Page 41 - Harnessing the Strengths

24 ■ Servant-Leadership: In a Nutshell

cultural differences. It appears that, in an intercultural
environment, the most important competence for leaders is
the ability to integrate apparently opposite values. That is
certainly not easy, but it is possible. Take Formula One, for
example. This perfectly illustrates how a fast car can also
be safe, but the cars had to be designed with a completely
new approach.

Circles
In other words, the viewpoint that opposing values are the
two extremes on opposite sides of a linear scale needs to
be thrown out of the window. What is impossible in linear
logic, per defi nition—combining two opposites—is possi-
ble in cyclical logic. The servant-leader bends, as it were, the
two extremes toward each other, which results in the line’s
becoming a circle, a circle that no longer has opposing val-
ues. Everything is connected in cyclical logic and fl ows from
one part to another in an organic way. There is no “fi rst”
or “last” because there is no set path from A to B. Perhaps
you do not want to go from A to B, but from B to A! That
is also possible because a circle is two-directional, which
means that what were originally opposing values now fl ow
naturally from one to the other, strengthening both.

Solutions

When you use cyclical thought to deal with the dilemmas
that occur in every organization, there is room for solu-
tions. These solutions can start at any point in the circle,
and the best part is that it also happens. All around the
world, companies are wrestling with the same dilemmas,
but the paths they choose to resolve them are as different