative process that requires exposure to and management of contradiction.’

11/3/2021 08:57:04 pm

That's a good comment. For me, it emphasizes the need for inside-out leadership, to grow within the self, be able to access more capabilities, and feel more fulfilled in doing it all.

11/3/2021 09:00:50 pm

Hi Catherine. Can you say a bit more about inside-out leadership, perhaps with an example from experience to illustrate it? In my experience, leaders often become more resourceful by looking outwards. Here's a short, recent idea of what this could look like at an organisational level: https://www.nick-wright.com/outside-in.html. Let me know what you think?

12/3/2021 12:31:43 am

What you're talking about is the action part.

But we all start with the self. If we want to have more impact, develop our potential capacities and ensure we're having connected success and feeling fulfilled we have to start there.

As you grow as a leader, so will the challenges. You can smack up against them or you can grow yourself so those challenges become mangeable.

We can take the example of innovation. For innovation, you need to creativity. That's an inside-out thing. It requires you to be able to think differently, challenge assumptions and the status quo, use your whole brain.

It's enhanced by changing the relationship to self, creating more peace where there's turmoil, opening up that space to focus on what you want rather than where you're getting struggling. It means relating to yourself as ally rather than the society default as enemy. It means more inspired action, more tapping and growing your potential.

Inside-out leadership development is enormously different from the usual attempt to adopt someone's idea of must-have leadership attributes.

12/3/2021 12:40:00 am

Thanks, Catherine, for presenting such a stimulating argument. I really appreciate it. I agree that there is an inner dimension to leadership, and that the inner dimension is very significant. (There are resonances here with, for instance, Timothy Gallwey's Inner Game).

I also believe relational, cultural and contextual factors are highly significant in leadership too. For instance, creativity often arises out of interaction with others who are different, and leadership in its fullest sense only makes sense in relation to other people and situations too.

On that point, I would love to hear what you think of this short 'thinking out loud' piece that I wrote for About Leaders: https://www.nick-wright.com/leadership-as-a-relational-dynamic.html

12/3/2021 11:12:06 am

Leadership competencies and all those personality tests leave me cold. As you say, they're reductionist. You can be so busy trying to fit people into little boxes that you lose the essence. Plus, we know that once we've labeled something, we stop learning.

Same with leadership traits. I just put out a post on that yesterday. There are 100's, maybe 1000's of different must-have traits that have been identified. Often contractictory. What they do is focus us outward rather than toward our own geniuses. They make us feel like imposters and failures as we can never measure up to these ideal states.

As a leader, we have to be able to lead ourselves first. Our relationship to ourself is our first relationship and where everything springs from. The more we know ourselves, the more freedom and choice we experience.

It's where we can develop super human capacities. Build a rock solid foundation.

The self is also where you connect to consciousness that greater than you.

12/3/2021 11:19:40 am

Thanks Catherine. It sounds like you are describing personal development for leaders - which is incredibly important. A couple of texts come to mind: the Arbinger Institute's Leadership and Self-Deception, and Simon Walker's Leading Out of Who You Are.

I'm describing leadership development, in the sense of leadership as a relational and cultural dynamic. We could say the latter is about the leader, but not only about the leader. That's where I find Alex Swarbrick's reflections so profound and interesting:

'I wonder if leadership isn't always recognised at the time but is construed as leadership after the event, particularly by the follower more than the leader. As a follower, I am the only one who can legitimately apply the label leadership to what I experienced as a result of what you the leader did, how you were, what happened between us etc. If you the leader use the term leadership, all you can apply to it is a set of behaviours or competencies which may not have landed with me as leadership.'

13/3/2021 11:32:16 pm

I am describing personal growth for sure, Nick. But it doesn't end there. When you change the self, change your thinking, for example, from linear to holistic, the changes radiate out naturally. You're not having to put effort into effecting outer change, using will power and all that. It flows easily.

13/3/2021 11:35:00 pm

Hi Catherine. I like that way of expressing it: 'the changes radiate out naturally.' The best example of truly radiant leadership I have encountered is in and through the life of this extraordinary woman among the poor in the Philippines: https://www.nick-wright.com/a-radical-heart.html

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