I see lots of organizations because I coach leaders. In my philosophy of leadership, strategic leadership is more yin – more visionary, more partnership-oriented,  requires blue-sky thinking, listening, staying in dialgo…. Operational leadership is more yang – more goals-driven, more hard data oriented, practical, and, usually, but not necessarily, more hierarchical. Good leadership is about maintaining the yin and yang balance so that the organizational culture stays fertile and dynamic. Because just like electricity in the wall, if you don’t have a complimentary positive and negative charges you’d never get a spark.

The higher someone is on the totem pole, the more universal his/her vision needs to be. In other words, the better a leader is able to negotiate the yin and the yang, the more s/he is able to expand their vision to comprehend the inevitable big and little swings between the operational and the strategic. Just like shamans of the North used to climb high poles and sit for days to meditate on the highest vision for the tribe from the highest point he could reach, our leaders need the ability to sit on the proverbial pole that will give them the most universal view.

It is difficult to find people who ride that “leaderful” edge well. Any leader will be personally more yin or more yang, stronger one way or the other – the task of leadership, in the deeper sense of the word, is to rise beyond personal limitations and blind spots, to consciously negotiate the interplay between strategy and operations, personal strengths and weaknesses, yin and yang… I find the best ground for that interplay to be values.

The warrior archetype is a good example. In the traditional understanding of warrior, which existed in many indigenous cultures, a warrior is not someone who is so yang that s/he’s threatening everyone all the time. The warrior is a highly developed cultural role that’s grounded in dignity, compassion, civility and justice.

We need more warrior leaders who have the courage to lead from their values, who can move beyond their personal lenses to see the bigger picture and fight the most noble fights and put forth the most noble actions.  Good leaders take the best of the yin strategic thought and combine it with the best of operational actions. Great leaders are almost meta-physicians in how they not only blend strategy and operations but also intuition, vision, values and a dedication to creating greatest good. The greatest leaders inspire others to do the same.