Choose Between the Two

If you had to choose between the two, which would you select?

Organizational Growth.... or Organizational Integrity
Profit.... or Quality
Short-term Success or Long-term Stability
MVP... or a Championship
Deception... or Failure
Collaboration with limited expansion... or top down decision making with major expansion

These parings are not meant to be polar opposites nor mutually exclusive, but rather they represent choices to help us think through some major assumptions in our leadership.

Growth or Integrity. The answer seems fairly obvious to me. The correct answer is integrity! But I find it pretty easy to rationalize away a less than integritous decision with arguments of common practice and financial necessities. A decision based on favoritism in order to secure a financial contribution; a slight breaking of the rules in order to help the big picture of the organization; the blurring of the lines between the immoral and the illegal, so that "if it is not illegal, it must ethical."

Profit or Quality. Again the obvious answer seems to be quality. But if quality means lay-offs and economic down-turns, profit might be a matter of survival. If a small decrease in quality will produce a stronger financial spreadsheet and competitive freedom, then a focus on profit might be the better position. Without a balanced profit margin, the organization will not be able to continue and thus produce no quality at all. These first two pairs seems to have a lot in common.

Short-term or Long-term. Which is more important - tomorrow or 10 years from now? The obvious answer is, YES! Without short term success there is no long-term stability. Often times the change that is needed or the movement that is essential to organizational health is stymied by the desire to preserve stability. On the other hand short-sighted decisions or impulsive moves can hinder and even destroy promising organizations.

MVP or a Championship. Personal accomplishments and professional accolades - how great it is to hear genuine words of appreciation and encouragement from others. I never get tire of hearing, "Great job!" The gold star on top of my paper in elementary school was a huge source of intrinsic motivation for that little boy from West Virginia. The gold star today comes in the form of honesty affirmation from those I admire and respect. But are words of encouragement the quintessential goal of leadership? Or is it the culture of victory for the team. LeBron James just won the MVP award in the NBA for the second year in row - but he has failed to go to the big dance and win a championship. He is considering leaving the Cavaliers, not to get a bigger pay check, but to join a team that might lead to the RING. How important is team... and unity... and victory for the company.

Deception or Failure. The worst result in American culture is failure. Most people would rather quit their job, leave the area, move to a foreign country or another planet, than to fail. So when the possibility of failure presents itself with the only solution being bending the truth and proclaiming a small (or large) source of deception as truth, on which side of the this pairing do we find ourselves. As a positive spin is put on a very negative situation in hopes that the drastic reality will be mystically turned in sunshine, others find themselves in the dark or devastated when the truth comes out. What about those who never know about the deception because the situation resolves without disaster? Is a little deception acceptable if all things work out ok? Maybe honest failure is a better option to success with the veil of dishonesty.

Collaboration or Top-down. Collaboration can take planning and and time...often lots of time of spinning wheels. Weigh-in results in buy-in, but most organizations cannot run as a democracy. Delegating with authority involves a huge risk - they might do it the wrong way, or take a different path than I would desire. It is so much easier, faster and more efficient to do it myself. Micro-management gets a bad rap - it provides quality control, an emphasis on detail, and an accountability for accuracy. It also results in poor morale, cold water on personal motivation, a lack of feeling valued and an atmosphere of distrust. This choice is a delicate balance that must be evaluated, protected and constantly reviewed.

Who said that leadership was easy? No one!