Agreeing that We Disagree: How Leaders Can Utilize Conflict

Conflict is opportunity—but rarely do we see it that way.

There’s a commercial out where a group of people are standing around the water cooler talking when a giant elephant suddenly inflates itself right in the middle of their conversation. They can’t move—let alone breathe—without dealing with it. We watch them stand there—uncertain and stuck—not talking about the elephant as if their life depended on it.

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Founder CEO: Lead Role in a Cage

People found companies to create something new in the world—not to become a CEO. Think of Jobs, Musk, Bezos. Before they were CEOs, they were inventors. Creating something new in the world takes audacity and a certain dogged single-mindedness. These qualities are valuable and necessary for creating something out of nothing.

I’ve observed, however, that these qualities, in combination, often place the CEO in a cage of their own making.

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