The Power of Paradox

Several cross-sections of my life seem to be intersecting this week around the theme of "paradox." Here are two of the dictionary.com definitions of the word, paradox:

1. a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. …

3. any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature.

I had to laugh even at the definition: that the statement is self-contradictory but expresses a possible truth, or something that has an apparently contradictory nature.

How bout IS true, and IS contradictory? Light IS a particle AND a wave. Good people do bad things. Our strategy is working and we must change it. For me, there is often nothing "possible" or "apparent" about the contradictions contained in paradoxes. They simply are.

And we are trained from day one to deny that possibility. We are trained to find the answer and to choose among the contradictions, and if we don't have the answer, we tend to simply ignore the paradox. Or we ignore the one side of the equation that we like the least. For instance, we end up denying that the good person did the bad thing (or they were set up, or it's just the media….), or we oversimplify and conclude that they are a bad person—but we can rarely hold both sides as true.

But I think there is a huge amount of power to be harnessed from holding both sides of a paradox as true. In fact, we've squeezed almost all of the power out of the rest of our universe. I think it's the paradoxes that will get us out of the messes we're in, both personally and organizationally.

So we have to figure out ways to move into and through the paradoxes without denying them or making false choices. Think about organizational strategy: our strategy is working AND we must change it. Conventional wisdom short circuits over a phrase like this. CW says you must wait until you can see that your strategy is no longer working (based on the data that you gather constantly), and once you see that, you "nimbly" change your strategy to better reflect the environmental conditions.

Fine. You can keep doing it that way if you like, but I think that wastes potential. You end up spinning your wheels on the old model until it's obvious that it doesn't work, and then you create the new one. That takes a lot of energy, particularly because by the time you have the data that proves the old model isn't working, you tend to NOT have as many resources as you did just a short time before.

Imagine if you created the new one BEFORE you knew the old one was dead. You can do that if you stay in the paradox. If you accept that your strategy needs to change even though it IS currently working, you can look at your data a little differently. You might be more open to seeing information that is a bit on the edge of what is going on, that might point to some new directions. You might explore ideas that previously would have been ignored. It would actually be easier to experiment with something—because if you deny the paradox and simply stay with the view that your strategy is working, then it becomes hard to justify experiments. They seem like a "waste."

And on the personal side, check out this post by Pamela Slim (it's a guest post on a blog that is not hers). It's a fairly "self-helpy" post about working through major life issues, and I find it to be spot on. At the end, she talks about paradox. Basically, Slim and the author of that blog both talk about typical responses people take when they are confronted with major life issues (there are two typical patterns), and their answer is simple: do the opposite. Quoting Eleanor Roosevelt, they suggest that you "do the thing that you think you cannot do."

You'd be surprised at how much power there is in doing that. I have been continually surprised by the power that I have found once I accept some paradoxes. Even my favorite example—that light is BOTH a particle and a wave—to me reflects the power of paradox. My understanding of the science behind that statement is that it was part of a complete scientific revolution, and it contributed to our understanding that the simple act of observing something actually changes it (how you measure the light will impact whether it behaves like a wave or a particle). When you accept the paradox, you open up room for incredible new scientific discoveries that can change the world.

So I encourage you to open yourself up to paradox. It won't give you the "answer," necessarily, but it is frequently an important part of the solution.

Comments

[Ben Martin, CAE]

I refuse to bow to the either/or. I definitely enjoy hanging out in the paradox: there are so many possibilities if you can just get comfortable for even just a little while.

[Virgil Carter]

Jamie, I can't resist.

Paradox:

1. Two physicians;

2. Enough for two sailboats

Ta-dum!

[Cindy]

We do operate in paradox especially with programs and political decisions. One subset of members may say best decision ever, other subset may say worst decision ever. Are either right or wrong?

I agree on need to constantly change. The example I give in presentations is Tiger Woods making decision to correct his golf swing, even though already proven as the best golfer. Even if we're the best association already, we have to be willing to correct our swing to see if we can be better. Worked for Tiger.

I do get concerned about universal application of paradox in associations. There are limited resources, and often decisions must be made. Can't support two sides of an issue, two opposing candidates, elect two officers, fund print and online, etc. - so when there's thought of paradox can be helpful to see if it's being used to avoid making a controversial decision (that must be made) or if it's a cop-out to accountability for bad outcome potential because easier to straddle a fence than to turn one way versus the other.