Dichotomies of Leadership - Dancing the Opposites

• "The world tends to make way for a man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going."
  Napoleon Hill
  
  
• "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
  Unknow
  
  
• If you don't know where you are going, how can you expect to get there?
  Basil S. Walsh
  
  
• "If a man knows not what harbour he seeks, any wind will be the right wind."
  Senec
  
  
• "If one advances confidently in the direction of his/her dreams and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
  H.D. Thoreau
  
  
• "Start anywhere. Follow where it leads."
  From Centered on the Edge, Fetzer Institute

What might we notice about the above quotes? They appear to argue with each other. How can they be simultaneously solid guidance and each expressions of truth? Inspired leadership asks us to walk, dance and sometimes sweat the opposites of form and formlessness, staying as centered as possible between the tangible (clarity of vision, purpose, strategy and resources) and the intangible (staying open to myriad possibilities). Smith and Sandstrom call this being willing to walk in the 'zone of the unknown'. The only thing you should hold on to is your hat!

All of us are headed for the same destination. Why not blaze a trail with imagination! Jana Stanfield The point of balance then is to have clear long-term visions and yet be unattached to what they might look like when fully manifested. In this way we may be open to the journey of what MIGHT be and the magic of co-creating with others (which we certainly cannot predict as an individual). We are pioneers in this journey. The future we are shaping has never before existed.